The Climate Solutions Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives is sometimes jokingly referred to as the “Noah’s Ark Caucus.” A representative can only join by bringing in a colleague from the other party — “two by two,” just like the Ark. Two congressmen from southern Florida, Republican Carlos Curbelo and Democrat Ted Deutch, founded the caucus in 2016 and serve as co-chairmen.
The goal of the caucus is to educate members on economically viable options to reduce climate risk while protecting our nation’s economy, security, infrastructure, agriculture, water supply and public safety.
The caucus came out of meetings initiated by Jay Butera, a volunteer with the Citizens Climate Lobby. He travelled from his home in Philadelphia to South Florida because he saw that part of the country as most impacted by climate change, most notably by rising sea levels and exposure to hurricanes.
“When you actually see salt water flooding the streets of Miami, something changes in you,” he said. “Suddenly climate change gets very real. I began saying to myself, ‘Salt water in the streets will trump party politics.'”
With billions of dollars of property threatened by rising seas and worsening storms, Butera figured that members of Congress representing the Sunshine State would be highly motivated to appear proactive on the climate issue, regardless of their party affiliation.
There were lots of twists, turns and roadblocks for Butera. He learned that “yes” actually means “maybe,” and that “maybe” sometimes means “probably not.” Yet, with the patience of Job and great persistence, he continued in his mission for two years.
His reward is a caucus now 62 strong, and growing.
Since the current Congress began, members of the caucus and their staffs have been working to generate bipartisan legislative initiatives to fight climate change. The caucus already has its stamp on two bills introduced in the House of Representatives.
The first is the Climate Solutions Commission Act of 2017, which has a group of 15 co-sponsors (including eight Republicans). It establishes a bipartisan National Climate Solutions Commission that will be responsible for reviewing economically viable public and private actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Perhaps most importantly, this bill includes a directive that the “goals for emissions reductions should be in line with the latest scientific findings of what is needed to avoid serious human health and environmental consequences of a changing climate.”
Next came the Technologies for Energy Security Act, recycled from the 114th Congress, and now with a bipartisan mix of 116 cosponsors — including many in the Climate Solutions Caucus. This bill will extend the residential energy efficient property tax credit through 2021.
On top of these legislative actions, four Republican members of the caucus joined their colleagues in April in a letter addressed to President Donald Trump urging him to maintain the United States’ commitment in the Paris agreement, despite his oft-repeated vow to leave.
More is coming.
We in Maine have a great interest in the deliberations of the caucus. Our climate change indicators on land include more intense rain storms, northern migration of ticks, and unreliable growing seasons. The great warming reported from the Gulf of Maine is causing huge reductions in the catch of shrimp and cod, as well as increases in invasive species such as green crabs. As if that were not enough, we have ocean acidification and rising sea levels to contend with.
Neither of our representatives are members of the climate caucus, at least not yet. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, who has strong interests in both fishing and farming, is determined to join, and is being helped by Citizens Climate Lobby to find a Republican to join with her.
Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, becoming aware of the dangers of ocean acidification from the uptake of carbon dioxide by ocean waters, recently cosponsored the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2017. We think he should become an active member of the caucus.
We urge Sen. Angus King to extend the bipartisanship of the caucus into discussions in the Senate. Sen. Susan Collins is on record as being a strong proponent of bipartisan action on the climate threat.
Peter Garrett, Ph.D., of Winslow, is state coordinator for Citizens Climate Lobby.
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