Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - October 18, 2007)

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the very real and serious issue of global climate change, and specifically our efforts to help America's fish and wildlife, public lands, and oceans adapt to and survive global warming.

I am aware that there remain some in this country, and even in this chamber, who choose to reject the overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming is occurring today, and will worsen severely if nothing is done. For years, Congress and the Bush administration have delayed the implementation of swift and aggressive measures to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We can delay no longer. But as we work to mitigate the causes of global warming, we must also take urgent action to address its effects.

Climate change can have a devastating impact not only on the environment, but on the living things that depend on it. The early warning signs of climate change--taking place not just in the far reaches of the Arctic but also right in our own backyards--have shown that the world's wildlife is particularly vulnerable.

In Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, the state's most distinctive ecological feature, the gradually-warming water temperature has contributed to a significant ecosystem shift. This warming has already resulted in a documented increase in ocean temperatures, leading to massive fish kills, like we experienced in Greenwich Bay in the summer of 2003, and other ecological damage.

The changing environment in the Bay has had a broad and significant impact on fish and shellfish. Cold water species, such as winter flounder, that were once abundant in the Bay and had a high commercial value have been replaced by warmer water species, such as scup, that have a lower value. This has happened in just the past 20 years--a frighteningly quick timeline and apparently not what Nature intended. The shift in species has serious implications for Rhode Island's fishermen, whose work has been part of our State's economy for generations.

When I recently traveled to Greenland to witness firsthand the most severe and visible effects of climate change, one of the most striking of these was global warming's impact on Greenland's population of polar bears. The Greenland ice cap is melting at a rate never before seen in documented history. Melting sea ice and glaciers there and in other parts of the Arctic are gradually raising sea levels around the world, shrinking polar bears' habitats and bringing them into increasing contact with humans. In some cases, we were told, villagers have been forced to shoot polar bears with their cubs forced into populated areas in search of food.

Global warming represents the single greatest threat to our natural environment and wildlife, and we must act decisively if we are to avoid disaster.

America's ocean and terrestrial wildlife is a fundamental part of our national heritage, and conservation of our wildlife is a core value shared by all Americans. Climate change is directly related to the species decline we have experienced over the last two decades, both on land and in our waters. The combined impact of climate change, loss of habitat due to development pressures, and exploitation of our natural resources threatens to drive many species over the brink to permanent extinction.

Today, I am introducing legislation that will help bolster our oceans and wildlife against one of the most significant of these pressures--that of global climate change.

The Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act represents the first comprehensive approach to mitigate the impact of climate change on America's wildlife, oceans, and other natural systems. I am proud and pleased to have the distinguished chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Boxer, join me as an original cosponsor of this bill.

The bill has three primary goals: first, it will create a coordinated national strategy, based on sound science, to guide Federal, State, and local agency actions to address global warming's threat to our oceans and wildlife. The Secretary of Interior will develop a national strategy for managing terrestrial wildlife and the habitats they depend on, and the Secretary of Commerce will develop a national strategy for our oceans, coastal, and great lakes ecosystems. Both Secretaries will consult with other affected federal agencies, States, tribes, local governments, conservation organizations, and other stakeholders to develop the strategy.

Second, the bill will support improved science capacity for Federal agencies to respond to global warming, including the establishment of a National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center in the U.S. Geological Survey for terrestrial wildlife and a comparable Science Advisory Board within the Department of Commerce to provide scientific and technical advice to respond to the impacts of global warming on ocean and coastal ecosystems.

Finally, the bill directs that funding for implementation of the national strategy be allocated in a balanced, strategic, and efficient way to the Federal programs, States, and tribal agencies charged with carrying out the national strategy.

The impact of climate change on our oceans and wildlife is an issue too important to ignore. Human activity has caused climate change and we must be responsible for solving it. We have an obligation to our children and grandchildren to leave behind a natural environment as good, and we would hope and pray better, than the one we inherited. Preserving America's wildlife and oceans so that the next generation can enjoy an unspoiled natural environment, and our many traditions of hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation, is a responsibility we must uphold.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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