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Thank you for holding this hearing on climate change research and scientific integrity. Global climate change is a very serious problem. As far as the United States is concerned, the evidence of global climate change is more apparent in Alaska than anywhere else. During my most recent trip to the West Coast of Alaska, I witnessed an incident where a fuel tank farm in Kivalina nearly fell into the ocean due to severe winter storms and coastal erosion. This potential catastrophe was averted due to emergency action taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Over the past several years, we have seen many other changes in the Arctic besides severe coastal erosion. The Arctic sea ice is receding, the trees are growing farther North and the permafrost is thawing. The impact of climate change is real and we need to prepare. To do this we need sound science. I am concerned about the human impacts on our climate. This is why I introduced S. 183, the Improved Passenger Automobile Fuel Economy Act of 2007 (CAFE). Some think that’s a strange thing coming from me. But I believe that it’s essential to raise the question about how much of these effects are being caused by man and how much of it is really a natural phenomenon. This bill requires a fuel economy standard of 40 miles per gallon for passenger automobiles manufactured in the model year 2017. I believe we do have the technology base to do that. The transportation sector generates more than one third of the nations greenhouse gas emissions, so I believe we must demand improved fuel economy from our vehicle’s and this bill requires a voluntary national registry for greenhouse gas trading of credits. I am also extremely alarmed by the information I am getting about methane and its release from areas like our permafrost in Alaska and Russia. We also need to look at other possible causes for climate change. In the past 100 years, the sun has been giving off additional energy, which is likely responsible for part of the increase in global temperature changes. Researchers, such as Dr. Akasofu at the international arctic research center in my state, have also found that the Atlantic and Pacific oscillations have been dumping warm ocean water in the Arctic Ocean. This has greatly contributed to the degradation in Arctic Sea ice. In order to gain a better understanding of these and other factors, we need to enact a robust climate science budget. And I support you in the concept that it should be totally non-partisan and it should be a concept of validating what each researcher is asserting. We have so many different assertions now from really good scientists based on their own research.
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