gulf coast cities washed away by increasingly intense hurricanes alaskan villages slipping into the ocean without sea ice to protect them from winter storms and low lying islands and coastal areas slowly losing ground to rising sea levels these physical vulnerabilities are serious but as we will hear from our witnesses today communities around the world face a variety of challenges from global warming and our dependence on fossil fuels the price of oil is once again breaking records with the american economy already shaky from the mortgage crisis some analysts believe a prolonged oil spike could tip the economy over into a recession sending america reeling from oil speculators opec and oil addiction rising oil and gasoline prices affect all american families but it is especially acute for the working poor for a family owning one car making twenty thousand dollars a year three dollars per gallon of gasoline consumes almost nine percent of its annual income alone adding in the other energy costs raises their fossil fuel bill even further and while we are paying more for fossil fuels the global warming caused by their combustion can undermine parts of the economy in the united states and around the world a university of maryland report released earlier this week found that economic impacts of climate change will occur throughout the united states and that the negative impacts will outweigh the benefits for most sectors that provide essential goods and services to society today we will learn how the health of the economy of the maldives is dependent on the health of their coral reefs our reliance on fossil fuel may be hard on the wallet but the costs do not stop there over seventy percent of african americans and fifty percent of latinos live in counties that violate federal air pollution standards and  surprisingly they have higher prevalence of asthma and other debilitating lung diseases this adds up to substantial costs in terms of health care and lost days at school and work just as our reliance on fossil fuels poses physical economic and health threats the alternatives will reduce pollution harmful to the health of people and the planet and will create new jobs and energy savings for consumers this is precisely why the new electricity energy efficiency and biofuels in combination with its counterpart in the senate by two thousand and thirty this new energy bill has the potential to save more than twice the amount of oil we currently import from the persian gulf to reduce u s global warming pollution by up to forty percent of what we need to do to save the planet and create over one point five million jobs by including representative solis green jobs legislation the energy bill will also provide the tools and the resources to train the workers needed to bring the green revolution to all communities this fall congress has an opportunity to pass an energy bill that will make a significant contribution to our global warming goals reduce the energy and health bills of american families and create jobs in communities that need them the most we are already seeing the effects of our intertwined energy and global warming challenges in vulnerable communities across o nation and world however this crisis will not exclusively target our most vulnerable they may be the first to feel the impacts but in no way will they be the last without strong and consistent energy and global warming policies that look to improve our nation and world's energy and environmental future as a whole we will find all of our communities vulnerable today we have an opportunity to hear the representatives of communities already feeling the impact of global warming and our reliance on fossil fuels and the impact that that has upon them as well and a chance to learn from them what policies would most help their communities meet these challenges i look forward to the testimony from our witnesses and i now turn to recognize the ranking member of the select committee the gentleman from wisconsin mister sensenbrenner mister sensenbrenner thank you very much mister chairman today's hearing will focus on the plight of those who are in the path of nature from the coastlines of the gulf of mexico to erosion in alaska to rising seas around the maldives these problems are real and threaten real people and like many on this panel i have concern for those people whose homes and livelihoods are being affected by this change in nature but i am also concerned that today's hearing will do little to offer constructive and realistic solutions to these problems rising waters may well be an effect of global warming but just how can we get these water to recede the answer many will offer today is regulation regulation and more regulation it is as if some people believe that government regulation and taxes will have the same gravitational pull on the oceans that the moon does they don't as we look for ways to address the global warming problem we are looking for ways to produce energy and to power transportation without  is my hope that researchers can soon develop the kinds of breakthrough technologies that will allow people all over the world to enjoy clean cheap energy new energy and transportation technologies have the potential to lower energy costs improve the environment and end the world's reliance on unstable countries for energy fuels that is the type of win win solution that republicans like me are seeking it seems that many people believe that by enacting regulations the work on global warming will be complete and that the waters will miraculously ebb they won't as we already have seen regulations have done little to lower the co emissions in europe with one recent report showing so far all of europe's extreme regulatory efforts have actually led to a one percent rise in emissions additionally anecdotal evidence shows that aside from some outfits that sell carbon credits the regulations aren't doing much to help europe's economy either it goes without saying that the european regulations are doing nothing to help keep water levels down i do not wish to make light of the dangers faced by communities which are in the path of nature but i do not think that regulatory measures that make energy much more expensive are the answer that will save places like the maldives my concern is that by enacting tough cap and trade regulations without having the needed developments in energy technology we will see dramatic rises in energy prices that will threaten the jobs and the economy of not just the poor but everyone my fear is that in  hundred years people in this country will still continue to battle high energy prices while people in the maldives will continue to battle high water levels that is what i call a lose lose scenario and congress should seek to avoid it breakthrough technologies to the extent that they are available but the irony is that we don't have to wait for breakthrough technologies we know what to do in terms of reducing energy consumption we know what to do in terms of having global cooperation our friends in europe already have half the co emissions that we have and the people in the maldives it is one tenth of our emission levels yet they are very likely to be city were hit by a category three hurricane what if the most densely residential city in the country loses hundreds of thousands of homes in a few hours the reconstruction where people will live these are very real problems for people at home and abroad and i am looking forward to the discussion here today to have a better sense of urgency which is lacking i am afraid with this administration and too many people in this congress thank you and i yield back  communities and communities of colorbecause for many many years the environmental movement hasn't always brought about the concerns of our communities and therefore i think that this is a first good step working towards that initiative to  try to be as inclusive as we can because global warming and the effects that it will have impact disproportionately low income communities even in more harsher terms than we even know and i can testify to that as  having grown up in parts of los angeles county where in a district that i represent we have three superfund sites we have water that is contaminated through rocket fuel we have high levels of smog that we are experiencing and therefore are seeing higher incidence of asthma rates higher rates of cancer and also the mortality rates of many of our young people as well as our adults our seniors are faced with if we don't begin to address this issue of climate change and how it affects urban centers but also rural communities i think that we are really going to be leaving a lot of people out of this discussion and i am very proud to serve as a member of this committee to be able to talk and hopefully amplify the voices that you witnesses here today bring to the table you know in a community like mine latinos don't often have the luxury of working in even communities where their environment is safe and i mean safe in terms of health effects because of pollutants in the air because maybe the proximity where they live is close to a freeway in fact many of the school districts that i represent are no more than one half mile health care and in trauma centers and you see it afflicting not just people of color but people who are trying to make a living middle income individuals who are also having to face up to what is happening to them in the state of california we have been plagued with droughts very hot summers we have many of our local communities that are now self imposing mandatory conservation efforts and that is just one part of it but when you tell a family a working family that they now have to pay three dollars fifty cents to get to work and then know that they have no health insurance and when they come home at night in that community that they are still faced with many more hardships just trying to put food on the table eighteen gerald i want to be very specific and i didn't know that there was such a thing as living a great distance from what we called at the time the cesspool which was the waste treatment plant probably less than three hundred yards from our back door and then about six hundred yards away was the city landfill  anytime we had a strong wind blowing across north texas which happened quite a bit the whole tone of our community changed people would stay inside because of the  odor and we took for granted you know i don't think anybody can go back and figure out how many people have died as a result of pollutants in the air  but they would be considerable and then just three months ago almost four months ago jimmy rainey ran from the living room of his home with only  underwear trying to get his inhaler to work he died on the front lawn of his home and i spoke at his funeral i began to look at all of the numbers of africanamericans and latinos in urban areas dying of asthma and then i can't help but think about the funerals in my hometown at the time i grew up and then i began to look at this issue find out that according to the national law journal communities of color take about twenty percent longer to qualify for either the superfund or to have any kind of remediation in their communities of what is clearly environmental injustice hearing without learning something and then trying to fashion solutions this is not an intellectual issue for me it is real i know human beings who have died i have friends who have died and asthma is running rampant in every urban democracies around the world mister king currently is holding a looking listening and learning tour where he is studying the causes of poverty in fifty selected communities this summer he also helped organize the sons and daughters of many of the t take action through nonviolent tangible steps to address instances of conflict and injustice worldwide mister king we look forward to your testimony whenever you are ready please begin mister king thank you mister chairman  markey and members of the committee thank you for the invitation to speak today as the first son of doctor martin luther king junior coretta scott king both of whom were human rights activists i have been involved in significant humanitarian and policy realizing the dream currently a nonpartisan organization that seeks to continue and advance the legacy and work of my parents realizing the dream seeks to give a stronger voice to the economically disadvantaged and to foster the elimination of poverty in america recently i have been conducting a looking listening and learning tour to study the causes of poverty in fifty selected communities throughout the united states of america i have completed tours of thirty five communities including three native american reservations communities across appalachia and the gulf coast as well as both urban and rural america forty years have passed since my father's death but his concerns about inequality and deprivation are at least as topical today as they have been in the past thirty eight million americans live below the official poverty line the highest rate among developed countries this number has increased by four million people over the last four years the entire size of the state of kentucky todayhis words still provide hope and inspiration to all of us a resounding echo of the moral leadership that has at critical junctures of our nation's history lifted america to a higher place in one thousand nine hundred and sixty four upon winning the nobel prize my father said granted that we face a world crisis which leaves us standing so often amid the surging murmur of life's restless sea but every crisis has both its dangers and opportunities it could spell either salvation or doom today a new world crisis looms one that we knew little about forty years ago last week the nobel peace prize was awarded to former vice president al gore and to a panel of two thousand scientists who have been lifting our veil of ignorance on  the global warming crisis there is a bridge between this crisis and that which my father confronted because both require a new paradigm of moral courage and leadership in this climate crisis i too see both opportunity and danger and i am hopeful that we can find our salvation i am here today to tell you that global warming is a form of violence upon the most vulnerable among us and to ask for you to step forward and to protect those in need obviously i am not a scientist or an expert on global warming but i listen to those experts and i listen to the people in communities across this nation who are concerned about the health and safety of those families of their families to lift families from poverty we need to empower people to take charge of their lives and the life of their communities global warming and other environmental threats erode that power the poor are victims of choices made by corporations over which they have no say and congress needs to protect all americans from the threats that are being created earlier this year the scientific panel that last week won a share of the nobel prize released reports compiling the consensus views of thousands of scientists and agreed to by the nations of the world including the united states i want to point to a statement by the chairman of that panel the inter governmental panel on climate change who said it is the poorest of the poor in the world and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies who are going to be the worst hit according to the ipcc report hundreds of millions of events and floods the scientific report in many ways echoes the findings of a landmark report by the congressional black caucus foundation from two thousand and four titled african americans and climate change an unequal burden the caucus report concluded that african americans will disproportionately bear the substantial public health burden caused by climate change according to the report african americans are nearly three times as likely to be hospitalized or killed by asthma as others with climate change expected to worsen air pollution and increase the incidence of asthma for our children when disaster strikes the poor are left in harm's way as one illustration according to the congressional black caucus report african americans are fifty percent more likely than others to be uninsured i want to be clear however that global warming is a dire threat for all of the nations and the world's poor as was the case forty years ago what appeared to many americans to be mostly an african american issue still today concerns the whole nation poverty in america today affects all races the majority of the poor are white not african american or hispanic we are all in the struggle together poor or rich black or white while global warming is a crisis it is not a cause for despair i am filled with hope every generation has had to tackle threats of magnitudes that are almost unimaginable to us today global warming has been ignored for far too long and it is time for our generation to step forward solving global warming can help lift the poorest among us and provide new economic opportunities global warming isfueled by our dependence on dirty energy fuels that assail our health and drain our wallets the pathway to solving global warming is a pathway to safer communities for our children and better economic opportunities i would like to lend my support to the testimony of van jones president of the ella baker center for human rights who came before this committee in may he outlined a national commitment to green collar jobs that will give ordinary americans a shot at lifelong careers in the growing clean energy economy as congress crafts an action plan on global warming we must also look to the economic impacts of the plan on the poor the financial resources to provide economic opportunity and avoid economic burdens that are at hand if it embraces the principles that industrial polluters should bear primarily the financial responsibility for their actions when designing an emissions trading system for greenhouse gases congress should invest revenues from polluters payments to help the poor be a part of the solution and to protect those who are least able to afford the cost of cleaning up we all need the moral courage to rise above the complacency to rise above the injustice and to rise above the political differences that have led us turn deaf ears to this crisis again and again and again i conclude by asking who among us will aspire to the opportunity and salvation that lies within the climate crisis where are the voices of hope today in america who among us will stand up and lift our children and the poorest among us from the impacts of a crisis not of their making who here in congress will lead this fight and put aside the whispering of those who fear change the energy bill that the house has passed is a strong first step congress needs to pass a bill with the best parts of both the house and senate version and it must not stop there but keep pressing forward even more comprehensive solutions chairman markey i appreciate your leadership on these matters and the work of other committee members there are many leaders among you i ask you all to work together to lead and look forward to supporting your efforts thank you th thank you mister king very much the chairman our second witness is doctor eileen gauna who is a law professor at the university of new mexico with a focus on environmental law environmental justice administrative law and energy and property she is one of the country's foremost experts on environmental justice and has written about and worked extensively on the issue she is also a member of the epa's national environmental justice advisory thank you chairman markey one correction i am no longer a present member of nejac i completed my term one of my several terms but thank you for your invitation to testify  before the committee today your work on energy independence and climate change is complex and is urgent and i am really encouraged that you are not falling prey to this urgency by ignoring the effects of new energy policies on our most vulnerable communities that single focus in the past has led to poor communities and communities of color bearing notonly the brunt of increased exposures but an increased risk of accidents insufficient energy and emergency infrastructure degradation of national resources and other environmental disamenities noise dust odors  light pollution my work has taken me to many stressed communities throughout the united states where you can really vividly see hear smell taste  result of our lack of comprehensive policies on industrialization waste disposal and energy supply it is a long and neglected problem and it is encouraging to see it being addressed at this level your committee also seeks to do more as shifting energy policies create new opportunities you are attempting to ensure that poor and vulnerable communities share in those opportunities but because of the complexity of the problem there are pitfalls and there is a risk for unintended consequences along the way and it is a few of those discrete unintended consequences i would like to use my time to address today in the process of retooling our energy infrastructure we are going to undou encounter significant siting issues we need renewable sources such as wind farms waste energy plants biofuel production facilities more high voltage transmission lines we need more production facilities for solar panels or other equipment to build a newer greener energy supply then there are other forms of energy supply presently under consideration such as nuclear power plants coal fired power plants with carbon capture and sequestration capacity more imported liquefied natural gas all cleaner from a global warming perspective but the processes themselves may carry significant risks if there is no thought on the front end to where these facilities and how they will be sited there is going to be chaos at the back end this is not good for utility companies communities or domestic ecosystems that are more vulnerable to climate change effects and it is not good for energy security and independence let me give you one quick example we recently launched a concerted campaign to increase importation of liquefied natural gas by adding about forty or fifty facilities to our existing five if you take a look at the ferc web site you will see a map of the existing and proposed lng facilities now take a look at the web site  this select committee and see the locations that are predicted to sustain the greatest impact from global climate change the facilities are literally right in the eye of the coming storms you can see that the gulf coast heavily populated by poor and people of color communities will receive the lion's share of these facilities especially as communities and state opposition elsewhere remains fierce what you see is an emerging pattern of racial disparity and as we have learned from the present disparities and spatial location of hazardous waste facilities and high emitters commonly called tri facilities these disparities once formed become intractable can a new more comprehensive energy policy avoid this it can and it will be fair and more efficient over the long term as we think about the new physical machinery of our clean energy infrastructure we need to provide adequate protection federal legislation can and should protect vulnerable communities by avoiding increasing impacts on communities that are already heavily burdened the experiments in brown redevelopment has taught us that this is not the death knell for high impact projects quite the contrary when potentially impacted communities are brought into the process at a very early time many impacts can be minimized or avoided altogether and communities are more likely to support the process if they are included in it and if they are given resources to independently review that project as some development attorneys can attest and often do the projects that have been least successful are those where project sponsors have tried to avoid legal requirements and short cut the permitting process in the long term itdelays projects my written testimony has specific information as to how this can be done i want to stress it is not to suggest a complete facility moratorium in vulnerable communities but rather to suggest that vulnerable communities should not receive the highest impact facilities and the lowest paying jobs with relatively small investment in job training and commonsense siting and permitting criteria we can create an equitable and efficient clean energy infrastructure in protecting vulnerable communities another matter is that we should avoid the temptation to grandfather existing facilities in new legislation the proliferation of new coal fired power plants about one hundred and fifty of them in anticipation of more stringent climate change legislation should not be rewarded down the line we may yet be witnessing yet another disparity experience teaches us that regulatory agencies often narrowly construe the legal authorities when asked to provide protections for vulnerable communities these communities are left suffering impacts that could have clearly been avoided a simple requirement that impacts to vulnerable communities should be avoided minimized or mitigated to the extent feasible together with the requirement for an alternative site analysis can go a long way to inject common sense and protectiveness into the process as pedestrian as siting and permitting issues may appear to some especially in the face of the urgency of climate change this much we should remember this is the single biggest issue for these vulnerable communities they are assaulted by staggering pollution loads our regulatory regime is not equipped to handle cumulative risks or synergistic effects it is not designed or adequately funded and equipped to address multiple stressor situations let's not add to this problem it is our ethical duty  iditarod race musher throughout his life he has strived to protect the livelihood and culture of native villages across alaska currently he is vice chairman of both the akiak native community and the alaska inter tribal council which represents two hundred and twenty nine tribes in alaska he is also vice president of the national congress of american indians alaska region and it is an honor to testify before you today my name is mike williams i am a yupiaq real people from akiak alaska located on the kuskokwim river currently i am vice chairman of akiak native community a federally recognized tribe and i also serve as the vice chairman for the alaska inter tribal council which consists of two hundred and twenty nine federally recognized tribes in alaska in addition i amvice president the national congress of american indians alaska region and board member for national tribal environmental council global warming is undermining the social identity and cultural survival of alaskan natives and american ind lakes dry and our animals become diseased and dislocated we recognize that our health and our traditional ways of life are at risk our elders in particular are deeply concerned about what they are witnessing in alaska unpredictable weather and ice conditions make travel and time honored subsistence practices hazardous endangering our lives according to the u s cor and eighty communities are at risk throughout the nation in indian country traditional foods are declining landscapes are changing rural infrastructure is being challenged soils are drying the lake and river levels are declining tribes are experiencing droughts loss of forests fishery problems and increased health risks from heat strokes and from diseases that thrive in warmer temperatures clearly global warming represents one of the greatest threats to our future and must be addressed by congress as soon as possible there are many economic opportunities for alaska natives and american indians  carbon future especially with respect to renewable energy tribes offer some of the greatest resources for helping the nation with renewable energy development particularly wind solar power b also been installed on the rosebud sioux indian reservation port graham village is assessing construction of a biomass facility using forestry waste the confederated tribes of the warm springs reservation has analyzed the viability of a commercial geothermal power plant also nativesun solar has installed hundreds of systems on the navajo and hopi reservations to achieve indian country's and alaska's renewable energy potential however we need investment capital infrastructure and technical capacity any renewable energy program must include opportunities and installation there are also economic opportunities associated with energy conservation we would welcome tribal based initiatives to better insulate our homes to convert our lighting and to educate our members regarding energy efficiency practices we want jobs that save us money and reduce our carbon footprint in general we believe a low carbon economy will provide multiple local benefits by decreasing air pollution creating jobs reducing energy use and saving money with respect to adaptation communities like newtok alaska are already taking action to move from dangerous sites to higher ground it is important for congress to recognize that the adaptation needs are very great we require planning assistance federal coordination and significant financial resources to educate these crucial relocations and to fund other adaptation needs in recognition of this tremendously serious situation that global warming poses to american indians and alaska natives our most important organizations have passed urgent resolutions outlining problems threats and needed action by congress including the alaska inter tribal council the alaska federation o alaska native entities and national congress of american indians i have submitted all of these resolutions to the committee with mywritten testimony in summary mister chairman alaska natives  and american indians are being seriously threatened by global warming we implore congress to protect current and future generations by documenting the extensive costs of global warming to tribes reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping those communities like shishmaref that need to be moved repaired or otherwise assisted because of the adverse impacts of global warming there is so much at sta for the sake of our children and grandchildren seven generations and beyond congress must take meaningful action to address this issue now this is our most and sincere and urgent plea as assistant director general he has brought to light many of the effects of global warming on his country and is actively working with the united nations to find solutions for the maldives and the world to the challenges presented by global warming global climate change i come to explain that for the maldives this global phenomenon represents a crisis that threatens our very existence for us and for other vulnerable communities around the world failure to address this threat will have devastating consequences for human rights homes livelihoods and ultimately human lives i have come to this hallowed spot to ask you for your political economic and moral leadership to address climate change i have come to tell you that if you overlook the urgency of this moment it will result in the death of a nation the maldives and the loss of  able communities around the world mister chairman distinguished representatives climate change is the defining issue of our time and the fundamental challenge to the st century moreover it is not an environmental challenge nor a scientific theory it is the first and foremost human issue it is already adversely impacting individuals around the planet due to alterationsof ecosystems the increased incidence of natural disasters global recession of enormous proportions turn two hundred million people into refugees and precipitate the largest migration in modern history as their homes succumb to drought climate change the maldives is comprised of approximately one thousand one hundred and ninety small islands scattered in the indian ocean with only one percent of land and ninety nine percent of sea i use approximately because the number of entire nation we are rising to meet this challenge as best we can our work focuses on adaptation international negotiation public diplomacy and the human dimension of global climate change most immediate initiatives on sea defenses securing vital infrastructures utilities and so forth relocating people from smaller vulnerable communities internationally we are leading an initiative in cooperation with other smaller island states entitled the human dimension of global climate change this initiative is designed to put people back at the heart of the issue and highlight th threat climate change poses to human rights and human lives we will convene a conference in the maldives on the th of november this year and i would be pleased to elaborate on this further during your questions mister chairman although the impact guests here he will be back in a moment and asked that we proceed i would just note that we are going to be facing a vote pretty soon so i would like to just move quickly i would just ask one question and then turn to my colleagues mister williams  you are aware of any specific programs in place at this point that address the concerns of native american populations as it relates to the consequences of climate change  think is one way of retreating from falling into the sea and that is the only thing that is occurring and what we have been trying to do thank you sir i want to welcome all of our witnesses before us today mister king i commend you for your listening tour it sounds like it has been instructive mister williams i think i would like to direct my first question to you poorest of the poor in the country misess blackburn let me ask you this also so on the wind turbines you are depending on government grants for that but let me ask you about transporting renewable energy to some of these rural and isolated areas what solutions do you propose or do you all have any solutions that you are proposing for transporting renewable fuels into these rural areas  support for the photovoltaic systems they have installed hundreds of systems on the navajo and the hopi reservations what is the cost per kilowatt hour for solar energy in alaska and what do residences an average resident actually pay for electricity per kilowatt hour right now do you have that information mister williams yes i have i don't have current  is more viable and the solar energy in the wintertime when there is twenty four hours of no solar we don't see the sun up north for twenty four hours for six months it is pretty hard to get that  fifteen years and it shows about a millimeter of rise per year in sea level and to this magnitude even a small millimeter of the sea level it speeds up the wind and those who perhaps will be impacted most by what is occurring because of global warming i guess there has to be a balance of some today i don't know that i can cite specific examples today i certainly would be able to get something back to you on that mister king but what i think can happen or i hope can happen or in the past have heard is that of these large entities that are ultimately obviously the solution is to create the kind of regulations so that we can begin to communities but we find under current conditions in this administration we have been negligent in that cleanup mister king yes and particularly again as it relates to communities of color where there setting some policy decisions that would actually look at substantive criteria if you could please go over that because you hit a lot of what i would like to see occurring in some of our public policy if you could be a little bit more specific and just give me some idea of how we do that when we are setting our policy thank you congresswoman solis that really is a you know rather technical area but it is not insurmountable i think that we have models that can work for example to avoid minimize mitigate models that we see in wetland permitting and other areas where we are protecting vulnerable or highly fragile resources could actually work in an area of highly impacted   protections go a long way very basically the earlier you get the communities involved in the project the important thing to remember is that the communities are the people most intimate awareof the surrounding circumstances especially in a multiple impact area often when you get these communities involved very early they can propose  solutions that the permitting officials and other public officials tend to miss because they don't live in those areas so procedural criteria can go a long way but when we are dealing with highly impacted communities we need hopefully you can give me some guidance because we are the only nation in the western world still not admitting climate change which is an embarrassment in itself but i don't want to deal with that embarrassment or try to conceal it but if you look at what happened in the ninth ward in new orleans and realize that if you go down there now you still have clearly the legislation that you will propose and ultimately pass is going to do a lot of that or i think go a long way toward addressing that issue i collectively it is also part of our responsibility to inform the community i think people of color often are in a survival mode while people know that these issues of coming to continue to raise issues but i think historically our nation has just kind of just like we would look at poverty now we finally realize in this nation that global warming is a crisis i there is going to have to be a new moral tone set as it relates to global warming and other issues particularly poverty which i and many have been working on we are sort of in denial and i don't think we have the luxury of denying anymore  this is the issue front and center that we have to address for our own personal survival as i say we as organizations i am sure are going to do our part but we need legislation from you as congressperson you congressman in my experience there hasn't been apathy in fact there has been a great deal of interest coming from community and community based organizations i do see a disconnect between that and the higher levels of government to the extent that at this level you can put into legislation or policies provisions for collaboration between community based organizations and federal sub federal agencies i think you have a real nice synergy there that has been unexplored and unharvested up until this point i think i am absolutely convinced the interest is  there but we just need a way to connect that i could be more specific in a follow up piece if you would like on how to increase this level of collaboration that is necessary i agree with you it is absolutely necessary the gentleman from california and the island communities are being impacted but no community is going to be immune in the future there is a question here though that you spoke about wind turbines and other forms of renewable energy mister williams is that impacting you in a positive way in terms of creating jobs more than the jobs that are created say by shipping in oil or diesel fuel or whatever forms of energy used before the renewable energy is being used mister williams well currently there are limited you spoke you talked more about the concern of liquid natural gas and other forms of traditional energy do you see the how do you see that is stacking up against the positive impact of gauna economically one thing that i am seeing in my travels is communities are saying we need economic development we are not antidevelopment we need jobs but we would like clean jobs when you  compare cleaner not totally risk free or pollution free but cleaner forms of renewable energy production versus the really heavy extractive industries you know coal bed methane dewatering processes and so forth that really degrade the environment you will see a clear choice there and communities by and large you know would opt for the cleaner jobs that are provided by renewable energy sources talk about new alternatives even if we are talking about fuel sources the kinds of things that are going to just make our environment a better place i think people will embrace that and of course because it does not exist it would seem like today it does not exist enough it seems like it would have another major economic impact anything that perhaps is new it would seem to me would not just create interest but would creat i just want to comment on the proliferation of polluting or industrial sites in areas where people of color are a large part of the population i think it that lives there it is a caucasian american small town that just happens not to be well off enough or perhaps educated enough about the environment to go out or to have the time i think as  hearings and write letters and do all those things that other people with more resources are available to do turning to mister williams and mister abdulla i am particularly interested in  the specific things that could be done to mitigate or to adapt to your communities and especially with the maldives we have a few parallels here in the united states that people who live there have not realized yet the outer worst case scenario of climate change happens and sea levels rise they will be facing the inundation that you will but the difference is they are close to the mainland of the united states and they will be relatively easy impact as i might say you know the increasing sea surface temperature threatens the very existence of our country both economically and physically the two industries namely the fisheries and the tourism  a sister city program between cities in the united states and cities in other countries around the world this might be an opportunity for us to establish the same kind of relationship where a city or an island or a community in the united states that is threatened by increased sea level or other climate change effects would partner with a country like yours and thereby share information and establish the identification proposed energy bill do you feel most directly strengthen the lives of the most  vulnerable which part of the energy bill that we are now considering do you believe affects most significantly the lives of the most vulnerable which things in there do you believe are going to be most vulnerable in shifting our  policy in a way that helps those who are vulnerable here and around the world mister king well i think looking at it from a comprehensive standpoint  way to address i guess and i want to be direct but i am not sure that i have all the information today i can certainly i can helped create those successes what does the congress need to do to help ensure that we can learn from these successes as we build a green energy future ms gauna thank you representative markey there was actually a study i believe performed by the environmental protection agency or the national environmental justice advisory council i am not sure what that looked at five areas that were high impact communities where there was brownfield development and kind of looked at those to see what happened interestingly enough i know it sounds rather common but the earlier you get that community in give them independent technical review of the proposals they are able to suggest very interesting options to deal with some of the higher impacts the problem that we see from my end of it is that permitting officials are very hesitant to use legal authority to address environmental justice issues so just having the legal authority there having a signal a strong signal from congress to promote early participation to give resources to  require heavy heavy public participationrequirements in siting and permitting is going to create the synergies that are needed to help resolve the problems on a site specific level these talking about what is the scale of financial resources that is going to be necessary for example to relocate the tribes up in alaska you know there are obscene estimates of one hundred dollars million to four hundred dollars million per the federal government if we don't begin to start addressing this issue right now and that is why i enthusiastically came here to testify to make sure that this is a top priority  spending from our national budgets annually and the speed of it is that we can't wait until the waves are hitting the communities and we have seen every monsoon the enormous and they have millions of dollars of relocation costs what in the short term is the most feasible way to actually help for the federal government to help that relocation effort is it a specific bill is it a grant is it an earmark what is the best thing for us to consider mister williams well i think the best thing for you to consider right now is to make sure and if we don't take any action right now as human beings that are causing this problem i think we can save many millions of dollars down the road but it has to be action has to be now  have action plans right now so we can avoid more costs down the road mister inslee by the way by asking these questions i don't mean to imply that we don't need to stop this from happening in taking proactive measures i have been working with the chair and folks on this committee to do that i believe we can do that there is a book called apollo's fire out there that talks about what we could do to stop this from happening i know because i helped coauthor it so i know that we can do this but the problem is that there is so much of this that is locked into the system already even if we stop today co pollution we are going to have a lot of damage that we have to deal with so i am interested in any further thoughts you have at any time about how to move forward on a fund like this i would like to hear them i am sure there are others as well i want to thank you for being here thank you great the gentleman's time has expired here is what i am going to ask each of you to do give us the one minute the one minute you want us to remember as we are going forward to the end of this year on the energy bill and then on to the  planet to go unheard that we remain as a sovereign state and none of the maldives will want to be environmental refugees unless otherwise we are forced to bear in mind that please help us to be as a sovereign state not to be a victim from the global warming and climate change thank energy is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles power companies et cetera i think there are other ways of addressing this issue and i want you to remember clearly that to leave you with the thought that as we build our new cleaner energy infrastructure which we must that a simple requirement that impacts the vulnerable communities should be avoided minimized or mitigated to the extent feasible together with requirements for alternative site analyses can go a long way to inject common sense and protectiveness into a permitting process this is going to avoid a lot of problems down the road thank you the chairman thank you professor chairman i would just like to add a caveat i guess to what mister williams stated that is that clearly today most consumers do not have a choice as it relates to whether it fuel for your automobile or whether it is heating oil for your home we need more choices the new sources of energy that can be produced will create jobs and opportunities for people in our nation and perhaps an entire new economy a clean economy i just want to add my voice to the voice of all those who believe testifying here with us today the select committee very much appreciates the effort that you have made we want you to know that this testimony today is going to play a big role in the way in which our committee views this bill that is now pending in the next six to eight weeks before the house of representatives and the senate it is a powerful powerful thing to hear the kind of testimony that you