Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. LEVIN of California. Madam Speaker, as the designee of Chairman Pallone, pursuant to House Resolution 1129, I offer amendments en bloc.

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Mr. LEVIN of California. Madam Speaker, all we have to do is look at the last few weeks in my great State of California and see record wildfires, 3.6 million acres and counting. And we have seen this all throughout the Western United States, truly unprecedented.

And we also have seen smoke. All I had to do a few weeks ago is just open the window, even though I am miles away from the center of any of the wildfires, and we could see the thick, dark smoke, gray and orange. We saw the pictures in the city of San Francisco. It is truly unprecedented in our great State of California.

The amendment that we are offering will hopefully uncover the true cost of this smoke. We must figure out exactly what type of health impacts wildfire smoke is having, not just in California, but everywhere where this has impacted our communities throughout the Western United States.

So we are also going to need to develop better smoke forecasts. This amendment would do that. And it directs the EPA to collect data and coordinate research on the impacts of acute air pollution exposure from wildfires. It is $100 million that I think is well spent.

An article published just a few days ago, September 19, in the Los Angeles Times, is titled, ``How Bad Is All That Wildfire Smoke to Our Long-Term Health? `Frankly, We Don't Really Know.' '' We don't really know, and that is why we need this research, this funding.

A good friend of mine from Stanford University, my alma mater, an economist named Marshall Burke, has done great work on the cost of climate change and the cost of inaction. He has estimated that between 1,000 and 3,000 excess deaths--think of that number, 1,000 and 3,000 excess deaths--will be caused by the smoke from these wildfires. Five thousand extra visits to the emergency room in California will be caused by these wildfires.

And we know from other research at Harvard University and elsewhere that short-term changes in particulate matter of 2.5, and other criteria air pollutants, dramatically increase mortality.

It is very clear: Wildfire smoke is a dominant source of air pollution in the United States in some years. Health costs associated with wildfire exposure are greater than we thought, previously.

The more we learn about this, the more we recognize just what a significant toll this is taking on our health, on our ability to deal with the economic impacts that this causes. And we have seen, in California, some of the studies on things like preterm birth, this has had an impact even on preterm birth.

And, of course, as is so often the case, when we talk about environmental issues, environmental justice is key here. We know that the poor and communities of color have been impacted most by this as well.

In my district, we have got the University of California at San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and I am very proud of all of the work they are doing.

One of the researchers there recently made the link between air pollution and increased risk of COVID-19 and, specifically, the severity of symptoms that one would get if they were to have COVID-19 and if they were to be impacted by wildfire smoke. It could exacerbate the degree to which COVID-19 causes more serious conditions.

As that researcher said: ``I really hope I am wrong, but what we may expect to see in the next few weeks is an increase in the fatality rate from COVID-19.''

So we know that wildfire smoke is here. This is not theoretical. Oftentimes, when we talk about climate change, we think of something in the future; we think of something theoretical.

One of the things that I so appreciate about this legislation, and specifically about this amendment and the series of amendments from Mr. Schrader and my friends from California--Josh Harder, Ami Bera, Mike Thompson, and Jimmy Panetta--is that all of these amendments are things that impact us in the here and now.

Wildfire smoke is not some far-off, theoretical thing that may or may not happen in the future. We know that it is happening, and happening right now.

So, as I mentioned, in addition to our amendment, which establishes a program to improve wildfire smoke emissions modeling and to develop smoke forecasts and directs EPA to collect data and coordinate research on the impacts of acute air pollution exposure from wildfires, Mr. Schrader of Oregon has an amendment that would establish the home wildfire risk reduction rebate program to provide rebates to homeowners to defray the cost of retrofitting an existing home to be wildfire resistant.

Of course, we are thinking of all of our friends throughout the Pacific Northwest. We have family in Oregon and Washington that have been so dramatically impacted by all of this.

As I mentioned, my friends Josh Harder, Ami Bera, and Mike Thompson, all fantastic Representatives from northern California--and they have really borne the brunt of the wildfires throughout California--have offered amendments that, among other things, create a geospatial map that depicts wildfire risk around utilities to allow for better planning, for grid hardening, vegetation management, emergency access points, and more.

Their amendments also establish an electricity reliability standard regarding extreme weather events and direct the Department of Energy to help States and local utilities on ways to improve the resiliency of their electrical grids. It is so important that we study these wildfires and we understand the impact on our electricity grid.

My friend Representative Panetta offers several amendments, including one that expands weatherization assistance for low-income families and enhancement in innovation to cover the use of materials that are resistant to high heat and fire in dwellings occupied by low-income persons in areas at risk from drought and wildfires.

I think it is important to just mention we are not talking about wildfires in a vacuum. We have seen record drought and record temperatures, and those conditions create the environment that we now have seen that creates these wildfire risks.

Finally, my friend Representative Bera has an amendment that directs the Secretary of Energy to support R&D on tools and technologies for improving the electric grid and the energy sector for safety and resilience during concurrent or colocated severe weather events.

I am extremely proud at the support that we have been able to achieve for these amendments, and for the package for H.R. 4447. It is a comprehensive bill that we really do need to move forward on.

It has been a dozen years, a dozen years, since we have been able to update the structure and the authorizations of critical clean energy research and demonstration programs at the Department of Energy, and we have learned so much about our environment, about climate change.

I graduated from law school in 2005, and I became an environmental attorney and a clean energy advocate working in a variety of clean energy organizations, businesses, and now as a legislator. And what I can tell you is that between the time I graduated from law school in 2005 and today, we know significantly more, and much different information about climate change than we did back then. Yet, we have not updated the research and development now for 12 years, it is simply unacceptable.

So our amendment and the other amendments that I discussed will go a long way, and I hope we can achieve bipartisan consensus in this, and in the months and years ahead to actually tackle these problems as they face Californians.

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Mr. LEVIN of California. Madam Speaker, it is my honor to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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Mr. LEVIN of California. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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