WRAP UP

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
09/14/12

IN CONGRESS

High-level Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are pushing for the panel’s Republication leadership to hold a hearing examining the impacts of climate change on the country’s electricity generation sector. In a Sept. 10 letter sent to Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Whitfield’s counterpart Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) highlighted several news reports that linked recent extreme heat and drought conditions with climate change—a reality the pair says could strain the nation’s electricity system, particularly for hydroelectric, coal and nuclear plants, which all rely on large amounts of water to cool down operations. “The impacts of climate change on our nation’s power plants are real and are happening now.  They are imposing costs and logistical challenges today,” Waxman and Rush said. “We respectfully ask you to schedule a hearing on this issue as soon as possible so that the members of the Committee can hear from experts about these impacts.” A recent Senate hearing on the science of climate change exhibited how politically divisive the issue still is in Congress.