PREPARED STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN SHERWOOD BOEHLERT It's a pleasure to welcome everyone here for the third of our three opening hearings on the Committee's priorities for the 107th Congress-education, energy and the environment. The subject of today's hearing is the environment, and specifically, global climate change. I think it's safe to say that this is the most controversial of our three opening topics. But there is one principle concerning global climate change on which just about everyone can agree and that's that we need a strong and continuing research program to understand more about climate. And it's that research program that is our primary focus this morning. Our witnesses, in particular Dr. Albritton, will review the current state of the science. But all our witnesses have been asked to highlight the gaps in our knowledge of climate change and what we might do to fill them. This Committee created the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which is due for an evaluation and perhaps some additional legislating. Today's hearing will help us assess whether the federal government's research program needs to be restructured and/or redirected and whether its funding is adequate. Obviously, the science of climate change has policy implications. I wish the Administration would have waited to hear from experts like the ones we have before us today before embarking on what I believe is a misguided and unjustified reversal of position. But policy is not what we are focusing on at today's hearing. We will have additional hearings at both subcommittee and full committee on the policy implications and on the science itself. So I urge my colleagues to focus today on the state of the science of climate change, and especially on the future research agenda for understanding climate change. What are the outstanding gaps in our knowledge? How and when might we get answers to those questions? These issues have not been the subject of many recent hearings. So, I look forward to an open and vigorous-and rigorous-conversation about those matters, one that I hope does not simply rehearse previous discussions of this issue. PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON Thank you, Mr. Hall, for this opportunity to speak today on global climate change, an issue I take very seriously. Last November, I attended the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-6) at the Hague, Netherlands. There were many technical issues discussed there including credits for carbon sinks, how to deal with countries that do not meet emission reduction goals and how developing countries obtain the financial resources necessary to deal with the adverse effects of climate change. This last point was important to me. While the focus of today's hearing is on the science of climate change, we must remember the human dimension of climate change those who stand to gain and lose the most from changes in global weather patterns. We do not need to model the future to understand how devastating current weather is on the less affluent countries and people in the world. Hurricane Mitch which destroyed large parts of Central America and droughts in Africa, which continue to cause starvation are but two examples of the human suffering brought on by severe weather. Taking practical steps to reduce people's vulnerability to today's weather would go a long way to solving the problem of tomorrow's climate. Currently, we have gridlock. Scientists have studied the question of climate change in detail for at least the last ten years. With every new understanding come more questions that need to be answered. The big question is when is the time to move beyond the research into mitigation? I hope our distinguished panel can share some light today on this matter. The time has come for us to be able to tell the world that we better understand the world's climate and can make change that will make a difference. Thank you. PREPARED STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE LYNN WOOLSEY Mr. Hall, thank you for yielding. Two weeks ago at this Committee's hearing on energy, our panel [of witnesses] briefly touched on climate change when they spoke about the effects and implications of our nation's reliance on fossil fuels. I was especially encouraged by their remarks on this subject because they were nonpartisan witnesses who were basing their comments on scientific understanding. I commend the Chairman for holding this hearing so we can learn more about the science behind climate change. At the heart of climate change science is a wellestablished theory, "the greenhouse effect," that states carbon dioxide emissions— a heat-trapping gas that is produced by the burning of fossil fuels-significantly contributes to the global warming trend. That's why I'd like to draw the Committee's and Panel's attention to a recent statement by the Vice Chair of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He said that the challenge of cutting carbon emissions should, in part, be viewed as an opportunity to develop new technologies to reduce emissions. I am confident that as a society we can reduce carbon emissions if we develop clean fuel technologies, like green and renewable energy resources, that don't result in harmful carbon dioxide emissions. I'm hoping our distinguished panel will comment on research needs that will leave the planet as healthy for our grandchildren as it was for our grandparents. Thank you. |