Hearing of the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee - "Climate Science and EPA's Greenhouse Gas Regulations"

Statement

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I must also commend you for allowing us to hold this very important hearing today.

"Mr. Waxman and I, as well as all our colleagues on this side of aisle, were adamant in requesting this hearing because we believe this subcommittee would be doing a disservice to all of our constituents, as well as to the entire committee process, if we were to proceed to marking up the Upton-Inhofe bill, which would repeal the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases, without hearing from actual scientists about what the scientific evidence says regarding greenhouse gas emissions and their effects on both climate change and the overall public health.

"Let us make no mistake about it, with respect to all of the witnesses that we will hear from today, there really is no widespread debate among the scientific community on whether greenhouse gases contribute to climate change.

"On one side you have over 95 percent of respected scientists and scientific organizations, worldwide, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, the U.S. Global Change Research Program as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, all in agreement that man-made greenhouse gases do contribute to climate change and that these impacts can be mitigated, through policy, to curb these emissions.

"And on the other side you have a very small group, less than 5% of the scientific community, who range from straight-out climate change deniers to those who would dispute the certainty of the claims that human behavior is contributing to climate change.

"I recognize that there is real fear out there by those who believe that the EPA's attempt to regulate greenhouse gases, even if it is by only the largest emitters, will lead to job loss in some very important sectors in our economy.

"I represent Illinois, which is one the largest coal states in the country, and I recognize that any policy regulating greenhouse gases will have real consequences on jobs and the economy in my state.

"But I sincerely believe, because the science tells me so, that these gases must be regulated because they have a serious and costly impact on public health, in my state and around the country.

"I believe it is our duty to look out for those people across the country, who are being affected by the pollution associated with greenhouse gases, and we must find a way to sensibly address this issue in a balanced and measured approach.

"For me, the cost of doing nothing outweighs the cost of action because the science tells us that we cannot keep living by the status quo.
"I believe we can enact sensible measures that will both protect the public health and help create new jobs so that we are not making our citizens choose between clean air to breathe and jobs to feed their families.

"Mr. Waxman and I sent a letter to you dated February 7th, Mr. Chairman, asking you to work with us in drafting a clean energy standard, so that we can move our country forward in creating new energy jobs and technologies that would put people to work, clean our air, and also keep America on the forefront of the environmental protection industry, an industry that was projected to reach $700 billion last year.

"Additionally, I would be happy to work with you, Mr. Chairman, on a clean coal initiative, such as expanding programs like the FutureGen project, which just began operations in Morgan County, IL, and hopefully, will provide answers to whether coal sequestration can be expanded for commercial use.
"As this USA Today poster here highlights: there are so many more benefits in acting to address climate change, as the science tells us we must do, including energy independence, sustainability, cleaner air and water, and a healthier populace, to name a few, than living with the status quo and hoping beyond hope that the majority of the world's scientists are just wrong.

"So I ask you, Mr. Chairman, and all of my Republican colleagues, to listen to what the science is telling us and let's work together to move this country forward by creating a clean energy standard, by working to promote clean coal initiatives, and by showing the American people that we can be serious about finding solutions and that we're not just here for political infighting and scorekeeping.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and with that I yield back my time."

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