The United States--A Leader In Energy Independence And Clean Energy Job Creation

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANGEVIN. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Let me just commend the gentleman from Massachusetts for his incredible work on the issue of addressing global climate change, an issue that I know in many ways has become his life's work for so many years. I deeply appreciate his work here in the Congress, particularly as he leads the committee on the environment and global climate change here in the Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to join my colleague, Mr. Markey, and so many others, in addressing this issue of global climate change, particularly during tonight's Special Order hour to recognize the critical negotiations that are beginning to take place at Copenhagen at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Like so many of us, I am greatly concerned with the permanent damage that we have already inflicted on the planet by failing to curb carbon emissions, but I believe that there is still time to enact meaningful reform that will not only stop the harmful effects of pollution, but will also jump-start our economy with a greater investment and demand for clean energy.

This issue, in terms of addressing global warming, is important for our environment, it's important for our national security, it's important for our economy in creating jobs of the 21st century, and clearly it's so vitally important to the future of our planet.

The predictions of what will happen to our planet if we do not take action on global warming are startling, and often they are even too dire to comprehend. But as a representative of the Ocean State, I simply can't ignore the situation that is facing my State today and in the near future. In my home State, just off our coast, the temperature of Narragansett Bay has risen 2 degrees in the past 30 years, leading to dramatic changes in the fisheries population. In Rhode Island, our economy relies on the fishing industry, and they are being so adversely affected right now because of these issues.

Conservative graphs of our coastal communities in the year 2100 shows cities that are halfway underwater. What happens to the investment that we've made to restore our fisheries, upgrade our ports, and to refurbish our wastewater infrastructure? Well, they will slowly be underwater, and the Federal investments that we made will be gone.

When I listen to my colleagues speak about things like the deficit, they often lament that we are focused on short-term fixes while perpetuating a long-term burden that our grandchildren will have to carry. Well, I agree with them. I don't want the next generation to be burdened with the decisions that we make here today and I don't want to leave them with air they can't breathe, water they can't drink, and destroyed infrastructure up and down the coastline.

We need to address this issue now. I look forward to working with my colleagues on addressing global warming.

I commend the gentleman from Massachusetts again for his extraordinary work on global climate change issues.

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