MARKEY, SPEAKER PELOSI, SELECT COMMITTEE EMBARKS ON EU GLOBAL WARMING TRIP
AS CONGRESS TAKES LEADERSHIP ROLE ON WARMING, ADMINISTRATION REJECTS EU CLIMATE CONCERNSWashington, DC - Chairman Edward Markey of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming is joining House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of the Select Committee on an international fact-finding mission on global warming impacts and solutions this Memorial Day weekend. The bipartisan delegation will arrive in Greenland today, continuing on to Germany, Great Britain and Belgium to meet with leading scientists and political leaders working on solutions to combat global warming.
Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that the U.S. delegation to the Group of Eight Nations (G-8) has rejected a climate proposal from G8 head and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that calls for limiting the worldwide temperature increase this century to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit and cutting global warming emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
The congressional delegation will meet with Chancellor Merkel this week.
“By calling for a limit on temperature rise through cuts in heat-trapping emissions, the E.U. is recognizing the scientific consensus that the worst effects of global warming are yet to come if we do not act,” said Chairman Markey. “With a small amount of additional warming the world could see more heat waves, more drought, and the Greenland ice sheet would melt at an even more alarming rate, raising sea levels.
“The administration needs to explain what alternative science it is still hanging its hat on, because most people believe that hat has already been blown away by overwhelming scientific evidence,” Chairman Markey continued.
Along with Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Markey, the delegation includes Select Committee members Hilda Solis (D-CA), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin(D-SD), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), John Larson (D-CT), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO). David Hobson, a Republican from Ohio and Ranking member of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee is also traveling.
The bipartisan delegation will be first heading to Greenland and is scheduled to meet with Dr. Konrad Steffen, who is the lead scientist at Swiss Camp located on the Jakobshavn Glacier. In Europe, the delegation is scheduled to meet with Chancellor Merkel, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, foreign and environmental ministers, members of parliament and leading environmentalists and scientists.
Because of the significance of this trip, the air travel will be carbon offset through the Pacific Forest Trust - a forest conservation and stewardship project that will permanently reduce approximately 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions over a 100-year period. Speaker Pelosi will personally pay for this effort.
The Select Committee was active during the 110th and 111th Congresses. This is an archived version of the website, to ensure that the public has ongoing access to the Select Committee record. This website, including external links, will not be updated after Jan. 3rd, 2010.
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