For Immediate Release

June 7, 2007

BOOST IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
INCLUDED IN INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Appropriations Committee today approved legislation that boosts federal spending for climate change research by 60 percent and – for the first time – compels the Environmental Protection Agency to begin developing a process for regulating greenhouse gases, Interior Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said Thursday.

                        The increase in research funding in the EPA and U.S. Geological Survey budgets was included in the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill for the next fiscal year, Rep. Dicks said.

                        He said the bill also includes strict legislative language and funding that requires EPA to promptly “propose and publish a regulation for reducing greenhouse gases."  Dicks said the action follows the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court (Massachusetts v. EPA) which ruled that EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases from mobile sources.  He said $2 million was provided only for this purpose, and that the bill required the agency to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking on the issue by July 1, 2008.

                        “It’s time for EPA to begin a process which outlines options, solicits comments on those options and allows for public input,” Dicks said.  “We are not suggesting an outcome, but we are merely insisting that a process must begin, consistent with the Supreme Court decision,” he added.

                        In addition to the increase in research spending, the bill creates a two-year Climate Change Commission that will survey climate change initiatives across all federal government agencies and make recommendations on further areas of inquiry and on action steps.  It will be chaired by the President of the National Academy of Sciences and it will include science leaders from inside and outside the government as well as the Administrators of the EPA and NOAA, the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

                        The Commission was created “to jump start the scientific effort around adaptation and mitigation challenges as we assess the impacts of climate changes on our environment, including on federal lands and on wildlife under the jurisdiction of our subcommittee,” said Chairman Dicks.

                        Following is a chart listing funding for Climate Change Programs included in the FY 2008 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, approved today by the House Appropriations Committee:
 

        DESCRIPTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAMS

        INTERIOR DEPARTMENT

        United States Geological Survey:   The USGS global warming research efforts focus on climate change and variability, changes to ecosystems which cause land-use and land-cover change, as well as the carbon and water cycles.
        

        ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

        Commission on Climate Change:   The Commission is established for two years to review the scientific questions which need to be addressed to best adapt to a warming planet and the specific science investments needed to address this reality.  Of the amount provided, $5 million will be used to support Commission activities, and the remaining $45 million will be distributed by the Commission to science agencies across the Federal Government to begin to implement the Commission’s recommendations.

        Clean Automotive Technology:   This program is an EPA collaboration with the automotive industry to develop new technologies such as clean combustion engines with the goal of cost-effectively reducing harmful emissions and greenhouse gases from motor vehicles.

        Research on Global Change:  This Clean Air program will expand ongoing EPA research into climate change to include the effects of carbon sequestration on the ecosystem (principally the aquifer) and public health.  In addition, EPA will conduct research and technology testing related to the regulation of greenhouse gases.

        Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction:  Funds in this account will be used by EPA to begin the development of regulations limiting the emissions of greenhouse gasses and for increased efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

        Energy Star:  This program evaluates and promotes consumer products for energy efficiency to help Americans make informed energy choices.

        Methane-to-Markets:  This international partnership seeks to develop commercial uses of methane as a clean energy source while reducing the release of methane with a focus on landfills, underground coal mines, natural gas and oil systems, and livestock.


        U.S. FOREST SERVICE CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
        This effort assesses the change to forest service lands due to climate change and to find ways to adapt forest management to reduce these impacts.

        SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
        The Institute research focuses on the effects of global climate change on the Earth’s atmosphere.  This effort has a special emphasis conducted at its Panama research lab on the effect of such atmospheric changes in tropical zones.

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