Solving the Climate Crisis: Drawing Down Carbon and Building up the American Economy

SOLVING THE CLIMATE CRISIS: DRAWING DOWN CARBON AND BUILDING UP THE AMERICAN ECONOMY HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 30, 2019 Serial No. 116–3 ( www.govinfo.gov Printed for the use of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 36–849 WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:32 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 036849 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 E:\HR\OC\A849.XXX A849 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with HEARING SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS KATHY CASTOR, Florida, Chair BEN RAY LUJA´ N, New Mexico GARRET GRAVES, Louisiana, Ranking SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon Member JULIA BROWNLEY, California MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia JARED HUFFMAN, California GARY PALMER, Alabama A. DONALD MCEACHIN, Virginia BUDDY CARTER, Georgia MIKE LEVIN, California CAROL MILLER, West Virginia SEAN CASTEN, Illinois KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota JOE NEGUSE, Colorado ANA UNRUH COHEN, Majority Staff Director climatecrisis.house.gov (II) VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:32 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 036849 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 E:\HR\OC\A849.XXX A849 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with HEARING C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Page Hon. Kathy Castor, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, and Chair, Select Committee on the Climate Crisis: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 1 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 2 Hon. Garrett Graves, a Representative in Congress from the State of Lou- isiana, and Ranking Member, Select Committee on the Climate Crisis: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 3 WITNESSES Diana Liverman, Regents Professor of Geography and Development, Univer- sity of Arizona Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 6 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 8 Christopher Guith, Acting President and CEO, US Chamber of Commerce, Global Energy Institute Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 16 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 19 David Foster, Distinguished Associate, Energy Futures Initiative Activities Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 27 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 28 Hal Harvey, CEO, Energy Innovation Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 33 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 35 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Article from the Climate Policy Initiative Report, submitted for the record by Mr. Casten ....................................................................................................... 58 Graphic from Lazards Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis, submitted for the record by Mr. Graves ........................................................................................... 97 APPENDIX Questions from Hon. Kathy Castor for Diana Liverman ..................................... 102 Questions from Hon. Garrett Graves for Christopher Guith ............................... 106 Questions from Hon. Kathy Castor for David Foster ........................................... 109 Questions from Hon. Kathy Castor for Hal Harvey ............................................. 112 Questions from Hon. Ben Ray Luja´n for Hal Harvey ........................................... 117 (III) VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:32 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 036849 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 0483 E:\HR\OC\A849.XXX A849 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with HEARING VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:32 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 036849 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 0483 E:\HR\OC\A849.XXX A849 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with HEARING SOLVING THE CLIMATE CRISIS: DRAWING DOWN CARBON AND BUILDING UP THE AMERICAN ECONOMY TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2019 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:02 a.m., in Room 2247 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Kathy Castor [chair- woman of the committee] presiding. Present: Representatives Castor, Bonamici, Huffman, McEachin, Levin, Casten, Neguse, Graves, Griffith, Palmer, Carter, Miller, and Armstrong. Ms. CASTOR. Good morning. Welcome to the April 30, 2019 meeting of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. The committee will come to order. And without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Today, we will set the table for the select committee’s work on the biggest challenge before us: how to decarbonize the economy, in accordance with climate science, while creating family-sustaining jobs and building a more equitable society. For the benefit of the witnesses, I want to note that members will be coming in and out of the hearing, Mr. Luja´n is with the Speaker, meeting with the President about infrastructure, and sev- eral members are chairing, or trying to fit in multiple hearings. I recognize myself for 5 minutes for an opening statement. This is the first of many select committee hearings that is fo- cused on solutions to the climate crisis. The need for solutions is increasingly urgent. The first major warning Congress received about the impending climate crisis was in 1988, but the Congress didn’t act then. Today, we know that oil companies’ own scientists warned them about climate change too. But instead of action, ex- ecutives chose to tell Congress and the American people to ignore the scientists and that we could afford to wait. Well now, the climate science is too unequivocal to deny. What is clear from the science and what diverse voices, including many young people across America are telling us every day is that if Con- gress continues to delay, we lose. If Congress chooses the status quo, we lose. In fact, scientists have told us that the world needs to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050 to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis. Getting there means cutting green- house gas pollution 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030. To get there, and to give ourselves a chance of avoiding the most cata- strophic consequences of climate change, we have to cut carbon pollution smartly, and soon. Taking action now gives us the best op- (1) VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:32 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 036849 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\HR\OC\A849.XXX A849 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with HEARING 2 portunity to transition to a clean energy economy, efficiently and equitably. We still have time to solve the climate crisis, because we have made some good choices. Raising fuel economy standards, sup- porting wind and solar jobs, investing in research and development, that is coming to fruition now. America chose to lead the world in the Paris Climate Agreement, an agreement vital to the clean energy jobs and innovations underway in America right now. But every time Congress and the administration choose delay, Amer- ican families and businesses are asked to pay a higher price, whether it is through climate catastrophes, extreme heat, dirtier air, or higher electric bills. But as daunting as the climate crisis is, we can make choices and rise to the challenge. Many businesses and communities across America have been leading the way. More than 3 million Americans work in the clean energy economy, existing energy efficiency standards will save con- sumers and businesses $2 trillion on utility bills by 2030, and fuel economy standards will save the average household another $2,800 a year at the pump. Still, there is no substitute for bold Federal policy initiatives that meet the scale of the challenge we face. When we choose clear policies with clear goals, businesses innovate; they reduce cost, they put clean technology to work. Our witnesses today will help us examine and prioritize our policy choices. We are going to look at infrastructure, at deploying more wind and solar, at electrifying home heating and transpor- tation, at cutting the most powerful climate pollutants and more. We are also going to look at funding research and development, and establishing public private partnerships that move technology from the lab to the market. We are going to look at capturing and storing carbon and pulling it out of the atmosphere. But we have to be clear: Technological breakthroughs are not guaranteed. Choosing to invest in innovation doesn’t give us an excuse to choose the status quo elsewhere. At the end of the day, technology is just a tool. It is people who will solve the climate crisis. The clean energy economy employs millions of people, and we can choose policies that will make those jobs family-sustaining jobs. That includes elevating transition for workers in the fossil fuel in- dustry. They deserve a clean energy economy that delivers for them in their communities. We need good and patriotic policies for them, too, and we need climate solutions that work. We have to pursue many options to meet our goals by 2030 and 2050. The one option we don’t have anymore is delay. We must choose climate

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