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Mr. REID. Mr. President, there is a lot going on in the world today. We have the conflict in Kosovo. We have, as the Senator from Oregon pointed out, the calamity that has taken place in the State of Colorado, dealing with the death of 16 children, or maybe even more.
In spite of these very dramatic events taking place around the world, I think it is appropriate that we pause and reflect on one of the most important days we have each year, and that is Earth Day, which is tomorrow.
As we know, tomorrow will be the culminating day of this week legislatively because of the events that will take place with the 50th anniversary of NATO. So tomorrow we will be unable to celebrate Earth Day here in the Senate. So Senator BOXER and I felt it was appropriate that we spend some time with some of our colleagues talking about Earth Day and the importance of Earth Day.
There are a number of ways we can celebrate Earth Day, but I think there is no way that is more appropriate than talking about one of the things which sets the United States apart from any other nation, and that is our great National Park System. We are the envy of the rest of the world. When people talk about successes in Government, I think they must reflect upon our National Park System.
We have 54 national parks in the United States. In addition to that, we have a number of other entities within our National Park System that are important. But today I want to talk about our national parks.
We are very fortunate in Nevada; we have one of the 54 national parks. It is a unique setting. The Great Basin National Park is the baby of our National Park System. There is only one national park that is newer than the Great Basin National Park. And we are so happy to have the Great Basin National Park. It was 60 years in its coming.
I can remember when I introduced legislation to have this beautiful facility become a national park. This chart shows part of our national park. It is Wheeler Peak, which is about 13,000 feet high. You can see the majesty of this great mountain.
When I introduced this legislation, President Reagan was President of the United States. There were times that were very partisan then, as now, and the Secretary of Agriculture was asking the President to veto the creation of the national park.
I called in the Director of the National Park System, William Penn Mott, and I said, I am really worried that the President is going to veto the legislation creating this national park. He looked at me and said, There is no way President Reagan is going to veto this national park. He said, I have been with President Reagan; I worked with him when he was Governor of the State of California, and he has assigned me to be the superintendent of the parks for our country. He said, It was in the 1930s when I was a park ranger that I was called upon by Senator Key Pittman, a Senator from Nevada, to travel to Nevada to find a location for a national park. I went there, and I found that location. It is this exact spot that you have chosen to designate as a national park.
And he said, for political reasons, it has never come to reality. He said that possibility is now, and there is no way that President Reagan would veto the creation of this gem that we have in the State of Nevada.
He was right. The President gladly signed the bill, and we now have as part of our National Park System the Great Basin National Park. We could pick any one of the 54 units in our National Park System, and I am sure people from those States would be just as proud of that park as I am of the Great Basin National Park. This park has Wheeler Peak, which I show you here, but in addition to that, we have in the Great Basin National Park the only glacier in the State of Nevada.
In addition to that, you cannot see them here, but in this park we have bristlecone pine trees, the oldest living things in the world, more than 5,000 years old. We are going to celebrate a new millennium, 2,000 years. Well, 3,000 years before Christ was born, these trees started growing. That is an old tree, oldest living thing in the world located in this national park.
In addition to that, we have the Lehman Caves. The Lehman Caves are interesting because they were discovered unintentionally by a cowboy out doing whatever cowboys do. Suddenly he finds he and his horse have dropped into this subterranean cavern that became the Lehman Caves, which has been visited by hundreds of thousands of people over the years.
I am very proud of our National Park System. I am proud of the Great Basin National Park. Senator GRAHAM and I introduced legislation yesterday that will take $500 million a year from a fund that is already created, not new taxes, and put it into the National Park System where we are $4 billion in arrears just maintaining our national parks, maintaining the trails, the bathrooms, the information centers, the things that are so necessary to maintain this great program we have called our National Park System.
Certainly as part of Earth Day, we must recognize the fact that part of celebrating Earth Day has to be our National Park System. One last thing, because I see my colleagues on the floor, we are so honored in the State of Nevada, Dale Antonich, who is the chief park ranger of the Lake Mead recreation area, which is part of our National Park System, was chosen as this year's recipient of the Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award for excellence in rangering. This is important because he has been chosen by his peers to be the top park ranger. This says a lot. We are very proud of Lake Mead. It receives about 12 million visitors a year. He is the chief ranger there. I am sure that people who come to the park, to Lake Mead, receive a good experience. I want to give this resident of Boulder City, NV, all the accolades that he deserves as being selected as the
top park ranger in our country.
As I indicated, we have set aside 30 minutes. That is all the time we could get today to celebrate Earth Day. I did see in the Chamber my friend from California. I wonder if I could get the attention of my two colleagues. We have 30 minutes that we have set aside to talk about the parks. I am wondering if I could yield time to my friend from California. We are very proud of Nevada, but there is no State in the Union that has more natural beauty than California. I think Nevada has as much natural beauty, but there is no State that has any more natural beauty than the great State of California, which is the neighboring State of the State of Nevada.
I am very happy that the Senator from California, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, is here to talk about some of the beauties of the State of California. I am sure that is what she is going to do; is that not true?
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I will speak about global warming.
Mr. REID. Global warming is perfect. That deals with Earth Day, and that is why we are here to talk. How much time does the Senator need?
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Is it possible to have 10 to 15 minutes?
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Mr. REID. I am sure we have 10 minutes. I yield the Senator from California 10 minutes to talk about global warming and the importance of Earth Day.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is recognized.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Chair, and I thank the distinguished Senator from Nevada.
Mr. President, I note that the Senator from Colorado is on the floor. I really want to extend to him and to all of the people of Colorado my deepest sympathy and sorrow for the events yesterday. After I finish a brief global warming statement, I would like to make a more inclusive statement about the events that took place in Colorado, but I want him to know that my heart and thoughts are with him and the people of Colorado today.
Mr. President, as we prepare to celebrate Earth Day tomorrow, I wanted to speak for a few minutes about what I consider to be the single greatest environmental threat facing our planet: the threat of global warming.
The phenomenon of global climate change really hit home for me in January of 1997. That year, devastating floods killed seven people and caused nearly $2 billion in damage in California. California is famous for its weather extremes, but the 1997 floods were unusual in terms of their ferocity, the loss of life they caused, and the tremendous property damage that occurred.
Even more striking, the 1997 flood was only one of four 100-year floods that occurred in California in the 1990s. Therefore, it certainly got my attention when I read that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency believes that major changes in the El Nino and La Nina ocean currents, which brought so much rain to California, may be linked to changes in the ocean's temperature.
Last fall, I received an in-depth briefing from Dr. John Holdren, the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at Harvard University. Dr. Holdren presented clear and compelling evidence to me that global warming is real. It is happening, and it will have significant impacts on human health, our environment, and our economy.
Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence, however, literally every week my office receives bulletins from groups that continue to dispute the reality of global warming. Today I would like to lay out the evidence that global warming is indeed occurring.
There is overwhelming scientific consensus about the following facts: The natural greenhouse effect (which is primarily a product of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) makes the earth habitable, keeping the average surface temperature about 33 degrees Celsius warmer than it would otherwise be.
Large increases in greenhouse gas concentrations resulting from human activities produce significant further global warming, accompanied by other changes in climatic patterns.
Today's atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is about 30 percent higher than pre-industrial levels. The methane concentration is over 100 percent higher. These levels are higher than at any time in the last 160,000 years.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an assembly of 2,000 of the world's leading experts on climate and related disciplines, has found that human activities are increasing the greenhouse effect, and therefore raising the temperature of the planet. It is important to note that the IPCC includes scientists from all member states of the World Meteorological Association and the United Nations.
To quote the IPCC:
The atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases, and among them, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, have grown significantly since pre-industrial times ..... These trends can be attributed largely to human activities, mostly fossil fuel use, land-use change and agriculture. Concentrations of other anthropogenic greenhouse gases have also increased. An increase of greenhouse gas concentrations leads on average to an additional warming of the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. Many greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere--and affect climate--for a long time.
The IPCC estimates that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have risen from 280 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution, to 360 parts per million today. By the end of the next century, the carbon dioxide level will be somewhere between 480 and 800 parts per million.
According to the IPCC, this change is ``unlikely to be entirely natural in origin. The balance of evidence, from changes in global mean surface air temperature and from changes in geographical, seasonal, and vertical patterns of atmospheric temperature, suggest a discernible human influence on global climate.''
Already, these increased greenhouse gas emissions are changing the earth's climate. Here are the facts:
The average temperature of the earth has risen 1.3 degrees in the last 100 years.
Ten of the warmest years on record have occurred in the last 12 years. 1998 was the hottest year on record.
The last 50 years appear to have been the warmest half century in 6,000 years, according to evidence from ice core samples.
Scientific evidence convincingly shows increased rates of evaporation and rainfall, glacier retreat, sea ice shrinkage, and rising sea levels.
The IPCC estimates that by 2100, the earth's temperature will have risen by two to six degrees. This rate of warming, if it were to occur, would be the fastest warming rate in the last 10,000 years.
Even if an overwhelming body of scientific evidence regarding global warming did not exist, the weather map alone would tell us something is wrong. According to the National Climatic Data Center, weather extremes are becoming more and more frequent: hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, flooding, droughts. So far this century, extreme weather events have increased by 20 percent. Annual precipitation is up 6 percent since 1900, and total winter precipitation is up 8 percent.
Just look at the period from November 1997 through July 1998, when a series of extreme weather events hit this nation. Northern California had its wettest May ever in 1998, with precipitation in at least one area hitting 800 percent of normal. Meanwhile, Texas suffered under a devastating drought, with San Antonio getting only 8 percent of its normal rainfall in May. In Florida last summer, the U.S. Forest Service estimated that 80 percent of the State was at a drought level equivalent to a desert. Ohio, the Upper
Midwest, and New England had no shortage of rain, however; floods in those areas claimed 13 lives.
While individually none of these events can be linked directly to global warming, collectively they show a troubling pattern consistent with what the best science tells us global warming will look like.
Things could get worse. According to the IPCC, one third to one half of all mountain glacier mass could disappear in the next century. Melting glaciers, combined with melting of the antarctic ice shelves, could raise sea level by as much as three feet in the next 100 years. This could cause severe flooding in the San Francisco Bay Area, New Orleans, the Everglades, and the Chesapeake Bay.
The weather changes caused by global warming also could wreak havoc upon the environment and human health. The University of California estimates that global warming could render 20 to 50 percent of the State's natural areas unsuitable for the current species who live there. Major vegetation changes are occurring over one-eighth of the planet. The effects of global warming on human health, including outbreaks of tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever, are so significant that I plan to discuss those separately in a floor statement soon.
Global warming is not a problem that we can afford to ignore or dismiss. The scientific evidence is overwhelming and persuasive, and we need to take steps now to reduce global warming. That is why I am circulating a letter, along with Senators GORTON and BRYAN, that encourages the President to work with Congress to implement improved Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency Standards. Cars and light trucks, including sport utility vehicles, are responsible for 20 percent of all carbon emissions in the United States, and emit more carbon than all sources in Great Britain combined.
By raising fuel efficiency standards, we can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 240 million tons per year. This
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Stronger fuel efficiency standards alone will not solve the global warming problem, but they are a very good place to start. I am pleased to say that a bi-partisan group of 22 Senators have already signed the letter to the President, and I am hopeful that more will sign soon.
I also urge all of my colleagues--especially those who may remain skeptical about the existence of global warming--to attend a briefing that I am hosting on May 11 with scientists from the University of California, including Nobel Laureate Sherwood Rowland. These scientists will discuss recent satellite measurements concerning global climate change; disturbing new evidence that climate change may be occurring more abruptly than scientists had earlier forecast; and possible solutions to the problem.
Global warming is an extremely complicated issue, and I understand that a number of policy alternatives are currently on the table--from the Kyoto Protocol supported by President Clinton, to the ``Credit for Early Action'' bill sponsored by Senator CHAFEE, to the bill currently being drafted by Senator MURKOWSKI. I do not presume to stand here today with a master plan for how to stop global warming.
But I do feel strongly that global warming's existence cannot be disputed. It is real. It could cause the greatest environmental crisis of our time. I hope that we can at least recognize the threat, and begin working together to address it.
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