Around the world, climate change is driving mass migration as water
dries up, farmland turns to desert, shorelines erode, coastal areas
flood, permafrost melts and ecosystems can no longer support the
communities they once could. And it is going to get much much worse. As
far back as 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
noted that the greatest single impact of climate change could be on
human migration – and we’re seeing this projection come true. The latest
estimates predict as many as 200 million climate refugees by 2050.
This is a climate and human rights crisis. Climate migrants routinely
face life threatening hardship, discrimination and repression in their
search for safety for their families, and often those most vulnerable to
changing climate and extreme weather lack the resources to migrate, so
remain in harm’s way.
Even worse, many of the same banks that made billions of dollars
financing the fossil fuel industry that caused the climate crisis- Black
Rock, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase- are now profiting off of climate
chaos by investing in the companies that are contracting with
ICE to finance border wall construction and
run for-profit prisons and detention centers. First they drive climate
migration, and then they profit from it.
On December 6th, we’re going to shut down
business-as-usual for the
financial institutions that profit off of the climate crisis and
immigrant detention. Meet us at 11am in Franklin Square (14th St. and I
St. NW, Washington, DC 20005) for a rally
featuring Jane Fonda and Fire Drill Fridays along with Saket Soni, the
Executive Director of the National Guestworker Alliance, GreenFaith, the
Franciscan Action Network and other climate, faith and migrant justice
organizers. At 12 noon we’ll march through the streets of DC to visit
the banks and financial institutions in DC that are profiting off of the
climate crisis and immigrant detention.
Dr. Neil Jacobs, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental
Observation and Prediction, performing the duties of Under Secretary
of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, NOAA
Dr. Clifford Mass, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of
Washington
Dr. Peter P. Neilley, IBM Distinguished
Engineer and Director of Weather Forecasting Sciences and
Technologies, The Weather Company, An IBM
Business
Dr. Thomas Auligné, Director of the Joint Center for Satellite Data
Assimilation, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
Alfredo Gomez, Director, Natural Resources and
Environment, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Lilian Sotolongo
Dorka,
Esq., Director, External Civil Rights Compliance Office, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Helena
Wooden-Aguilar,
Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Policy, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
Panel II
Mustafa Santiago
Ali,
Vice President, Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community
Revitalization, National Advocacy Center at the National Wildlife
Federation
Melissa
Cribbins,
Commissioner, Coos Country Board of Commissioners, On behalf of the
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Patrick B.
Ford,
Executive Director, Lebanon/Marion County Industrial Foundation
Elsie
Herring,
Duplin County, North Carolina, Resident and Organizer, North Carolina
Environment Justice Network
Gerald E.
Galloway,
PE, PhD Brigadier General, (US Army-Retired) Glenn L. Martin Institute
Professor of Engineering University of Maryland
Ann
Phillips
Rear Admiral, (US Navy- Retired) Special Assistant to the Governor for
Coastal Adaptation and Protection Commonwealth of Virginia
Ricardo S.
Pineda
PE, CFM Chair, Association of State
Floodplain Managers Supervising Engineer Water Resources California
Department of Water Resources Division of Flood Management On behalf
of the Association of State Floodplain Managers
Louis
Gritzo,
Ph.D Vice President FM Global Research Manager, Testimony * Melissa
Samet
Senior Water Resources Counsel National Wildlife Federation * Julie
Ufner
President National Waterways Conference
The Subcommittee
will examine how the oil industry’s climate denial campaign has
negatively and disproportionately affected people of color and
vulnerable populations in our country and around the world, as well as
drowned out the voices of everyday Americans.
BACKGROUND
Decades of climate denialism by the oil industry forestalled meaningful
government action to avert the current crisis. As early as the 1960s,
oil giants like Exxon knew that climate change was real and that the
burning of fossil fuels was a major contributor to the problem.
The lack of government action on climate change has a disproportionate
impact on vulnerable communities who are often harmed “first and worst”
by climate change.
Climate denial not only led to these devasting effects on vulnerable
populations; it also represents a distortion of our democracy, as
powerful, moneyed interests control the conversation and drown out the
voices of average Americans who are paying the price of climate change.
Despite efforts to rehabilitate their image by pledging to stop
supporting think tanks and lobbyists who promote climate denialism,
Exxon has continued to fund climate deniers. Exxon still continues to
fund organizations “steeped in climate denial and delay” to this day,
clear evidence that it has not changed since its initial pivot from
climate science to denial.
Despite the already devasting effects of climate change, Exxon shows no
signs of slowing down on its production of fossil fuels. To the
contrary, Exxon and other oil companies continue to explore for more
oil, meaning they are not taking the problem of climate change or the
development of alternative fuels seriously.
Witnesses:
Dr. Mustafa Ali, Vice President, Environmental Justice Climate and
Community Revitalization, National Wildlife Federation
Dr. Ed Garvey, Former Exxon Scientist
Dr. Martin Hoffert, Former Exxon Consultant, Professor Emeritus,
Physics, New York University
Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Professor, History of Science, Affiliated
Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University
Sharon Eubanks, Esquire, Of Counsel, Henderson Law Firm,
PLLC
The hearing will focus on the ways natural systems, such as forests,
grasslands and wetlands, can increase carbon storage across the United
States, helping in the fight against the climate crisis.
Witnesses:
Dr. Joe Fargione, Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s North
America Region (@nature_org). Fargione is an expert in energy
production, land use and conservation. Prior to Nature Conservancy, he
held faculty positions at the University of New Mexico and Purdue
University.
Frankie Myers, Vice Chairman of the Yurok Tribal Council
(@TheYurokTribe). In honor of its forest management efforts to
mitigate climate change, the Yurok Tribe was recently awarded the
United Nations Development Programme’s Equator Prize, which honors
“innovative nature-based solutions for tackling climate change,
environment, and poverty challenges.”
Dr. Jennifer Howard, Marine Climate Change Director, Conservation
International (@ConservationOrg). Howard’s professional work focuses
on protecting coastal and marine ecosystems, which in turn can help
vulnerable coastal communities address the challenges of the climate
crisis.
Alexander “Andy” Karsner (@andykarsner), Executive Chairman, Elemental
Labs. Karsner is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at
Stanford University and a member of the Hoover Institution’s Energy
Policy Task Force.
The Subcommittee
will examine how the oil industry’s climate denial campaign has
negatively and disproportionately affected people of color and
vulnerable populations in our country and around the world, as well as
drowned out the voices of everyday Americans.