Protecting Coastal Communities and Ocean Resources from Offshore Drilling
On Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. (EDT), the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will host a virtual, fully remote legislative hearing titled, “Protecting Coastal Communities and Ocean Resources from Offshore Drilling,” including the following bills and other related measures.
- H.R. 570 (Rep. Donald McEachin) To require operators of offshore oil and gas facilities to report failures of critical systems to the Secretary of the Interior, and for other purposes. Offshore Accountability Act
- H.R. 2643 (Rep. Julia Brownley) To require the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to further develop, finalize, and implement updated regulations for offshore oil and gas pipelines to address long-standing limitations regarding its ability to ensure active pipeline integrity and address safety and environmental risks associated with decommissioning, and for other purposes. Offshore Pipeline Safety Act
- H.R. 2836 (Rep. Kathy Castor) To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit oil and gas preleasing, leasing, and related activities in certain areas of the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Florida, and for other purposes. Florida Coastal Protection Act
- H.R. _ (Rep. Frank Pallone) To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to permanently prohibit the conduct of offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Atlantic, and Straits of Florida planning areas. COAST Anti-Drilling Act
- H.R. _ (Rep. Mike Levin) To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Land Act to prohibit oil and gas leasing in the Southern California planning area. American Coasts and Oceans Protection Act
- H.R. _ (Rep. Jared Huffman) To amend the Other Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit oil and gas leasing in certain areas of the Outer Continental Shelf. North Pacific Ocean Protection Act
Witness List
Panel I- Rep. Donald McEachin, Virginia, 4th District
- Rep. Julia Brownley, California, 26th District
- Rep. Kathy Castor, Florida, 14th District
- Rep. Mike Levin, California, 49th District
- Rep. Jared Huffman, California, 2nd District
- Rep. Frank Pallone, New Jersey, 6th District
- Terra Lawson-Remer, Supervisor, District 3 San Diego County, CA
- Tom Kies, President, Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast President, Carteret County NC, Chamber of Commerce Morehead City, NC
- Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director, Healthy Gulf New Orleans, LA
- Dr. Cliff Kapono, Professional Surfer, Chemist, and Journalist Hilo, HI
- Chett C. Chiasson, Executive Director, Greater Lafourche Port Commission Cut Off, LA
The CLEAN Future Act: Superfund Proposals to Advance Cleanups, Equity, and Climate Resilience
- H.R. 1512, the “Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act” or the “CLEAN Future Act
- J. Alfredo Gómez, Director, Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Government Accountability Office
- Amanda Goodin, J.D., Staff Attorney, Earthjustice
- Laurie Droughton Matthews, J.D., Of Counsel, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, On behalf of the Superfund Settlements Project
- Amy Catherine Dinn, J.D., Managing Attorney, Environmental Justice Team, Equitable Development Initiative, Lone Star Legal Aid
When Unlimited Potential Meets Limited Resources: The Benefits and Challenges of High-Speed Rail and Emerging Rail Technologies
- John Porcari, Managing Partner, 3P Enterprises, former deputy secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation
- Rachel Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
- Phillip Washington, Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Los Angeles County, California
- Danielle Eckert, International Representative, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO
- Carbett Duhon, Director, Texans Against High Speed Rail; Director, Gulf Coast Rail District
- Andy Kunz, President and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. High Speed Rail Association
- Carlos Augilar, President and Chief Executive Officer, Texas Central High Speed Rail
- William Flynn, Chief Executive Officer, National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
- Josh Giegel, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Virgin Hyperloop
- Andrés De León, Chief Executive Officer, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies
- Michael Reininger, Chief Executive Officer, Brightline Trains
- Wayne Rogers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Northeast Maglev
H.R. 160, the “Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2021”
On Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. (EDT), the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife will hold a virtual, fully remote legislative hearing on the following bill:
H.R. 160 (Rep. Darren Soto, D-FL) To reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 and to establish the United States Coral Reef Task Force, and for other purposes. Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2021.
Witness List- Jennifer Koss, Director, Coral Reef Conservation Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Dr. Andrew C. Baker, Professor, Department of Marine Biology and Ecology Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami
- Fran A. Castro, Associate Director, University of Guam Sea Grant
- Dr. Robert H. Richmond, Research Professor and Director Kewalo Marine Laboratory University of Hawaii at Manoa
- Kelley L. Anderson Tagarino, Extension Faculty – Aquaculture & Marine Science University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program American, Samoa Community College
Senate Committee Moves Carbon Market Bill Backed by Industrial Agriculture Titans Closer to Passage
On Thursday, Earth Day 2021, the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously approved by voice vote the Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 (S. 1251), which would expand voluntary agricultural carbon sequestration markets under private control.
“On Earth Day, our committee came together in a bipartisan way to pass the Growing Climate Solutions Act,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). “This brings us one step closer to providing more opportunities for farmers and foresters to lead in addressing the climate crisis and also benefit from new streams of income.”
The legislation was introduced by Stabenow and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) with the support of the biggest corporations in industrial agriculture, including Cargill, Bayer, McDonald’s, Archer Daniels Midland, General Mills, and Syngenta, as well as Big Ag lobbying groups like the American Farm Bureau and the US Chamber of Commerce. Corporate-funded-and-allied environmental organizations like the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Climate Leadership Council, and the Environmental Defense Fund are also supporting the bill.
Agribusiness has contributed $2,546,199 to Stabenow and $367,483 to Braun over their careers.
The bill now has 42 co-sponsors in the Senate, ranging from climate hawk Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to climate denier Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
Companion legislation was introduced yesterday in the House of Representatives by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.). Agribusiness has contributed $198,675 to Spanberger and $478,040 to Bacon over their careers.
Other original co-sponsors of the House bill are Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Jim Baird (R-Ind.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), and Josh Harder (D-Calif.).
Advocates for small farmers, sustainable agriculture, and aggressive climate action criticized the legislation. In 2020, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Tara Ritter explained how the bill works:
Although farmers should be incentivized to adopt practices that boost resilience and sequester carbon, carbon markets have a failed and wasteful track record compared to public investments in proven conservation programs. This bill would tee up a framework incentivizing false solutions to climate change that benefits private companies over farmers. . .Voluntary carbon markets are privately-run schemes that pay farmers for carbon sequestered in their soils to generate carbon credits. Then, the company running the carbon market sells those credits to other companies or individuals interested in reducing their carbon footprint. Companies such as Indigo Ag and Nori are starting up voluntary carbon markets, claiming that they will increase farm profits while addressing climate change, all without imposing government regulations on farmers. Yet, Indigo Ag also plans to sell farmers proprietary seed coatings and collect farm data, raising questions of who will benefit most. Unsurprisingly, some of the biggest backers of these schemes are large agribusiness companies, including ADM, Bunge, Cargill and more, that will be able to generate, buy and sell carbon credits to boost their profits and greenwash their own operations.
The Growing Climate Solutions Act sets up a weak verification system for the markets. The system relies on third-party entities to both provide technical assistance and verify the carbon credits. Allowing an entity to both consult on best practices and certify adherence to those practices could lead to conflicts of interest. In addition, verifying entities may self-register in the program simply by notifying USDA that they will “maintain expertise in and adhere to the standards published.” This type of self-reporting will almost certainly be abused, and without strict enforcement it will weaken the results of already flawed carbon markets.
Jason Davidson, Senior Food and Agriculture Campaigner for Friends of the Earth, responded to the committee’s approval of the bill:
We already have policies that will help farmers enhance soil health, protect biodiversity, and combat the climate crisis without perpetuating environmental injustice. Carbon markets have failed to reduce emissions and failed to provide opportunities for America’s family farmers.Ecologically regenerative farming should be incentivized in addition to, and not instead of, carbon reductions in the energy sector. We should increase incentives for organic transition and heavily invest in existing successful USDA conservation programs while retooling them to help producers sequester carbon. Congress should support existing USDA technical assistance programs rather than outsource them to polluting agribusiness giants like Bayer. Family farmers should be supported in these efforts with structural reforms that ensure fair markets and fair prices, rather than creating more false promises of new markets that will predominantly benefit Big Ag.
“There are better bills on the table to meet the goals of maximizing soil carbon sequestration and reducing emissions from agriculture,” Ritter wrote, “including Representative Chellie Pingree’s (D-Maine) Agriculture Resilience Act and Senator Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) Climate Stewardship Act.”
Markey and Ocasio-Cortez Introduce Civilian Climate Corps Act of 2021
Today, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are introducing the Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act of 2021. The act establishes the Civilian Climate Corps (CCC), to be administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service within AmeriCorps.
Over five years, 1.5 million Americans in the CCC will complete federally-funded projects that help communities respond to climate change and transition to a clean economy. CCC work will reduce carbon pollution, enable a transition to renewable energy, build healthier and more resilient communities, implement conservation projects with proven climate benefits, and help communities recover from climate disasters.
Corpsmembers will receive education and training in coordination with local institutions, including labor unions, and will coordinate closely with local groups to help develop career pathways and union opportunities in new green sectors.
Markey and Ocasio-Cortez discussed the bill on the National Mall today:
The CCC will administer a large national service program and provide simplified and enhanced grants to scale up the existing network of over 130 local and state service and conservation corps.
All corpsmembers are guaranteed the following benefits:- Salary and benefits: Compensation of at least $15 per hour, full health care coverage, and critical support services such as transportation, housing, and childcare.
- Educational Funding: Enabling educational grants of $25,000 per year of service, up to $50,000, eligible for further education at any level or to pay down student debt.
- Career Opportunities: Corps will prioritize registered pre-apprenticeship curricula and union membership as part of service. Corpsmembers will receive vocational training appropriate to the local job market.
- Explicit antiracist language ensures that environmental justice communities receive benefits of at least 50% of CCC and Partner Corps projects, and 50% of corpsmembers will be recruited from these same communities, with no age limit for participation in at least 50% of Partner Corps.
- Labor groups will beintegrated into CCC and Partner Corps planning and operations, with DOL registered pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs prioritized for grants, required coordination with local labor unions, buy American provisions in procurement, and advisory board representation from labor groups. The corps, partner corps, and any private companies partnered in corps activities will adhere to neutrality and card check agreements.
- Tribal communities will receive 10% of the dedicated EJ benefits.
- Weatherizing and retrofitting residential and non-residential buildings for energy efficiency and electrification and participating in the construction of new net-zero buildings
- Maintenance and operation of energy-efficient and net zero buildings and properties
- Building energy-efficient affordable housing units
- Conducting energy audits
- Recommending ways for households to improve energy efficiency
- Installing and upgrading public transit and electric vehicle infrastructure
- Installing clean energy infrastructure in homes and small businesses, on farms, and in communities
- Advising on climate and energy policy
- Providing clean energy-related services
- Expanding broadband access and adoption
- Working with schools and youth programs to educate students and youth about ways to reduce home energy use and improve the environment
- Assisting in the development of local recycling and composting programs
- Renewing and rehabilitating public and tribal lands and trails owned or maintained by the Federal Government, an Indian tribe, a State, a municipal or local government, or any formal partners of those entities
- Improving air quality or other pollution monitoring networks
- Remediation of the effects of toxins and other hazardous pollution
- Building and maintaining green stormwater management infrastructure
- Creating and expanding local and regional food systems
- Developing farm to institution distribution models to make schools, hospitals, and other institutions healthier and more food resilient
- Performing community resilience assessments
- Collecting and analyzing data related to climate change and disasters
- Advising and planning for community resilience and adaptation
- Building and maintaining resilient infrastructure
- Conducting prescribed burns or engaging in reforestation activity
- Supporting the activities of local emergency management agencies and programs
- Advising and supporting farmers and ranchers in the implementation of management practices that account for climate change organizing community-based resiliency coalitions and working groups
- Providing disaster preparedness or community emergency response team training to community-based organizations and residents, bincluding for animals in disasters
- Providing education on climate change, disaster, and resilience at community-based organizations and schools
- Developing community climate resilience hub infrastructure
- Clearing debris after climate disasters
- Repairing and rebuilding homes and buildings
- Replanting locally adapted native trees and plants
- Stabilizing shorelines and hillsides
- Conserving, protecting, and restoring habitat, especially habitat to threatened, endangered, and at-risk species;
- Stabilizing shorelines or riparian areas using green infrastructure such as native wetlands
- Removing invasive species and planting locally adapted native species
- Collecting, storing, and propagating native seeds and plant materials
- removing hazardous fuels within one-quarter mile of dwellings and homes or one-quarter mile around delineated communities
- Planting and maintaining urban, tribal, and rural forests, trees, native grasslands, and natural areas developing urban farms and gardens
- Reforestation of native forest ecosystems, afforestation, and other projects to achieve demonstrable carbon sinks
- Reclaiming unneeded roads and tracks and restoring affected lands to natural conditions
- Restoring and managing wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity for native species, including building wildlife crossings and removing barriers to wildlife movement
- Assisting farmers and ranchers in a transition to more regenerative farming and ranching systems
Generating Equity: Deploying a Just and Clean Energy Future
- Subin DeVar, Director, Initiative for Energy Justice
- Chandra Farley, Just Energy Director, Partnership for Southern Equity
- Donnel Baird, Chief Executive Officer, BlocPower
- Kiran Bhatraju, Chief Executive Officer, Arcadia
- José L. Pérez, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hispanics in Energy
- Louise Carter-King, Mayor, City of Gillette, Wyoming
Biden’s Climate Plan: We’ll Break it Down for You
In March, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass the “American Jobs Plan.” The plan would achieve 100% clean electricity nationwide by 2035. It would invest $100 billion to modernize the grid, $400 billion in incentives for wind and solar and other renewables, $222 billion for electric vehicle research and charging stations, $10 billion in a “Climate Crisis Corps,” and more. It also calls for equity and justice at every step, with investments in underserved communities like removing lead pipes from every single community in America.
Join our webinar to learn more about President Biden’s climate plan! Hear firsthand why the plan is a fantastic first step towards ending the climate crisis. On the webinar, you’ll learn how we can make the plan better and, most importantly, what we need to do to get it passed by Congress THIS YEAR.
Speakers:- Leah Stokes of Evergreen Action
- Ben Beachy of Sierra Club
- Andres Jimenez of Green 2.0
LIFT America: Revitalizing our Nation's Infrastructure and Economy
The hearing will focus on H.R. 1848, the “Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act” or the “LIFT America Act.”
Witnesses- Ernest J. Moniz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Energy Futures Initiatives, Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy
- Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., President and CEO, Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies, Former Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Michael O’Rielly, Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission Principal, MPORielly Consulting, LLC
- Tom Wheeler, Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution, Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, Former Chairman, Federal Communication Commission
Sanders, Blumenauer, and Ocasio-Cortez Introduce National Climate Emergency Act of 2021
Legislation introduced today by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) calls on the President of the United States to declare a national climate emergency and begin taking action in line with the goals of the Green New Deal resolution introduced in 2019.
The National Climate Emergency Act mandates a presidential declaration of a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, and directs the president to mobilize the nation for climate and economic justice, rebuilding the national labor movement to protect the habitability of our planet.
To ensure accountability to Congress and the American people, the National Climate Emergency Act requires that the president deliver a report within one year of the bill’s enactment (and then every year thereafter until the emergency sunsets) that details the specific actions taken by the executive branch to combat the climate emergency and restore the climate for future generations.As detailed in the legislation, this should include, but is not limited to, investments in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects, upgrades to public infrastructure, modernization of millions of buildings to cut pollution, investments in public health, protections for public lands, regenerative agriculture investments that support local and regional food systems, and more.
“It might be a good idea for President Biden to call a climate emergency,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last week. “Trump used this emergency for a stupid wall, which wasn’t an emergency. But if there ever was an emergency, climate is one.”
The legislation introduced today is supported by dozens of climate justice organizations including 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity, The Climate Mobilization, Food & Water Watch, Labor Network for Sustainability, Progressive Democrats of America, Public Citizen, Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats, Greenpeace, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Align NY, Friends of Earth, and Climate Justice Alliance.
“We are at a life changing, civilization altering moment in our history, as we face a climate crisis that demands a thunderous voice and a full mobilization of every sector to match its scale and its urgency – all while serving as a great opportunity to build a more just and prosperous country,” said Varshini Prakash, Executive Director of the Sunrise Movement. “This bill is a good sign that our leaders are finally understanding what young people and climate activists have been shouting from the rooftops for years – that the fires that burned our homes to rubble, the floods that took our family and friends with them, are a climate emergency, and bold action must be done now to save our humanity and our future.”
“We’re already in a five-alarm emergency for communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel pollution and the climate crisis,” said John Noël, senior climate campaigner of Greenpeace USA. “Our government has squandered precious time in the fight for a liveable planet, and now we need legislation like the Climate Emergency Act to kick things into gear. Congress must mobilize in full force to declare a climate emergency then immediately act to end fossil fuel subsidies and reinstate the crude oil export ban. We have the unprecedented opportunity this year to advance climate, racial, and economic justice, and to create millions of union jobs in the process. This historic legislation is just step one.”
“Obstruction, corporate greed, and denial has left us with just 10 years to rapidly transition off fossil fuels and toward a 100% clean and renewable energy economy,” said Alexandra Rojas, Executive Director, Justice Democrats. “There’s no time to waste in declaring this a national emergency and taking swift action to create millions of good-paying union jobs in the process.”
Full text of the legislation:
A BILL: To require the President to declare a national climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Climate Emergency Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘Climate Emergency Act of 2021’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:- The years 2010 to 2019 were the hottest decade on record.
- Global atmospheric concentrations of the primary global warming pollutant, carbon dioxide—
- have increased by 40 percent since preindustrial times, from 280 parts per million to 415 parts per million, primarily due to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation;
- are rising at a rate of 2 to 3 parts per million annually; and
- must be reduced to not more than 350 parts per million, and likely lower, ‘‘if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted,’’ according to former National Aeronautics and Space Administration climatologist Dr. James Hansen.
- Global atmospheric concentrations of other global warming pollutants, including methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased substantially since preindustrial times, primarily due to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels.
- Climate science and observations of climate change impacts, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather, demonstrate that a global rise in temperature of 1.5 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels is already having dangerous impacts on human populations and the environment.
- According to the 2018 National Climate Assessment, climate change due to global warming has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, substantial interference with and growing losses to human health and safety, infrastructure, property, industry, recreation, natural resources, agricultural systems, and quality of life in the United States.
- According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme weather and other climate-related disasters, including drought, wildfire, and storms that include precipitation.
- Climate-related natural disasters have increased exponentially over the past decade, costing the United States more than double the long-term average during the period of 2014 through 2018, with total costs of natural disasters during that period of approximately $100,000,000,000 per year.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are wide-ranging, acute, and fatal public health consequences from climate change that impact communities across the United States.
- According to the National Climate and Health Assessment of the United States Global Change Research Program, climate change is a significant threat to the health of the people of the United States, leading to increased—
- temperature-related deaths and illnesses;
- air quality impacts;
- extreme weather events;
- numbers of vector-borne diseases;
- waterborne illnesses;
- food safety, nutrition, and distribution complications; and
- mental health and well-being concerns.
- The consequences of climate change already disproportionately impact frontline communities and endanger populations made especially vulnerable by existing exposure to extreme weather events, such as children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing disabilities and health conditions.
- Individuals and families on the frontlines of climate change across the United States, including territories, living with income inequality and poverty, institutional racism, inequity on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to health care, housing, clean water, and food security are often in close proximity to environmental stressors or sources of pollution, particularly communities of color, indigenous communities, and low-income communities, which—
- are often the first exposed to the impacts of climate change;
- experience outsized risk because of the close proximity of the community to environmental hazards and stressors, in addition to collocation with waste and other sources of pollution; and
- have the fewest resources to mitigate those impacts or to relocate, which will exacerbate preexisting challenges.
- According to Dr. Beverly Wright and Dr. Robert Bullard, ‘‘environmental and public health threats from natural and human-made disasters are not randomly distributed, affecting some communities more than others,’’ and therefore a response to the climate emergency necessitates the adoption of policies and processes rooted in principles of racial equity, self-determination, and democracy, as well as the fundamental human rights of all people to clean air and water, healthy food, adequate land, education, and shelter, as promulgated in the 1991 Principles of Environmental Justice.
- Climate change holds grave and immediate consequences not just for the population of the United States, including territories, but for communities across the world, particularly those communities in the Global South on the frontlines of the climate crisis that are at risk of forced displacement.
- Communities in rural, urban, and suburban areas are all dramatically affected by climate change, though the specific economic, health, social, and environmental impacts may be different.
- The Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community have identified climate change as a threat to national security, and the Department of Homeland Security views climate change as a top homeland security risk.
- Climate change is a threat multiplier with the potential—
- to exacerbate many of the challenges the United States already confronts, including conflicts over scarce resources, conditions conducive to violent extremism, and the spread of infectious diseases; and
- to produce new, unforeseeable challenges in the future.
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected in 2018 that the Earth could warm 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels as early as 2030.
- The climatic changes resulting from global warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, including changes resulting from global warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, are projected to result in irreversible, catastrophic changes to public health, livelihoods, quality of life, food security, water supplies, human security, and economic growth.
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found in 2019 that human-induced climate change is pushing the planet toward the sixth mass species extinction, which threatens the food security, water supply, and well-being of billions of people.
- According to climate scientists, limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and likely lower, is most likely to avoid irreversible and catastrophic climate change.
- Even with global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the planet is projected to experience—
- a significant rise in sea levels;
- extraordinary loss of biodiversity; and
- intensifying droughts, floods, wildfires, and other extreme weather events.
- According to climate scientists, addressing the climate emergency will require an economically just phase-out of the use of oil, gas, and coal in order to keep the carbon that is the primary constituent of fossil fuels in the ground and out of the atmosphere.
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has determined that limiting warming through emissions reduction and carbon sequestration will require rapid and immediate acceleration and proliferation of ‘‘far-reaching, multilevel, and cross-sectoral climate mitigation’’ and ‘‘transitions in energy, land, urban and rural infrastructure (including transport and buildings), and industrial systems’’.
- In the United States, massive, comprehensive, and urgent governmental action is required immediately to achieve the transitions of those systems in response to the severe existing and projected economic, social, public health, and national security threats posed by the climate crisis.
- The massive scope and scale of action necessary to stabilize the climate will require unprecedented levels of public awareness, engagement, and deliberation to develop and implement effective, just, and equitable policies to address the climate crisis.
- The Constitution of the United States protects the fundamental rights to life, liberty, property, and equal protection of the laws.
- A climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society, and is preservative of fundamental rights, including the rights to life, liberty, property, personal security, family autonomy, bodily integrity, and the ability to learn, practice, and transmit cultural and religious traditions.
- The United States has a proud history of collaborative, constructive, massive-scale Federal mobilizations of resources and labor in order to solve great challenges, such as the Interstate Highway System, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and World War II.
- The United States stands uniquely poised to substantially grow the economy and attain social and health benefits from a massive mobilization of resources and labor that far outweigh the costs climate change will inflict as a result of inaction.
- Millions of middle class jobs can be created by raising labor standards through project labor agreements and protecting and expanding the right of workers to organize so that workers in the United States and the communities of those workers are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future in a zero-emissions economy that guarantees good jobs at fair union wages with quality benefits.
- Frontline communities, Tribal governments and communities, people of color, and labor unions must be equitably and actively engaged in the climate mobilization, in such a way that aligns with the 1996 Jemez Principles of Democratic Organizing, and prioritized through local climate mitiga tion and adaptation planning, policy, and program delivery so that workers in the United States, and the communities of those workers, are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future.
- A number of local jurisdictions and governments in the United States, including New York City and Los Angeles, and across the world, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal, and Canada, have already declared a climate emergency, and a number of State and local governments are considering declaring a climate emergency.
- State, local, and Tribal governments must be supported in efforts to hold to account those whose activities have deepened and accelerated the climate crisis and who have benefitted from delayed action to address the climate change emergency and to develop a clean energy economy.
- A collaborative response to the climate crisis will require the Federal Government to work with international, State, and local governments, including with those governments that have declared a climate emergency, to reverse the impacts of the climate crisis.
- The United States has an obligation, as a primary driver of accelerated climate change, to mobilize at emergency speed to restore a safe climate and environment not just for communities of the United States but for communities across the world, particularly those on the frontlines of the climate crisis which have least contributed to the crisis, and to account for global and community impacts of any actions it takes in response to the climate crisis.
- IN GENERAL.—The President shall declare a national emergency under section 201 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1621) with respect to climate change.
- RESPONSE.—In responding to the national emergency declared pursuant to subsection (a), the President shall ensure that the Federal Government—
- invests in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects, including projects that—
- upgrade the public infrastructure to expand access to clean and affordable energy, transportation, high-speed broadband, and water, particularly for public systems;
- modernize and retrofit millions of homes, schools, offices, and industrial buildings to cut pollution and costs;
- invest in public health, in preparation for and in response to increasingly extreme climatic events;
- protect and restore wetlands, forests, public lands, and other natural climate solutions;
- create opportunities for farmers and rural communities, including by bolstering regenerative agriculture, and invest in local and regional food systems that support farmers, agricultural workers, healthy soil, and climate resilience;
- develop and transform the industrial base of the United States, while creating high-skill, high-wage manufacturing jobs across the country, including by expanding manufacturing of clean technologies, reducing industrial pollution, and prioritizing clean, domestic manufacturing for the aforementioned investments; and
- establish new employment programs, as necessary, to meet the goals described in subparagraphs (A) through (F);
- makes investments that enable—
- a racially and socially just transition to a clean energy economy by ensuring that at least 40 percent of investments flow to historically disadvantaged communities;
- greenhouse gas emission reductions;
- resilience in the face of climate change impacts;
- a racially and socially just transition to a clean energy economy;
- small business support, especially for women and minority-owned businesses; and
- the expansion of public services;
- avoids solutions that—
- increase inequality;
- exacerbate, or fail to reduce, pollution at source;
- violate human rights;
- privatize public lands, water, or nature;
- expedite the destruction of ecosystems; or
- decrease union density or membership;
- creates jobs that conform to labor standards that—
- provide family-sustaining wages and benefits;
- ensure safe workplaces;
- protect the rights of workers to organize; and
- prioritize the hiring of local workers to ensure wages stay within communities and stimulate local economic activity;
- prioritizes local and equitable hiring and contracting that creates opportunities for—
- communities of color and indigenous communities;
- women;
- veterans;
- LGBTQIA+ individuals;
- disabled and chronically ill individuals;
- formerly incarcerated individuals; and
- otherwise marginalized communities;
- combats environmental injustice, including by—
- curtailing air, water, and land pollution from all sources;
- removing health hazards from communities;
- remediating the cumulative health and environmental impacts of toxic pollution and climate change;
- ensuring that affected communities have equitable access to public health resources that have been systemically denied to communities of color and Indigenous communities; and
- upholding the fundamental rights of all Americans from the perils of climate change; and
- reinvests in existing public sector institutions and creates new public sector institutions, inspired by and improving upon New Deal-era institutions by addressing historic inequities, to strategically and coherently mobilize and channel investments at the scale and pace required by the national emergency declared pursuant to subsection (a).
- invests in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects, including projects that—
- REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the President shall submit to Congress a report describing actions taken in response to the national emergency declared pursuant to subsection (a).