Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PETERS. I am opposed in its current form.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, my amendment simply expresses something scientists know to be true and something that is recognized everywhere in the world but in these halls of the United States Congress, that climate change is real and influenced by human activity. We need Congress to get on board with a response, not to stand in the way. That is important for at least three reasons.
First, if we are to lower the rate and impact of greenhouse gas emissions, we need Federal action.
The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is from burning fossil fuels, which raises atmospheric levels of CO
Super pollutants like methane and HFCs are many times more potent than CO
That is why just last month the United States signed the historic Paris climate agreement so as to reduce emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025. As a country that contributes 17 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, we pledge to do our part.
This follows President Obama's executive order on climate change, which established national sustainability goals for the Federal Government. We need Congress to support these efforts, not to get in the way.
Second, all new national plans and projects should consider these effects of climate change as we make decisions about what and where to build infrastructure and to permit projects.
Extreme weather conditions are at an all-time high. One of my first votes as a Member of Congress was to fund a response to Superstorm Sandy with an appropriation of $60 billion off budget.
That is just going to keep happening, folks. Regions around the world are experiencing intense droughts, longer wildfire seasons, and water shortages and flooding, and sea levels are rising at twice the rate they were 20 years ago, threatening to cause destructive erosion, powerful storms, the contamination of agriculture, and lost habitat for wildlife.
We have to make sure that Federal permitting and construction learns the lessons from these trends and these events and that we account for the effect of rising seas, increased winds, and drought on the buildings and infrastructure that we approve and build.
We have to build resiliency into Federal decisionmaking, not dodge the question. A bipartisan Bloomberg report estimated that, if we do not address climate change, between $66 billion and $106 billion worth of coastal property in the United States will be below sea level by 2050.
Third, we need to bring our Federal practices into line with what is already happening outside of the United States Congress, the only entity in the world with its collective head in the sand on the reality of climate change.
There are 175 countries that are on board. That is how many signed the historic Paris Agreement on the first day it was open for signature. There are 154 companies that are on board with Paris, and businesses across the country have committed to putting forward climate targets by reducing carbon emissions and becoming more energy efficient.
PepsiCo, Apple, Qualcomm, Nestle, Kellogg's, and Starbucks are among the private businesses that have included sustainability and alternative energy as smart business practice, and the Department of Defense, our own military, is on board, acting now to address the impacts of climate change.
In January, the Pentagon released a directive stating:
The Department of Defense must be able to adapt current and future operations to address the impacts of climate change in order to maintain an effective and efficient United States military.
Mr. Speaker, let's take a cue from the rest of the world, the American private sector, and the Pentagon and consider climate change in permitting and siting.
For some of my colleagues on the other side, the politics of simple facts may be frightening, but U.S. leadership to curb climate change is not about politics or ideology.
It is about security, ensuring the health of our citizens and of our families, and seizing the unprecedented economic opportunity of the clean energy revolution. The stakes of climate change have never been higher. The time to act is now.
I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source