Global Warming

Floor Speech

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this morning, listeners to NPR Marketplace heard the insurance industry dealing with the problems of global warming. Extreme weather events, actually, is why they were concerned. That term global warming actually means drought, flood, heat waves, intense storms, breaking seasonal patterns. In my region of the Pacific northwest, it means long, slow trends, like the increase in spring temperatures over the last 70 years, that lead to a significant decline in the snow pack that we rely upon for drinking water and hydropower.

As our congressional delegation heads to Copenhagen this week to join with parliamentarians from around the world, we will be able to be involved with a critical discussion on how we are going to meet those challenges. Our delegation is going to be somewhat unique because, while other groups of parliamentarians in other countries are of different parties and disagree on the best solution to deal with climate change and extreme weather events, ours, with the possible exception of Saudi Arabia, will be the only one where there are some people who actually question the science and the need for action.

This is unfortunate, because the facts are clear. Even regarding the recent dust up over stolen e-mails of some of the climate scientists, it doesn't change the scientific consensus that we are involved in a period of significant global warming and that human activity is the cause. Despite some dispute over whether this year is the fourth, fifth or sixth warmest in history, there is no question but that the current decade will be the hottest since we began recording temperatures.

Even with the consensus on science, there still is a great deal of real controversy in Copenhagen about how we are going to move forward.

I think it's very important for us to highlight the encouraging dynamic that is taking shape, because there is a consensus for taking action. The question is in implementation both of speed and scale.

There is good news that the United States is no longer missing in action. As the world's largest economy, the second largest emitter this year and still the leader in the history of the world in total emissions, it's important that the United States finally joins with the rest of the developed world to deal with this question. It is encouraging that the Obama administration and the new Congress has been acting from the very beginning of this session of Congress with an $80 billion investment in clean energy.

After years of delay, the Obama administration acted on what we passed in the last Congress to increase the long overdue improvement in automobile fuel efficiency. The EPA has finally announced that it is going to follow the law dealing with carbon pollution, as the Bush administration was directed by the Supreme Court but refused to do.

We have had the historic passage of the Waxman-Markey legislation, for the first time in history putting Congress on record supporting comprehension climate legislation. The administration will use the House bill as the basis for targeted reductions in greenhouse gases. We have emerging in the Senate a bipartisan framework with Senator Kerry, Senator Lieberman and Senator Graham providing the leadership in that area.

It's exciting to see the pieces come together, Mr. Speaker. It is frustrating to see it slow, and time is of the essence, but finally it's clear that action is in everybody's interest. The United States can no longer afford to waste more energy than anybody in the world. It's exciting to see the European Union, China and India all acting, at least in their own way, moving in this direction. The dominos are falling for new, clean, energy economies, managing forests to protect the planet and new sustainable agriculture.

All this will happen. The question is when. I am encouraged that in Copenhagen there is a process that the United States can help move us forward.

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