Washington, D.C. -- Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement about findings released today by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showing that 2014 was the hottest year on record globally in 134 years of record keeping.

Senator Boxer said: "The data from NASA and NOAA is the latest scientific evidence that climate change is real, and we must act now to protect our families and future generations. Deniers must stop ignoring these alarms if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The very last thing we should do is to increase dangerous carbon pollution through harmful actions like building the Keystone tar sands pipeline."

According to the data released by NASA and NOAA, 2014 was the eighteenth year in a row where the average temperature increased in the U.S., and California's record high temperature was the warmest on record -- 4.1 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average.

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