Hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform - Opening Statement of Rep. Mike Quigley, Hearing on Environmental Impact and National Security Threat

Hearing

Congressman Quigley: I serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and we're often briefed on the threat climate change as a threat to our national security.

The Pentagon refers to climate change as a "threat multiplier' and recent reports from the Department of Homeland Security, the Intelligence Community, the National Security Council, and the armed services outline the emerging threat of climate change and its ability to wreak economic havoc and destabilize regions, initiate and fuel conflicts, and help foment violence.

This hearing today has helped document a long standing and concerted effort to muddy the scientific waters on the threat of climate change and pointed work to prevent any substantive action to prevent it. Not the least of which while Exxon's internal reports confirmed human-caused global warming, publicly it took the opposite view. In a 2017 study of Exxon's communications concluding that the company systematically misled non-scientific audiences about climate science. But I think the person who put that all best is Dr. Rod Schoonover. He served over a decade for the U.S. Intelligence Community as Senior Analyst and Senior Scientist in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the U.S. Department of State as Director of Environment and Natural Resources. He said and I quote "If climate change poses a risk to national security as the Pentagon and intelligence community again reminded us last week, shouldn't we view climate disinformation through the same lens a well." I think those before us today have to ask themselves and as this investigation goes forward, we need to put it under that prism.

Let me make a second point and that is to remind ourselves of the risk and danger involved in these operations. I guess I'd be remiss not talking about a location that's literally in my backyard in Whiting Indiana, the Whiting Refinery that is, one of the largest refineries in the U.S, and its operator BP.

In 1991, residents of East Chicago noticed oil oozing into their basements. A subterranean spill of 400,000 barrels of oil was discovered in the water table soon thereafter.

In 2012, BP had to pay an $8 million penalty and spend $400 million on pollution controls due to the emissions from Whiting. In 2014, Whiting discharged a slug of crude oil into Lake Michigan, close to where children swim and wildlife live. This occurred merely three weeks after BP announced it would double its processing of crude oil at the Whiting facility. Earlier this year, a District Court judge ruled that BP repeatedly violated limits on emissions, specifically particulate air pollution. Between 2015 and 2018, BP conducted 9 emissions tests and failed all 9, demonstrating that Whiting was spewing soot into Chicago's air.

Mr. Lawler, what are BP's plans for addressing the health effects of its presence in communities like where the Whiting Refinery is located?

Mr. Lawler: Thank you for the question congressman. So I am aware of the incidents that have occurred at Whiting overtime and what I can share with you is that we take the safety of the community and the safety of our employees very importantly, and that includes the safety of the water and the air that's in that area. What I can say is that we are dedicating resources to correct the deficiencies at the Whiting refinery that we find. As you know the industry is focused on this, we're focused on it and it is one of our largest refineries in the United States and the commitment we have is to lower emissions at the refinery over time and to protect all the individuals that work in and around the refinery.

Congressman Quigley: You know I think given the limited time we have what makes sense is if you could submit to the committee the improvements that you deem necessary, where you are in the timeline to make those improvements and when you expect those to be completed if you would commit to that please.

Mr. Lawler: Yes we will follow up with the actions we are taking.

Congressman Quigley: Thank you, I yield back.

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