House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Holds Hearing in Boulder

The U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold their first field hearing in Boulder on Thursday August 1st. Congressman Joe Neguse, who represents Colorado’s 2^nd Congressional District which includes Boulder, says he lobbied to have the first field hearing by the committee in this area as it is an epicenter for climate research and is also experiencing the impacts of climate change. Neguse says the committee harks back more than a decade

“In 2007 when Democrats first took the majority in the Congress then Speaker Pelosi created a special committee, so a committee outside of the normal committee structure, a select committee, that would address the climate crisis.”

Neguse said that committee, which was named the Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming, worked over 4 years and ultimately came up with cap and trade legislation that was approved by the US House in 2010 but defeated in the Senate.  After the Republicans took the majority, the committee was eliminated. Congressman Neguse says that when the Democrats regained the majority Speaker Pelosi made the decision to create a new select committee.

“The goal of the committee is to spend the 116th Congress holding hearings, meeting with experts, taking testimony from leaders across the country with the idea and the ultimate goal of preparing a series of recommendations on legislative proposals that the Congress and committees of jurisdiction could then enact to, as I said, fight the existential threat of climate change.”

There are 15 members of the committee, 9 Democrats and 6 Republicans. Neguse is the only committee member from the Rocky Mountain West region.

“It gives me the opportunity to educate my colleagues about the very real way that folks in Colorado and in the west are experiencing the consequences of climate change every day, wildfires, droughts, any number of water related issues, so suffice to say, it’s a good opportunity I think for us and for our state to be able to make the case about why we need to take comprehensive action in the fight against climate change.”

The hearing – Colorado’s Roadmap for Clean Energy Action: Lessons from State and Local Leaders – will feature two panels.

Panel 1

Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado

Panel 2

Suzanne Jones, Mayor of Boulder, Colorado
Wade Troxell, Mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado
Heidi VanGenderen, Chief Sustainability Officer for the University of Colorado Boulder
Cary Weiner, Director of Colorado State University’s Rural Energy Center
Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Oilfield Services

The hearing will be held in the Wittemyer Court Room, Wolf Law Building at the University of Colorado Boulder, 2450 Kittredge Loop Drive, Boulder, CO. It will also be livestreamed on this page. This is a public hearing and seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

To attend the hearing, please follow signage off Regent Drive, heading south on Kittredge Loop Drive. A paid public lot next to the Wolf Law Building will be avialble for parking and an attendant will be onsite from  8:00 am – 12:00 pm to direct attendees to the building entrance. Entry to the Courtroom will open at 8:30 am for attendees.

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