For the first time ever, a held a on the climate crisis. And it happened this week right here in the Mountain West 鈥� in Boulder, Colorado.
Members of the public and the media packed a courtroom at CU Boulder鈥檚 law school. is the chair of this new and started things off.
鈥淟anding a man on the moon and returning home safely to Earth was a grand challenge,鈥� Castor said. 鈥淢aking Earth's atmosphere safe for everyone is now a grander one for all of us.鈥�
She urged committee members saying that we don鈥檛 have time to waste. She said 鈥渨e need to act as swiftly as possible. Our next moonshot is solving the climate crisis.鈥�
She emphasized, though, that there is very little political will at the federal level, and that the states need to lead the way.
鈥淲hen we say the states are the laboratories of democracy,鈥� Castor continued, 鈥渨e mean that literally.鈥�
She pointed out that Colorado is home to some of the leading research in climate change and clean energy. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis agreed and pointed to his state鈥檚 commitment to solving the problem.
鈥淚 ran on a platform of achieving ,鈥� Polis said.
He said he was inspired by cities across his state who are transitioning to renewables. , touted her city as having one of the highest per capita rates of solar energy in the country. And she said they haven鈥檛 stopped there.
鈥淯sing compost and other regenerative agriculture techniques, we are implementing state-of-the-art carbon sequestration efforts designed to pull back carbon out of the atmosphere,鈥� Jones said, 鈥渨hile also improving soil health and agricultural productivity. And we reduced greenhouse gas emissions 16% even as our population and economy grew.鈥�
Both Jones and the , made points to emphasize that an important component of a green transition is inclusion. They both expressed that the people most affected by climate change鈥檚 impacts as well as those losing traditional energy sector jobs, must be at the table when talking about a new direction forward. 鈥淩acial and economic equity must be at the center of all climate work,鈥� Jones said.
Jones also mentioned Boulder鈥檚 decision to put a . The one Republican committee member present at the hearing, questioned that decision. from Louisiana said yes, climate change is a very real threat but he didn鈥檛 think natural gas was the right culprit, or at least not the only culprit.
鈥淚 get it,鈥� Graves said. 鈥淓veryone's saying we've got to migrate to 100% renewable. And folks are saying that we need to stop producing fossil fuels.鈥� But he said he read a recent report 鈥渢hat talked about how for battery storage technology, it takes 50 to 100 pounds of mining rare and critical materials 鈥� oftentimes from China 鈥� to produce one pound of battery.鈥� Then he emphasized, 鈥�50 to 100 pounds of mining for one pound of battery!鈥�
Graves wasn鈥檛 the only person at the hearing who said the issue isn鈥檛 black and white. Chris Wright is the CEO of a . He testified that natural gas is not only a cleaner alternative to coal, it鈥檚 also a cheaper alternative for clean energy worldwide.
鈥淭he U.S. shale revolution is aiding the poor abroad and at home,鈥� said Wright, 鈥渧ia the much cheaper energy with annual consumer savings over $1 trillion. It has also driven natural gas to become the number one source of electricity in the U.S. which helps clean our air and drive CO2 emissions per person down to a 50 year low.鈥�
U.S. Congresswoman Diana DeGette from Colorado pushed back. Specifically about the impacts of methane leaking from oil and gas wells.
DeGette asked Wright, 鈥� is that right?鈥� 鈥淭hat's right,鈥� he replied.
鈥淎nd the industry in Colorado, to your knowledge tries to comply with that methane rule, is that right?鈥� DeGette asked. 鈥淭hat's correct,鈥� Wright said.
鈥淎nd so wouldn't it seem to you that probably if we want to stop methane contamination all around the country we should ?鈥� she continued.
He started to give an answer but DeGette said 鈥淵es or no will work.鈥�
鈥淣ot as currently鈥�,鈥� Wright began. But DeGette interrupted 鈥淵ou don't think so, even though methane emissions from other states may come into Colorado鈥檚 local governments?鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 right ways and wrong ways to do things,鈥� Wright replied. 鈥淏ut yes, reducing methane emissions is a positive thing to do.鈥�
DeGette persisted, asking 鈥渂ut you don't think we should renew the federal methane statute, is that right?鈥� 鈥淚n its current form, no,鈥� said Wright. 鈥淥K. Thank you,鈥� DeGette replied and she moved on to another line of questioning.
Final remarks from Committee Chair, Kathy Castor, emphasized Colorado as a leader in dealing with the existential threat of climate change but she said state leadership alone is not going to be enough.
鈥淲e can have all that terrific climate action here on the local and state level,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut unless we have a bold federal climate action plan we're not going to be able to reduce carbon pollution. We're all in this together.鈥�
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
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