Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member.
Mr. Chairman, this is the climate change denial bill. Don't be fooled by its name. Ignoring the impact of climate change will heap huge costs on taxpayers. This bill is a disservice to America. And in addition to being very costly to consumers, it shirks our responsibility for addressing the costly impacts of the changing climate.
The bill we are considering today shows that the Republicans' plan is to just say no and to let our children and grandchildren suffer the consequences of the changing climate without doing anything meaningful to protect them. This position is indefensible, and it will prove very costly, indeed.
Today's bill would essentially amend the Clean Air Act to give a free pass to States that refuse to comply with the requirements of the clean power plan. Unless we work together to meet the modern challenge of the changing climate, this is going to be very expensive for our friends back home, especially in States like mine--Florida.
Here are some of the huge costs we are looking at already: rising property insurance rates and flood insurance rates because of extreme weather events; Federal emergency aid that we have to pay out for things like Superstorm Sandy and other storms, tornadoes, electrical storms, tropical storms, drought, fire, and extreme heat.
In addition to property insurance and flood insurance, property taxes are going to go up because our local communities are going to be saddled with the cost of repairing storm water infrastructure and addressing drinking water. This is going to be very expensive. In Florida, we already see saltwater intrusion into our drinking water aquifers because of rising tides.
There is a terrible drought in California. These are going to require very expensive solutions unless we tackle it on the front end.
And I am fearful that there will be economic harm to coastal communities like mine in the Tampa Bay area where we will have to pay more to renourish our beaches and take care of the lifeblood of our economy, which is tourism, fishing, for a beautiful, healthy economy.
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