Hearing of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming - "Not Going Away: America's Energy Security, Jobs and Climate Challenges"

Statement

In April of 2007, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held its first hearing. At that inaugural gathering, we discussed the twin challenges of climate change and our dependence on foreign oil.

Since that day, Congress passed new fuel economy standards. We made investments into renewable energy, advanced battery technology and efficiency measures that save families and small businesses money. The House passed a comprehensive energy and climate bill.

The world -- including China and India -- committed to reduce carbon pollution in the Copenhagen Accord. Our troops continue to fight bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan, regions where our energy interests remain entangled. The Gulf of Mexico was sullied by BP's oil spill, which became the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. And here, in this committee, we discussed and debated it all, paving the way for informed action.

Over the last few years, the politics of energy have changed and shifted more times than we can count. Yet what has not changed are the problems we face as a nation, and as a planet.

Today's hearing is called "Not Going Away," a fitting title for issues that will be central to the health and survival of our planet and our economy for decades and centuries to follow.

The national security challenges from our dependence on oil are not going away. Today before our committee we have Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, who was a witness at our very first hearing. He knows the price of our dependence on foreign oil, borne out not in this rhetorical battlefield, but in the theater of actual war, where bullets and bombs are spent to defend or acquire barrels of oil.

The national security threats from climate change are not going away. During the first Select Committee hearing, we discussed the drought-influenced Somali conflict that led to Blackhawk Down. A warming world exacerbated a military hot spot. This September, we hosted the Pakistani Ambassador to discuss his country's devastating floods. He discussed how his country diverted resources like helicopters away from fighting Al Qaeda to assist in the flood response. An increasingly destabilized climate will invariably
lead to more of these destabilizing geopolitical events.

The economic security threats stemming from America's lack of an energy plan are not going away. China is pushing ahead with clean energy investments, along with other emerging technologies to capture and store carbon from coal. Twice as much money was invested in clean energy in China as was invested in the United States last year. As we heard from the private investment community, this move by China will attract trillions in
private capital --money that could be invested in jobs here at home.

And China is not alone. Germany, Japan, South Korea, and other countries recognize that dominating the trillion dollar market of tomorrow requires foresight and public investment today. Regardless of our political party, we can all agree that second place in the clean energy race is an unacceptable goal.

And the carbon pollution that we have already spewed into the atmosphere, warming our Earth, is not going away. The pollution we emit today will still be in the atmosphere centuries from now. Every day that we wait to act to stem the tide of carbon emissions will be felt for decades and centuries to come, as our planet warms and our weather patterns become less stable.

And today, as the world's climate community gathers in Mexico, those of us who accept that cutting carbon pollution is this generation's responsibility are saying that we are not going away. We are not going away because the problems that climate change presents are too dangerous, too urgent, for us to disappear into the abyss of cynicism and lost opportunity. We are not going away because China and India and Germany are not going away as competitors for global energy dominance. We are not going away because the national security threats from our continued dependence on foreign oil are not going away.

I would like to thank our witnesses for coming today and look forward to their testimony. Unfortunately, General Wesley Clark was unable to make it here today. We look forward to having him back here soon and will submit his testimony for the record.

And before I close, I would also like to thank the members of this committee and their staff for their service for the last two sessions of Congress. It has been an honor and a pleasure to explore and understand these global issues with you.

I would now like to recognize the Ranking Member of the Select Committee, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin.

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