Earth Day Update on Climate Bill Hearings from Congresswoman Doris Matsui

Guest post from Congresswoman Doris Matsui. Cross-posted from www.focusthenation.org.



As a member of the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee, I just wanted to take a moment out of the hearings we are holding today to discuss the comprehensive climate change bill, and give you a quick update about what is happening here in Washington.

In the last few days alone, more action has been taken on climate change than in the entire eight years of the Bush presidency. On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the findings of their scientific review, which recognized that global warming threatens both public health and public welfare, and that greenhouse gas emissions are influencing everything from crop failures to more intense heat waves that we are seeing in my hometown of Sacramento.

Yesterday, we started hearings in the Energy and Commerce Committee on the comprehensive climate legislation put forth by Chairmen Henry Waxman and Edward Markey. When passed, the American Clean Energy and Security Act will allow our children and grandchildren to live in a country that is more sustainable, more economically viable, and more efficient than the country we live in today.

Today we are celebrating the 39th annual Earth Day, a worldwide celebration designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment and educating individuals about what they can do to help.

And this weekend, I will be one of hundreds of Californians participating in some way at the California Student Sustainability Coalition Spring Convergence & Focus the Nation Town Hall in San Lois Obispo.

We are closer to making real progress on climate change legislation that ever before, and I hope we all take this opportunity to make this an historic Earth Day.

-Congresswoman Doris Matsui, (D-CA-05)