Adaptation Proposals from the 110th Congress
H.R. 2327: Polar Bear Protection Act of 2007. This bill seeks to repeal an exemption in the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 which allows the importation of sport-hunted polar bear trophies from Canada, and cites the stress that polar bear populations are under due to climate change. Sponsor: Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) (75 cosponsors)
H.R. 2338: Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act. Among other provisions, this bill states that it is the policy of the Federal Government to assist wildlife populations in adapting to and surviving the effects of global warming. The bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to, within two years of enactment, promulgate a national strategy for mitigating the impacts of global warming on wildlife populations in the United States. It also directs the Secretary to establish the National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center within the United States Geological Survey. Sponsor: Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) (2 cosponsors)
S. 1579: Coastal Zone Enhancement Reauthorization Act of 2007. Among other provisions amending the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, this bill authorizes coastal states, in preparing and carrying out its coastal management, to conduct assessments, mapping, modeling, and forecasting of the effects of climate change on the coastal zone. Sponsor: Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) (2 cosponsors) S. 1581: Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring (FOARAM) Act of 2007. This bill would establish an Interagency Committee on Ocean Acidification whose role is to oversee the creation of a plan designed to improve the understanding of the role of increased ocean acidification on marine ecosystems, including the effects of anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide on ocean chemistry. In its finding section, the bill cites the oceans’ role in helping mitigate the effects of global warming by absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Sponsor: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) (1 cosponsor)
S. 1696: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. Among other provisions, this bill appropriates $10 million to the EPA for the purpose of providing competitive grants for research into, among other purposes, developing strategies to mitigate climate change. In addition, the bill states the sense of the Senate Appropriations Committee that “a robust climate change management research program will be essential for the Forest Service to sustain forest health and biodiversity and protect a wide range of natural resources,” and appropriates $2.5 million to expand the Forest Service’s climate science research program; the Committee directs the agency to use these funds to develop forest management techniques that adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. The bill also appropriates $2.275 to the EPA to fund research activities in support of future rulemaking activities on greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation. It also appropriates $2 million to the EPA to use its existing authority under the Clean Air Act to develop and publish a rule requiring mandatory reporting of GHG emissions above appropriate thresholds in all sectors of the economy; the bill further directs the EPA to publish a final rule no later than December 31, 2008, and to include in its rule reporting of emissions resulting from upstream production and downstream sources. Sponsor: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Action: 6/26/07: Reported by the Senate Committee on Appropriations by 29-0.
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