WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today led a hearing on extreme event attribution, which studies the influence of human-caused climate change on weather-related disasters, and the impacts of extreme weather on U.S. communities.
HIGHLIGHTS:
HOW CLIMATE CHANGE IS DRIVING EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS:
“Climate change is already affecting every aspect of our weather. Overall, NASA tells us that global temperatures have increased a little more than 1 degree Celsius — that’s about 2 degrees Fahrenheit — since 1880. That is due mostly to human-caused climate change. Because our planet is warmer, on average, the hot days are becoming hotter. And, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, rain storms are growing more intense. Warmer oceans are also producing stronger hurricanes. Last week, we saw Hurricane Otis wreak havoc, wreak devastation, in Mexico when it rapidly intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in just nine hours.”
HOW CLIMATE ATTRIBUTION SCIENCE IS HELPING COMMUNITIES BETTER PLAN FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS:
Chairman Carper:
“Dr. Wehner, would you please share an example of how attribution science can inform the design and engineering of infrastructure projects to better manage the impacts of these extreme events when they occur?”
Michael F. Wehner, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Applied Mathematics and Computational Research Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory:
“I had a project with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission … The City of San Francisco is charged with rebuilding the wastewater management — the sewers — and they’re charged with considering climate change in this … We asked them to give us a dozen storms since the satellite era that were impactful and we would take a look at them. And, we were able to analyze six of those. And, the atmospheric river storms that had the so-called ‘bomb cyclones’ associated with them responded in a way that [was] — again, I was surprised — about twice the expected rate.
“That was used by their consultants to modify their IDF (Intensity Duration and Frequency) curves … a design tool that engineers use … I will quote what Susan Leal said, who was the Former Director of the Public Utilities Commission and [is] now one of their consultants. And, she said, ‘There ain’t no pipe big enough.’ And, that has sent the engineers and designers back to the drawing [board] saying, ‘How are we going to accommodate these storms in a world that might be in a considerably warmer scenario?’”
HOW THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT IS HELPING COMMUNITIES LOWER ENERGY COSTS AND INVEST IN CLEAN ENERGY:
Chairman Carper:
“The Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law … included programs to help states, programs to help tribes, to help cities, and help counties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to improve their resiliency. One example is the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG). Dr. Jurado, does your community down in Broward County want and need this federal assistance? … How are you using federal grant programs and clean energy tax credits? And, is this assistance sufficient for communities to address climate change by driving down emissions and increasing resilience?”
Jennifer Jurado, Ph.D., Chief Resilience Officer and Deputy Director, Resilient Environment Department, Broward County, Florida:
“The support is absolutely needed. I’m sure that many are aware that our state passed on the CPRG funding and most recently on the solar project funding for residential investment. If that money is not made directly available to communities — meaning municipalities, tribes, and counties — many of us will not be able to take advantage of these very critically needed investments. And frankly, there aren’t alternative funding sources.
“Another challenge that we have is we have no investment in energy efficiency by our local energy utility. There are no programs. And, the statement is made that it’s not cost-effective. Well, it’s not cost-effective for the utility provider but no matter how clean the energy is that is being produced you still have many low-income individuals who are contending with a significant rise in temperature. They’re already energy-burdened and many are struggling with how to provide air conditioning just to sleep through the night. You have older individuals who need that cooling. Children cannot sleep and study well if they don’t have an opportunity for their bodies to cool at night. The CPRG funding — that Climate Pollution Reduction Act funding — is critical for being able to aid with investments that help energy efficiency in single-family and multi-family residences that need that support…
“In addition, with regards to the direct pay tax credits, certainly in Broward County, we’ve been looking for innovative models to help support projects over the years. We have maybe 14 to 15 very large-scale solar projects. But, these tax credits are now allowing us to increase the size of our solar projects by 30 percent beyond what we could have done otherwise. So, it’s a tremendous benefit to our ability to participate proactively with clean energy solutions that are coupled with our infrastructure and our sites.”
Click here to watch Chairman Carper’s questions.
Click here to watch Chairman Carper’s opening statement.
