| See the remarks at the following link, scroll to fourth from the bottom: energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1585:chairman-waxman-and-subcommittee-chairman-markey-announce-hearings-on-the-american-clean-energy-and-security-act-of-2009&catid=128:full-committee&Itemid=84 Chairman Waxman ... Chairman Markey ... I want to thank you for convening this week’s hearings on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. I commend you both for your leadership and your determination to advance this bill to where it is today. The legislation we are discussing today will be an achievement for the American people. And it is an achievement for future generations of Americans. Because of this legislation, our children and grandchildren will live in a country that is more sustainable ... more economically viable ... and more efficient than the country we live in today. And for my hometown of Sacramento … this bill is more than an achievement. It is a necessity. My district sits at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains and at the confluence of two major rivers … the American and the Sacramento.
The threat of flooding in Sacramento is ever-present, and it is made worse by our warming planet. California’s Department of Water Resources projects that the Sierra Nevada snowpack will experience a 25- to 40-percent reduction by 2050. These are not empty numbers. They represent real impacts of climate change that translate into serious—and unpredictable—risk for my constituents. As California’s climate warms, more of the Sierra Nevada’s snowpack will contribute to peak storm runoff. High-frequency flood events are projected to increase as a result. In a city like Sacramento, we simply cannot afford to ignore the reality that global warming and flooding are interconnected. We have no choice but to adapt to these changing realities. My constituents realized this long ago. As a result, the majority of them have long supported taking action to cap the carbon emissions that are warming our planet. They recognize that taking bold action today means a more secure future for Sacramento tomorrow. I also recognize this truth, which is why I support the American Clean Energy and Security Act so strongly. But fighting global warming is not just about preserving our current way of life. It is also about creating a cleaner, stronger economy that will power the United States toward a clean-energy future. When I was home last week, I saw numerous examples of how Sacramentans are already generating new clean energy opportunities. I toured a renewable energy testing center that is about to open at the converted site of the former McClellan Air Force Base. This center is working to give small businesses the support they need to take clean energy companies to the commercial stage. I visited an innovative company called SynapSense that helps data centers improve their cooling capabilities. SynapSense is working with HID Laboratories which is developing energy-efficient lighting technologies. Both companies are on the brink of revolutionizing the way commercial businesses save money on energy efficiency strategies. I also saw UC Davis’ Biogas Energy Project, an innovative way of converting organic wastes into biogas fuels and other valuable products. This technology has so much potential that Campbell’s Soup is interested in using biogas digesters to fuel their plant in Sacramento. These businesses and technologies are not dreams in someone’s mind. They are neither ideas nor concepts on a page. Instead, they are the realities of the modern American economy. They are real businesses creating real jobs, real technologies driving a revolution in Sacramento’s regional economy. With the help of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, every city and community in America can emulate the clean energy blueprint that Sacramento has pioneered. What is needed today are strategic investments in clean energy infrastructure that will help similar projects expand and prosper. With the American Clean Energy and Security Act, we are making these smart investments. We are giving entrepreneurs the tools they need to create clean energy jobs that demand American skills ... and that put our country in a strong position to compete internationally. These tools will continue to help our economy grow even as we reduce the carbon dioxide emissions that threaten our very way of life. In this way, clean energy will be the building block of a new era of American economic strength. With the American Clean Energy and Security Act, we will show the rest of the world that America is back ... and that we are ready to lead again. I look forward to the remarks of the many and diverse witnesses who will testify before us in coming days in regard to this groundbreaking legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. | 
