eight eastern -- at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. you can find interviews wherever you get your podcast. -- your podcasts. >> c-span's shop has a collection of c-span's product. browse to see what is new. you still have time to order the congressional directory, with contact information from members of congress and the biden administration. go to c-spanshop.org. >>, the mayors of los angeles, atlanta, and madison, wisconsin testify on how their cities are mitigating climate change risks. this hearing is an hour and 40 minutes. >> the committee will come to order. without objection, the chair is authorized to to clear a recess of the committee at any time. members participating remotely

should remain visible on the screen at all times. witnesses experiencing technical difficulties should inform the committee staff immediately. let's get started. good afternoon. welcome. thank you for joining this remote hearing. today we are going to talk about cities and states working to protect their communities and how to increase resilience to climate impacts. i recognize myself for five minutes for opening statements. members, as congress continues

to work on much-needed infrastructure and job legislation, the climate crisis keeps proving that we need generational investments that will create a stronger and more resilient america. the west is facing a record-setting mega drought, increased risks of heat waves and wildfires, and shrinking water supply for millions of americans. severe storms, persistent drought, massive flooding, and other climate related disasters cost our nation nearly $100 billion in 2020 alone. earlier this year, americans experienced deadly and destructive winter storm in texas and historic floods in the southeast. so we do not have time for half measures. the time to invest in resilience is now. the building blocks of a stronger, more resilient america

are resilient communities and partnerships between federal, regional, state, local, and tribal governments. it is up to congress to help build those strong partnerships with smart investments and a shared vision for a net zero future. that is what we will focus on today. we are joined by an exceptional group of leaders from american cities and regions to help us chart that path. they know that we all do not experience the climate crisis in the same way. and that climate risks make social, racial, and economic inequities worse. working-class committees are at the greatest risk when it comes to the factors. they all have less -- can have less capacity to adapt. the new york times highlighted how fema's disaster release efforts -- relief efforts often help white americans and what

communities more than communities of color, even when the amount of damage in neighborhoods is similar. that is why climate action is also -- also create opportunities for environment of justice that will protect everyday americans regarding us of their zip code and skin color. america's mayors understand these challenges. in madison, wisconsin, the mayor is showing how to invest in clean energy while also greeting prosperity and underserved ash underserved communities -- in underserved immunities, hiring diverse workers to install over a megawatt of solar energy. we have seen important progress in los angeles, where mayor garcetti launched a plan to increase committee resilience. and an initiative to bring the city's infrastructure into the first century. in atlanta, -- into the 21st century. in atlanta, the mayor has payer needed innovative resilience

financing tools and committed to 100% clean energy by 2035. all while working to address social inequities and climate adaptation. the mississippi river basin, states are all working to respond to the changes in rainfall and flooding. unsafe roads, increasingly flooded neighborhoods and worsening power outages. these risks are growing. that is why we are here.

the american jobs plan gives us the historic opportunity to modernize our infrastructure and our electric grid so we are better prepared when climate disaster strikes and it gives us a chance to put people to work and good paying jobs, expanding opportunity and prosperity across the board. this tells us that they need to continue to build a climate resilient committee of their own. at this time, i will yield to the ranking member from the louisiana for five minutes for his opening statement. >> thank you, good morning. i appreciate you all.

resilience challenge is something that we share. i thing we had seven named storms. five of them directly affected our state. in 2016 we had the thousand year flood. just extraordinary damages. if we are going to talk about recovery as well, the congress came in and provided 1.7 billion dollars in the aftermath of that 2016 flood. i am very sad to say that after more than four years, only 600 -- 65 $7 million -- only 657 million dollars has been offered. many are still living in conditions like this in america. this is absolutely unacceptable and i will go on a quick little tangent.

but all my republican and democrat friends that are here today, there were bills to reauthorize the disaster recovery program and i don't know a person, nobody is benefiting from a program that runs as inefficiently as that one. whether you are from atlanta, madison, los angeles, it does not matter where you are from. the worst thing in the world we can do is continue relying on recovering from disasters. it makes so much more sense for us to be resilient on the front end, to make proactive investments in ensuring the resilience of our community's. it means resilience in our safety and out of committee. all of these comprise resilience. as we have seen, we have seen

extraordinary dollars wasted in the aftermath of disaster because things could have been good on the front end. it would have been so much less expensive and it would have prevented these communities from being actively destroyed. being in the united states, one of the most powerful or the most powerful countries in the world, we often look at this climate at the macro level. you are effectively the practitioners. you are the ones on the ground trying to figure out what does it look like? what does is he resilience look like? i quoted you at a markup session with mr. huffman just yesterday or today before where you came before the house transformation committee is the only democrat who has been through the process. you are exactly right.

part of this, when i say you are all on the ground and doing the implementation or execution of these aqua level objectives we have discussed, we have to talk about how we can put together a project development and execution process that reflects the urgency many of you are facing. the example i cited in my home state of louisiana, this is supposed to be an emergency recovery program. this is our own government getting in our way and re-victimizing our own citizens. that is undetectable. if we are going to exit cute on resilience or adaptation, if we are going to prepare the grid for this next generation, we have to have a project development and delivery process that refaxed the urgency of the challenges we are facing.

i'm going to give you a quick little preview of what i am interested in hearing about. not necessarily the opening statements but some questioning. you guys are the ones on the ground is kidding when people talk about climate and clean energy. i am curious to hear you talk about when you go in and execute, how are you looking at return on investment and determining which actions to take that you think are most powerful, the things that most benefit your own community. really excited to be here today and have you are joining us today. looking forward to your testimony. >> without objection, members who wish to open -- enter opening statements have five business days to do so. now i want to welcome our witnesses. we will hear from a regional group on their efforts to confront the climate crisis. including there were to reduce climate disaster risks, foster

community information and make sure no community is left behind. the chair now recognizes representative brownlee of california to introduce the honorable mayor, mayor garcetti. >> thank you for allowing me to introduce the mayor of los angeles. mayor garcetti is -- he has been the mayor of los angeles for the last couple of years. he has undertaken countless initiatives that makes l.a. run on 100% clean energy by 2035 to his programs to provide equitable shade and cooling for low income angelenos. los angeles is a microcosm of some of the worst parts of climate change from extreme drought to wildfires. it is also a laboratory of some of our best opportunities to fight back.

including the installation of cool pavement and an innovative way to increase distribute it solar. mayor garcetti continues to lead with his fellow mayors both in the united states and abroad. he created the network of over 500 bipartisan american mayors. this is made up of 97 of the world's megacities. on behalf of this committee, may also thank you for providing your insights of the past two years to our committee. particularly as we put together our climate action plan. our committee and our country thank you for all you have done and continue to do to fight against the climate crisis. thank you, madam chair and i yield back. >> thank you. next i will recognize myself for the remainder of the introduction. we will have the mayor of the

city of madison, wisconsin. the mayor has made climate action a central focus of her administration. she is investing in resilience, expanding sustainable transit and ensuring 100% of municipal electricity needs. she is also the current co-chair of climate mayors, a bipartisan network of more than 475 mayors demonstrating climate leadership across the country. this is the mayor of the city of atlanta, georgia, a former judge. she lost her one atlanta vision for an affordable, resilient and equitable city that -- through the clean energy atlanta plan, she has committed the 10th largest economy to transition to 100% clean energy by 2035.

this is the executive director for the river basin association. the association is a five state interstate organization formed the governors of illinois, iowa, minnesota, missouri and wisconsin to coordinate the state's river related programs and policies and work with federal agencies that have river responsibilities. in her position, she will develop original positions to -- to facilitate and foster interagency coordination, cooperation and communication. without objection, the witness possible opening statement will be made part of the record. with that, mayor garcetti, you are recognized for five minutes for your presentation. welcome. >> thank you. it is so wonderful to be with you.

one of the last times i was in d.c. pre-pandemic was with you. i enjoyed our lunch time, sitting down and being able to talk to a bipartisan group of people. we came up with a tri-partisan perspective for mayors. thank you represented of brownlee. good to be with you. thank you everybody for your service. i will give you another quote, represented of graves. 70 once asked john f. kennedy whether or not he liked being president. he said it is the best job in the world but just not right now. let's stick with it and keep serving people together. i will cut to the chase. you know how los angeles is on the front lines of this climate crisis. you see it in the wildfires

which are not just in a few months now, it is virtually year-round. you can see it in the heat. we can't forget that. every time we get extreme heat, we lose seniors, poor people who don't have these systems. we are seeing american lives at stake. we need to survive. i would say we need to compete as well. there is a lot of jobs and innovation. i am so proud of both houses of congress looking to see what we can do to address some of the key industries. this is also a place where it is not just about our health and survival, it is the health and survival of our economy and our vision of whether or not as americans we can be -- this

would be an urgent time for us to lead in these industries. it is great to see a bipartisan group. i would say what we need first and foremost is the bold ambition of something like the american jobs program. i think a lot of people think that is just washington, d.c. with too much money training down and telling local communities what to do. i see a different picture. i see washington listening to what local committees are doing, different states, counties cities, regions with everyone on the front lines, they are the ones that have to come up with solutions to save lives and livelihoods. it is cities that are leading the charge in this but we need your leadership as well. i will give you some examples of how that partnership occurs between local communities and federal government. this was the first study in the world to look at how we can help los angeles which owns the largest municipal utility in the world.

10 million scenarios using supercomputers. one study we released with the department of energy shows we can get there. i asked for would be 90% carbon free by the end of this decade. 100% by 2025. the first fixated to do it. we are making unmatched investments and water infrastructure as you read about the hoover dam and being at the lowest level ever. how we can recycle enough water. this is three times more than the aqueduct we built to steal all that water from up north. the american jobs plan goes all in on drought ready water. stormwater capture, groundwater storage. it goes all in on this energy. wrapping up our resilience. this is creating a steadier flow of clean power.

in l.a., we recognize that buildings are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. the american jobs plan tackles that challenge, making historic plans to publish schools and housing, greener buildings everywhere. we have to look at this as an equity issue. whether it is we plant trees for shade. she dropped out of school. this is about human beings, not programs and policies. this is not just about dollars but lives. we are so excited to be part of this conversation. i look for to answering all of the questions and being alongside my fellow mayor. >> thank you. mayor rose conway is next. mayor rose conway: thank you for inviting me to discuss the importance of climate action. i am proud to be the mayor of

madison, wisconsin. it is home to accordingly people . it is the flagship campus of the university of wisconsin. i serve as cochair of climate mayors. it represents 476 u.s. cities who are committed to this work. cities are struggling with the challenges, including the global pandemic, climate change and a legacy of centuries of inequitable policymaking but we have the opportunity to recover and rebuild in a more just, resilient and sustainable way. we need the support of the federal government now to overcome barriers, resource innovation and scale solutions. our changing climate exacerbates pre-existing challenges and creates new risks for every city in the united states. madison is facing warmer summers, more precipitation and more stream storms among other

impacts. warmer summers create dangerous urban heat violence impacts. heat is the leading cause of weather-related debts. we saw a 47% increase in heat related emergency room visits between 2010 and 2014. by midcentury, we expect the number of extremely hot days to triple in the number of extremely hot nights to quadruple. many older rental buildings in wisconsin lack air conditioning. they have poor insulation and a soap in heat through asphalt roofs. the technology does exist to reduce these heat impacts. have started a program in madison to make any -- energy efficient upgrades and apartment building's but we can only reach a fraction of apartments in madison. these buildings need more than just energy upgrades. the wetter climate leads to wetter basements which leads to mold growth and respiratory

problems. while children suffer from asthma, parents worry about retribution from landlords if they report that mode. we are investing anyways to add mold remediation to that program but that will take resources. medicine is experiencing more rain and more severe storms. wisconsin has 50% more rainfall annually then in 1950. precipitation is projected to increase by another 15% by midcentury. the west side of madison experienced a thousand year flood in 2018 which caused 150 $4 million in damage in our county. that 2018 flood was a wake-up call. we are now undertaking 23 watershed studies across the city to determine how to prevent persistent flooding and mitigate catastrophic events. we have identified $75 million worth of necessary projects in just the first four studies. to prevent flooding, we must

make major investments in infiltration, storage and stormwater system capacity. i believe our best solutions to the crisis are those that address climate change holistically, may name it -- mitigating our risks while supporting our cities in both local and national economy. we must build for structure that withstands the impact of a changing climate and we must ensure our residents have resources to manage stressors like higher temperatures and crises like flooding in their homes and communities. all of the solutions require extensive resources. the federal government support for these local efforts could be transformational. cities would welcome investment through existing funding streams including doe's weatherization and energy efficiency program. sustainable community initiatives and home investment partnerships. the fda bus and bus facilities program and the capital investment grant program but policymakers should also update these programs to make these

funds more flexible or create new programs to enable cities to address a multitude -- a multitude of needs without silos. climate change is the defining challenge of our time. cities need the federal government to support our ability to innovate and clear away barriers and bring viable solutions to scale. we have less than a decade to make a difference. thank you for your congressional action plans for a clean energy economy. thank you for your time today but thank you more for your action. >> thank you very much, mayor. next, we will go to mayor bottoms. you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you adam chair and this they wished members of the committee. atlanta is the center of a metropolitan area of more than 6 million people. if you visit, you will be faced with that harsh reality when you

-- we hit our infamous bumper-to-bumper traffic. probably only seconds traffic you will experience in los angeles. it is a jewel reminder of just how concentrated our population has become. 83% of americans now live in urban centers. cities like an anticancer as a microcosm of issues facing the entire country, issues like climate change. over the past year we have based unprecedented challenges. a global pandemic. economic downturn, spikes in crime and a once in a lifetime election. no one escaped 2020 unscathed. many have called covid-19 the great equalizer. but i don't believe that is true at all. in fact covid has only exacerbated the vast inequities that exist within our society. inequities that are further

inflamed by clement crisis that disproportionately affects our most vulnerable communities. as we make the much needed turn toward recovery, we need to think about what it means to build back better. we can't ignore the role that climate justice must play in our plans for the future. this committee understands better than anyone how complex these issues truly are. almost every challenge we face in the mayor's office, whether it is infrastructure challenges, on employment, affordable housing, transportation can be connected to climate change. that is why the solution must be intersectional and it must be as intersectional as the problem. when i came to atlanta, i set forth my vision for one and then to, a more affordable, resilient and equitable city for all. central to that vision are collaborative, innovative ideas that include climate change,

creating economic opportunity and confronting justice head on. that is why we are committed to 100% clean energy by 2035. sustainable food access to as many as possible. we also establish a community led clean energy advisory board. work like this requires targeted investments in american cities to build out our nation's sustainable infrastructure to create well-paying jobs and to support a resilient clean energy future. in many -- in any infrastructure and economic recovery package, we also urge you to prioritize and expand programs where funds flow directly to cities and federal government, prioritize local government led prophecies for federal funds that float to the state to include inclusivity

and accountability. ensure that federal programs prioritizes disadvantaged communities and implements the ability to meet local needs. ensure that federal spending is accompanied by workforce standards that prioritize on job quality and equitable access to well-paying careers. cities face specific challenges. it requires flux of a funding. this remains accountable to grant requirement. first and foremost, i am a mother of four children with asthma. two weeks ago, i was sitting in the doctor's office with my son who has asthma. the doctor shared with me that

the entire week, his office had been flooded with children because the air quality was so poor to weeks ago in atlanta. i know how climate change can affect real people in their everyday lives, we are dealing with it in my household. this is not an esoteric problem we face as elected officials. it is a real-world crisis that has a ready hit home for people around the world. passage of the american jobs plan will build a more equitable and resilient country and your action will say why. thank you for the opportunity to join you today. >> thank you, mayor. >> i appreciate today's opportunity to underscore the value of investing both indie

integrity of the mississippi river. this was to foster and facilitate interstate water resources planning and cooperative action. we have ongoing work to enhance resilience to climate change. it is that regional science collaboration and planning that will lead us forward. we know that water, the amount flowing through the river, the duration remains high or low, the rate of change between high-level and low-level greatly influences the river. science is a fundament of priority. we have over 30 years of continuous monitoring of the mississippi river program which allows us to quantify the resilience. in other words, it is capacity to sustain the fundamental characteristics.

continuing this monitoring will allow us to make scientific observations about how the climate is affecting the river ecosystem and how we may use the longitudinal orientation to address the respective ranges. there is a tremendous amount of information at our disposal and i'm going to plan efforts to increase our knowledge of climate change risks including our broadcasting capabilities. our goal is to integrate the natural and social sciences to evaluate the effectiveness of potential action while considering their social, economic and ecological dimensions of the problems and opportunities. this includes developing detailed assessment of the river's current and future needs and the unique causes of drought onset. major river systems like the mississippi river require a sense of unity and shared commitment to solicit.

unity requires an appreciation of neighbors and conflicting interests and, knowledge of the resources. it also requires having a shared vision for the future and a plan to achieve that future. while local planning is incredibly important, the interconnectedness among stakeholders across the watershed calls for regional planning. achieving resilience. the issues are personal and involved people, families, homes and livelihoods. this will lead to solutions that are carried forward for decades and have lasting benefits. today, i would like to discuss a robust solution for adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change. the upper mississippi restoration program the store --

restores the channels and backwaters, increasing the quantity and quality and habitat for a wide range of fish and wildlife. the navigation and ecosystem sustainability program is a copper has of an innovative plan for many current and featured shipping demands including the health and resilience of the river ecosystem. we respect fully request continued support for these two programs with a new construction start for the sustainability program. the viability of the main mississippi river reflects the performance of the watershed as a whole and it is widely knowledged -- a knowledge that action must be taken on the watershed while important strides have been achieved, obtaining the goals we have collectively set will require exhilaration of it some limitation. we were specially request an

increase in federal support for the ongoing limitation of the induction strategies, including improving utilization of resisting programs dedicated resources specific. as the governors joined the interstate collaborative, a coming entity for collective action to build a resilient of the upper mississippi rivers -- this is through a unified streak of strategies and action that would be of a mentor a broad range of stakeholder authorities. we applaud the focus and on finding and investing in some solution. we believe the planning on the upper mississippi river can serve as a model for other regions of the country. we would appreciate an opportunity to continue working with you. thank you. >> thank you to all of our

witnesses for your insightful and informative testimony. next we will go to member questions. i'm going to start and yield my time to represent of escobar of texas. you're recognized for five minutes. rep. escobar:: i know we are all in the struggle together. i represent el paso, texas and i am coming to from the safe and secure u.s.-mexico border community that is in the middle of the show, desert. a community dealing with issues around drought, extreme heat and we are seeing more and more days with temperatures well above 100. this week we are at 108. we are rapidly becoming as hot as communities like phoenix. they have dealt with extreme heat for long times.

we are dealing with the shrinking amounts of water in the rio grande. i know we are all in this really catastrophic struggle together. mayor garcetti, sorry -- there are three people who are mayor. air garcetti, i have been looking into a lot of the work that los angeles has done. specifically on solar. we have -- you will hurt about what happened in texas. el paso is on the western grid. people are exempt from the terrible consequences of what happened with the grid in the rest of texas. we have a utility of el paso electric that is about to build or is seeking to build a new power plant that is going to be

utilizing natural gas. many in the community have been pushing on the utility to go solar, instead of creating what could be at some point a stranded asset. secretary john kerry has deemed some of these stranded assets in the future. many are calling on them to just move toward solar far more quickly. what we hear back is the challenge is storage and that the capacity is still not there. i would love to hear about what you did, what is happening in los angeles and how you charted that path. mayor garcetti: thank you. my grandfather came through el paso as a baby to come to this country. it is wonderful to have the two hour desert evoked. you are right, it is a more

complicated power source and we have to take a threefold approach. one is massive solar rays in the desert. that is under construction, the eland solar project. we have huge warehouses and other buildings that can basically become powerplants for us and our utility pays them. third, disturbing soldier -- solar at the neighborhood level. you have them on households including low income households which are building out the grid to accommodate much more generation there. los angeles city never had any outages because of that because it came close -- but it came close because it cut off power lines coming from other states. we had some blackouts in order to maintain our electricity. i would say one of the ways you can look at solar is yes, battery storage that only get you through a day or two. we are also looking at excess

wind and solar from some of the lines that come in through utah and looking for green hydrogen. store green hydrogen and also create this using excess solar. our biggest power plant in utah, there are salt taverns the size of the empire state building. there are seven of them and we're looking at starting up our turbines the combination of natural gas and hydrogen. restore the solar production and the wind production. that is something you have to do. weeks of power that would be much more dependable. it is a combination of different types of storage -- storage and looking at excess solar and putting that in a usable fuel as well. >> thank you so much. thank you so much for yielding to me and your time. i appreciate it. i go back. >> next, i understand your yielding to represent of palmer.

>> yes. quite opposite of palmer, your king asked for five minutes. >> thank you to the gentleman fork firm to me. it would have been helpful if you had told me ahead of time but i will discuss that with you internally. i am very glad we are having this discussion about dealing with mega drought. i saw chairman castor smile at that reference. i think it is time we look at the efforts that we jimmy making in terms of resilience -- we need to be making in terms of resilience. california has a history of mega-droughts. there have been mega-droughts

that have had historic impacts. the one that california is in right now has serious impact. looking at the state of california's water policies and their failure to prepare for the drought you're in right now should be of great concern to all the mayors in california. we had a major wet. 2019. record amounts of snow fall i think the snowfall was up 150% but the cost of repair, you are really struggling in terms of your water. how would you respond to that? mayor garcetti: sure. the city of los angeles has been preparing for a long time. it is not a switch you can flip it away. we built out a ton of storm

water capture. that snow melted and eventually made it down to the los angeles river. we now have catch basins at the local level. we are trying to retool -- re-infiltrate that water into our natural aquifers. 60% of our water flows through this waste treatment plant. we are converting that into something that will give us enough water for decades to come but i hear the point of what you're saying. i do believe that both local, state and federal government should be investing in that infrastructure with the funds that are out there. >> i want to ask another question. i do appreciate that point he just made, that we do need to be investing in this. california should have been doing this.

i don't think there has been a new reservoir built in california since 1979. it would help mitigate against the flooding that you guys did a couple of years ago. the same thing with the mississippi basin. there were thriving mississippi cultures throughout the mississippi river basin. up until 1500, they started to disappear. what weeks. in climate change is not new. how are you preparing for the climate change that is coming that we can't do anything about? are you taking that into account? have you looked at the history of climate in the region? >> yes and we are continuing to do that. knowing what has happened but also what is likely to come in the future. there are a few things we are

trying to do to prepare ourselves for the future. we are working on our science, a u.s. has annexed generation water observing system which monitors a basin. one is on the illinois river basin. that is from chicago down to the mississippi river. >> i don't want to cut you off. i want to bring this up. this is something very important for me. i grew up dirt poor in rural northwest alabama. california clean energy programs are mainly benefiting the rich. i have grave concerns, serious concerns about energy poverty. energy poverty in atlanta. atlanta has the third highest rate of energy poverty in the

country, u.s. major cities. the same thing is true in los angeles. i am sure you are familiar with that article. i hope that you're taking that into account, though income families need access to libel energy. >> no question. we share that, you and i. we have different rates, huge subsidies and things to federal action, we have utility systems from this pandemic. we took some of our coronavirus relief funds and we put them directly into low income utility systems. finally, we put seller on the homes of low income residents because it is -- it can't be something that you can just afford to do. this has to be by and for all americans. >> at think we are out of time.

maybe we will be able to come back and the mayor can answer during another member's time. quite think you two are witnesses. -- >> i represent northwest organ. we know that climate change is not a distance right, it is a reality. last summer, nearly a million acres burned across oregon as a result of dry wins. towns were destroyed. air quality was lost. i am extreme the concerned about the recent outlook from the national interagency fire center that suggests the lack of rain and snow could result in another horrific wildfire season. today's infra structure and building standards don't take future climate trends into account and current levels of structure investment are not enough to respond to the threats of the climate crisis.

we can truly learn from local leadership that addressing the climate crisis while making our commute is more resilient. mayor garcetti, in your testimony you noted the boards of energy efficiency upgrades in really good paying jobs, reducing commissions and improving air filtration. what are the current barriers for local government and retrofitting buildings during wildfires or extreme weather events? how can we better incentivize weatherization and other programs to meet the needs of communities often devastated by wildfires. >> it is a great question. giving us those funds by reducing and conserving and building up resilience, i feel so spoiled because we control our own utility. whether it is rebates for high-efficiency, we install is delete -- insulation for folks.

we have cold weather here. these sort of things that can become under by the federal government or incentivized by the federal government would go a huge way in reducing pennies on the job for building out new things. this is one of the things that we have -- this is one of the ways we have seen our energy per capita go down in los angeles. >> thank you. mayor rose conway. you mentioned the challenge of lake access points in medicine. i know this is an issue of concern across the country. how can natural infrastructure investments help address runoff and improve water quality to prevent future events? >> thank you. this is a serious issue for the city of madison. we are surrounded by lakes. there is no question that our

changing climate is exacerbating this problem with both more runoff and higher temperatures that make the algae grow faster. we are looking at how we can build the infrastructure to slow that runoff and infiltrate more water and clean the water that does and up in our lakes. we spent a tremendous amount of time and energy on this, whether it is managing the leaves that fall in autumn and keeping them out of the lakes or helping people to build their own rain gardens in their front lawns and the terraces but honestly, the scale of the investment is beyond us that is needed. we really do need support from the federal government here. as i mentioned in just our four watershed studies and looking at a combination of both green and gray infrastructure

improvements, we are already at $75 million. that is an unprecedented level for stormwater utility. we will take the opportunity to mention that while i appreciate the funding, we don't actually need more opportunity to borrow. what we need is direct grants from the federal government. >> thank you. -- quite think you for the question. we have tried to put equity at the center of everything we do and even when you look at a map of our city, you will see the energy burden primarily rests with communities that are lower income communities of color. what has been very helpless to us in atlanta, even having this very complicated discussion about climate change is to speak

to our communities in ways that it makes sense and impacts their day-to-day lives. if we speak of it in terms of how it impacts -- we have some of the highest asthma rates for children. and speaking with seniors like my mother. it becomes a much easier conversation and gives us the opportunity to have broader buy ins and if we just speak of it in very complicated and hard to understand terms. >> thank you. i can see my time has expired. quite thank you. we will go to represented of armstrong. your represent you are recognized for five minutes. >> i have had what i consider the pleasure of spending a lot of time in that city. it is fantastic. i can deal with the traffic but i tend to wonder some of the congestion is because everything

seems to be located on peachtree and even my gps gives up at certain points about where it is tight -- where it is trying to go. we are talking about the upper mississippi river basin. we are on the missouri basin. not all committees exist in large cities. those of you on the committee have known -- i bring this up a lot. north dakota understands firsthand as well as anyone the threats posed by severe weather and flooding. even now, in our state, we have two thirds of our state in what is historical drought and the other third of our state has 12 inches of rain the other day. often times we just have to deal with these things but that brings me to -- the last thing we need to is finance these things and fund these things but part of the issue is the federal policy that dictates how to address these challenges while leaving room -- little room for

involvement at the state level. we are in the process of building one of the largest army corps engineer projects in the country. it is the fargo flood division. this was made possible by having audible levels of government involved and participating in the project. it is not always easy. we are a dam controlled river system. we had a flood of our capital city in bismarck. if you ask anybody in the communities associated with this, they will say the army corps of engineers spent a little too much time in the spring worrying about the nesting of this bird and not worried about getting water down the system so we can get it to our capital city. my question for miss wallace is as somebody -- you mentioned bringing together local stakeholders and supporting regional efforts, can you speak to the involvement of the federal government good and bad

in resilience and what works well and what possibly needs reform? >> that is one of the biggest challenges to get everybody to understand each other. one thing we were able to do in 2019 in a partnership with the army corps of engineers, we went to each community and had them set the agenda. instead of us setting the agenda. we had extraordinary feedback from representatives, people who resided in cities and conservation interest. they even said to each other i am so glad i met you in person and i can put a face to the issue and understand what you're saying better. i think that is one major step forward that we can address. science can tell us one thing but it will be up to the people to decide which solutions are best for their communities. one challenge i might mention of working with the army corps of

engineers is we find these solutions and we want to partner through these great solutions but the core has challenges that goes with local communities and nonprofits who want to advance private and public partnerships. that is because they require them to identify the core and assume operations and maintenance in perpetuity and under changing climate, that does not make sense. if we could work with congress to change that, that would be a big deal. >> we have a school being built in bismarck. as far north and away from the river as we can possibly be. i think we are several months behind on the corps of engineers watershed project. we can get our school bill because we can't get the federal permit. some of those frustrations exist. it is not a cost issue.

when you deal with some of these controversial projects, without the corps of engineers, could not get it done but we appreciate them on that end. what about environmental review? we all want to ensure proper environmental protections but this continues to be a problem with the proper rules in federal state and government. >> we agree that this could always be a benefit to our projects. >> being able to get them in the ground -- new >> thank you very much.

i want to thank you for making an important point. we are talking about resilience and adaptation today. in all of the different impacts we tackle, whether it is keeping the call reefs alive or facing the scourge of wildfires or protect any coastal communities, we have to innovate and adapt and do all of that but if we don't tackle decarbonization at the same time, the commitments will become so much worse. i think you made that point quite well. i think you for doing that. thank you for bringing up the

waterside. california water is complicated. we do hear a lot of miss -- misconceptions. we can take people out to see diamond valley reservoir. massive storage has been brought online using our groundwater aquifers and innovating in some of the ways you discussed. but when you spend an entire century building dams in every single place that it makes any sense, you do hit a point of diminishing returns and redirected impacts. if we continue to try to apply that 20th-century solution to every challenge, we will spend a ton of money. the things you mentioned -- not

there is a friendly rivalry between the bay area and los angeles. i have to say that in this spect, you check all the boxes of innovative, sustainable water management in a better way. i think many of the northern california committees are playing catch up to your leadership. thank you. i want to ask you and the other mayors in the time that i have left about an aspect of this climate crisis that really deserves more attention. you also innovating in that respect and it has social justice and all sort of implications but talk a little bit about what you're doing in los angeles to mitigate that problem and i will ask the mayors the same question. >> thank you. this is a great question. our most vulnerable populations

are combining short-term climate , shade structures, cool pavement. this is about 10 degrees less on the ground and two degrees less in the ambient area. this is where this exists. moving toward shade is an equity issue. >> in atlanta, we are working on a study that will confirm what we already now. that our marginalized

communities are the ones bearing the burden of this. my monthly utilities bill rivals a small commercial establishment. that is not unusual. not only is it creating an issue that we can literally feel but it is an issue that is a burden in our pocketbooks on a monthly basis. >> i think in medicine, really briefly, we are leaning into the urban forest but we need building solutions and frankly, the reason we are not able to do more in medicine is because in wisconsin, the building code is controlled at the state level. i would love to explore

different building technology, efficient and sustainable heating and cooling options like heat pumps. i am very constrained in what i can do. >> thank you for that. >> thank you. we will go to >> thank you, madam chair. it is an important hearing. talking about resiliency. i am going to focus on flooding, we are used to the heat and used to floods in houston. but we have to get our facts straight and understand the problems we can arrive with the right solutions. oftentimes it rains here. it rains a lot here, and we hear, well, that's climate change. that is what climate change

looks like. the thing is, i'm not denying climate change, of course, but what we do have to get straight is the rhetoric surrounding it. we are in a humid, subtropical climate on the gulf of mexico. we have historically been prone to flooding. this last month, everyone was talking about may, there will be 11 inches of rain overall, and it was considered exceptional. that is actually the median. you go back to 1888, that far back you can find 11 inches of rain for the month, so it does happen and will not change any time soon. to hear that we have had 500-year floods in the last decades is a clever distraction from the real point because the 500 year flood is an insurance term. that changes based on urban development. we would have to talk about rainfall, and we have not seen that data yet.

i'm not saying we won't. indications say we might, and we should reduce carbon emissions as a just in case scenario. we are in agreement on that, but to talk about flooding and resiliency, we have to focus in on what really causes it, and it is a lack of infrastructure planning and development planning that does not take into account the long history of normal rainfall we have in houston. again, it is important to have discussions on the committee about reducing carbon emissions long-term. there is an agreement in the outcome desired, but a disagreement on what solutions we prefer. when we talk about resilience, that conversation has to happen if climate change is a factor or not. the reality is the rain in houston is not going to change much no matter what we do, and we just need to be prepared for it as we have more people. ms. wallace, i want to talk about the barriers that are in place with respect to that development.

you understand the challenges. how long has the mississippi river basin been flooding? how long has the federal government known this is a problem? have they really devoted the funds necessary to that problem? ms. wallace: we have been watching major flood events happen since -- 2008 was probably a major one that helped us realize we need to develop a plan for floods, and in the middle of 2012, we saw some pretty consequential droughts. knowing that the two are intermixed, we want to plan for both in an integrated way. to speak about the frequency profiles, the corps of engineers is working on updating that. just last year, they updated the two-dimensional model -- not updated, it was a new two-dimensional model that

underscores the importance along the entire mississippi river, so we can understand what happens when you put a structure in, add something, and what happens, and that will allow planners to build resiliency on that. does that fit in your question? representative crenshaw: a little bit. it does seem we will add funding to this, but there's problems with the way we are modernizing the process, by which we actually approve and plan for these projects. how can we do better on that? ms. wallace: that's a great question. broadly speaking, we are working with state partners and local partners. all hands on deck. that leads to an approval process. on a lower missouri river, for example, after the 2019 flood, there was a community that worked to expand the river

floodplain, and that came at a local level, but the state and federal governments endorsed it. they knew they needed to recover somehow. that is a great example that should be highlighted across the country as a way -- all levels of government, down to the residents who live there to come up with a solution that takes into account current flooding and what is projected long-term. representative crenshaw: i've run out of time. high yields back. -- high yields back. -- i yield back. >> thank you, madam chair for holding this important hearing today. i want to thank each of the witnesses for testifying and for their service to our country and their local communities. nationwide, communities are struggling to keep up with natural hazards such as flooding, as previously mentioned, and wildfires, which is particularly important for me and my state.

i represent the great state of colorado, as many of you know, and in 2020 we had a devastating, historic year for wildfires. three of the five largest in state history occurred in the last year, and two were in my congressional district. unfortunately, we can expect to see fires of this magnitude in the coming decades if we don't address climate change in a bold way, and i want to thank mayors for their work in this regard. additionally, communities are still building back in colorado after we saw historic and devastating floods in 2013. local emergency management officials have stressed the need for increased flexibility for fema to allow for building back better in the wake of these natural disasters.

we could build a climate resilient community back, but in my view, the most meaningful pathway towards achieving what i have described is through the establishment of a 21st-century civilian climate core, which are -- other witnesses are certainly aware, the president has announced his support of. it would ensure we make bold investments in climate solutions and the workforce needed to implement them, in particular, for constituents of my state, the work necessary on our public lands, wildfire resiliency, mitigation, and so forth. i wonder if you are familiar with the climate conservation corps proposal and if you could opine or expound a bit on how it might impact your respective communities. mayor garcetti: absolutely. it is a great program that i am incredibly supportive of and i'm looking forward to the federal government enacting this. we have been building on the los angeles conservation corps for a long time. it does amazing work because it

takes the states from the toughest environments coming out of the foster system, and turns them into environmental stewards and helps them graduate from high school, they work past and even through college as well as other folks who are returning either for the terminal justice system or folks who are interested in helping out. coming out of the pandemic, we will be doing hundreds of these and the state might double or match that, so we might have 1000 americans going door-to-door so that questions from republicans and democrats alike are addressed. get the energy help to support americans in my city, get folks who can help weatherize homes, and let people know about the rebate programs and let them be empowered to not be passive recipients but active participants in the struggle. >> thank you for the question, i am not familiar with the program but it does sound extremely

interesting and going back to the equity focus we have from our administration, youth engagement, workforce development training is a huge part of that especially as we go into the summer months and we are experiencing all the other challenges after covid related to an uptick in crime, kids being out of school, etc., we have a keen focus on youth development and workforce engagement, so it is something that i am certainly interested in learning more about and would definitely align with what our focus will be over the next several months. rep. neguse: thank you -- and if you would like to add? mayor rhodes-conway: i am familiar with the proposal and i'm a big fan. we would definitely use it in madison. we have a similar project

engaging disconnected youth in our conservation parks in particular which we have increased under my administration, but similarly, we have our green power training program in the city of madison where we have hired, we hire trainees and train them on solar installation, led light conversion, and we are hoping to expand further into some of the green infrastructure work that we are doing, forestry, etc., our trainees are 73% people of color and 73% women, and these folks can go on to careers in these industries, but what has happened is we are hiring them into our public works department, diversifying those departments and setting them on behalf of a good family job.

i am proud of this program and i am very -- i think every city in this country could do something like this in addition to state and private companies as well, and i think we need to be investing in our youth and workforce in a way that is sustainable and grows these good green job careers. rep. neguse: i see that my time has expired, and thank you to each of the mayors, and in particular to mayor bottoms, thank you for all the great work you have done down in atlanta. chair castor: thank you. we will go to rep. carter, you are recognized for five minutes. rep. carter: thank you author being here, especially the mayors. i was a mayor in another life i , know what a challenge it could be and i am interested in your position on this, and i will start with you ms. wallace. in your testimony, you say, we will benefit from the rich history of multijurisdictional operation, from our unique strengths are federal partners and other private stakeholders.

what are the unique strengths of the federal government that they can bring to governments like yours are partnerships like yours, i should say? ms. wallace: thank you. we were previously a federal state commission and we were born from that, so we have this underlying history of the 1970's of working with a very tight partnership between federal agencies and states. our federal agencies range from the army corps of engineers and also, the ecological restoration program and the efficient wildlife service which offers a role in terms of wildlife -- fish and wildlife service which offers a role in terms of wildlife management, ecological prophecies, fema with its rolls e on hazard planning and response as well as usdpa with oil.

and with the usgs, their science research arm, noaa, so with integrated drought planning resources and also its prediction forecasting capabilities and understanding of the history of climate in the upper midst, so all that together is fantastic. rep. carter: when is the federal government an obstacle or burden to you? ms. wallace: sometimes when each agency might have their own perspective for how things go forward, but as with any family, you might have disagreements for moving forward, but we strive to overcome those, again, one that i have highlighted earlier is the army corps of engineers program, if those could be more shared in terms of liability, we would have more and faster and more efficient agreements between the corps and the nonfederal sponsors. rep. carter: you emphasizing

in your testimony how different communities are linked and the need for a shared vision and resiliency and i want to thank you for that because i agree, and i believe that representative palmer pointed out how important resilience is. representing georgia, i can tell you that we need to build up our resiliency. to that is not a partisan issue so it is very important for it thank you. mayor bottoms, i wanted to ask you. you committed atlanta to 100% renewable clean energy by 2035. i know in los angeles, they committed to be 100% by 2045, and in the la area, they have had rolling blackouts as a result of depending on renewable energy that is turning out not to be as dependable, and we all understand the concerns of that.

excuse me, as a georgian, i am very proud of what we have done. we are in the top 10 in solar energy, we have the only nuclear reactor -- and you will find this hard to believe about the number one forester state in the country. he as carbon sinks. how are you going to achieve this 100% renewable by 2035 and avoid these rolling blackouts? mayor lance bottoms: thank you for the question. we have been very thoughtful and are planning with this and in fact, we have an earlier deadline to achieve this goal, and we extended the deadline because he wanted to make sure that we were thoughtful. a huge part of that has been working with our utility partners, making sure that georgia power has been a power has been a part of this

discussion because we want to make sure that as we work to achieve that goal that it is beneficial for all of our communities, so if that means that we need to further extend the deadline, which i certainly hope we will not have to come about if we have to do that to make sure we get it right, we will do that and continue to have at the table front and center our utility partners to make sure that it is achievable. >> thank you, mayor, and again, thank you all for the panel. i yield back. >> could i ask a point of clarification? chair castor: yes. >> would it be possible for mayor garcetti to clarify that there have not been any rolling blackouts because of renewable energy? mayor garcetti: correct. it's the second hearing with an unfortunate misunderstanding. los angeles has never had a rolling blackout, because of renewable energy. you can speak more broadly, but

i want to establish, we have not and never did. i very respectfully want to correct the record. chair castor: thank you for the clarification. next, we will go to rep. bramley, so in the meantime, why don't we go to rep. miller. you are recognized for five minutes. rep. miller: thank you, chair. ranking member graves, i want to thank you for being here today and like many of my colleagues, sitting on the committee, my district in west virginia has been gravely impacted by extreme weather events. i feel for the americans who have been impacted by natural disasters and i look forward to using this hearing and future hearings to learn more about what actions that we can take to create the real, concrete resolves to mitigate the damage

and save lives. my district in southern west virginia has a history of flooding. in 2016, three schools in one rural county were completely destroyed, which basically by flooding -- the schools are the center of the communities so it halted learning, it deprived the residents of places that they went for everything, and it has taken years for this to be changed and for schools to come back up. these catastrophic floods cost 23 lives at that time, and our communities are still in a recovery process. but it is history, but it is happening right now. last night in lincoln county in my district, they were hit by severe flooding, and at least 50 families were trapped in their homes and it damaged many others.

my prayers go out to be people -- these people who are affected in west hamlin in lincoln county, but we need to figure out what to do, and that is why it is so important for us to understand what steps the federal government can take to help create the real results. destroying our american energy infrastructure and instead relying on foreign sources of energy will create more global carbon emissions. we need to do more to show up -- shore up our supply chain of critical minerals so that we can produce energy of all kinds here in america, and create jobs for our constituents. in the meantime, we have to prepare our communities to mitigate damage from these extreme weather events and promote policies that prioritize resiliency. mayor rhodes-conway, and your testimony, you mentioned the

danger that flooding presents to wisconsin. what steps has maddison taken, and how do you empower your citizens to engage in predisaster mitigation for their own? mayor rhodes-conway: thank you for the question. i would like to point out, maddison experiences that -- several different types of flooding. we are between lakes, so when the lake levels rise over time, and i will say, our lake levels have been rising significantly over time due to increased precipitation, that will cause a backup of the sewer system, and there is also the problem of larger rain events and while he -- we may be getting the same amount of water over time, it is coming in more severe storms so that more of it comes at once, so then we have the regular, local ponding in our streets and wet basement issues, and then we have the really severe crises

like we saw in 2018 with the thousand year flood. as to what we are doing, because we are facing multiple types of flooding, it has to be a multifaceted approach. we are studying all of our watersheds to understand where flooding occurs and what improvements we can make in our stormwater system, whether that be in great infrastructure or green infrastructure, but we also completely revamped our stormwater code that future buildings must be built to accommodate at the higher chance of flooding in our community. so that when buildings get built from now on and they will be less likely to be impacted by flooding, and one of the major things we did there, we used to say you just have to pay attention to your own property, which of course means that you

could push the water problem off down the hill from you, but now we are requiring folks to take into account the entire system. rep. miller: i want to ask you one more question. our rural communities often lack resources available to engage in predisaster mitigation. as your role of the co-chair, how do you think we can help empower these neighborhoods, these communities? mayor rhodes-conway: another excellent question. dc there is an opportunity for the federal government tosa solutions that are working in one place that may work in another place. i do think that the cities are the laboratories of democracy and we are learning things, we are innovating, and we are happy to share that knowledge and spread it.

i work closely with my partners, smaller cities and rural areas in wisconsin and i think that model is something that could work across the country. rep. miller: thank you. i yield back. chair castor: thank you. next, i do not see a couple of memories that we will try to come back. are you prepared for your question, ranking member? you are recognized for five minutes. rep. graves: thank you. all of the witnesses, thank you for your testimony. it was a big help. i want to ask, but i kind of touched on the opening statement. you could do all sorts of things in order to try to address resilience. what are some of the guiding principles that you are using to try to identify the investments that you are making? mayor garcetti: you have to have collaboration, you cannot come

with an empty hand in washington, but as representative miller said, conscious of the differences of communities and resources that people have. second, empower everyday people. there, make it good for everyone bottom-line, so water conservation, you can do it as the cheapest way for everybody, from the construction side. and i would say for us, look at where you can have a multi benefit of anything you do. create local jobs for at risk youth while you are making a resilient city, those are the principles that we engage with every single day. rep. graves: that is helpful. thank you. there are number of things i had seen being done across the country that i have strong concerns with because i do not feel like they are that as you said, you are talking about dual benefits, making sure it is involved in a cost benefit, but unfortunately have seen a lot of things around the country that do not appear to be doing that.

i have read some things, yoga and the taj mahal may be in your future and i don't want to cause any problems at all, so waved me off or provide in writing in the future, and i mean that. if you look at what's happening , some of the models showing all of this transport and additional emissions coming from countries like china, how do you make it -- how does that make you feel that you are there trying to lean forward, and meanwhile, you have is extraordinary missions, china said this week they might put the brakes on some of the reductions. mayor garcetti: i appreciate it and i am happy to answer it. these are the 97 mega cities and countries like china, india, and africa, america, and i will say this, of the 97 cities, 54 of

them have exceeded their promises in the paris climate accord. they come from china, and they come from countries that have not met those goals, including our own. there are only two countries in the world that have met their pledges, that is i think gambia in morocco. it's not like we have a lot of countries meeting the mark. but cities i think are inspiring those nations to do better, it is the citizens in beijing, and saying that quality, and power to do something about it, it is really to empower the grassroots to say to the national leaders through civic and state leaders, let's do better, and that mayor to mayor conversation happens beautifully at the global level. rep. graves: i will follow-up with writing after this, but i want to turn to ms. wallace. can you talk a little bit, again, i love the mayor garcetti quote in regards to nipa, but can you talk a little bit about

the frustration with implementation, can you talk about some of the challenges y'all have had with trying to implement resiliency efforts that are obstructed by some of the red tape? i know that nafta and others are priorities for you and your organization. ms. wallace: a priority that we hope to see move forward both for the resilience of the navigation system, but also for the ecosystem. like i think what was said earlier, we want to act now so we are prepared and resilient going forward into the future. delayed action is really problematic. our understanding and the delay is a decision with the office of management and budget and not putting it in the budget. we understand that the last administration had agreed of the department of agricultural level and ultimately, it was within

omb, so we are hopeful to get the funding for moving forward. again, that was an agreement reached by stakeholders, by all of the state and federal agencies, and navigation and conservation interests, this is our way forward, it was really insightful and would answer a lot of our challenges ecologically to the resilience. rep. graves: thank you. i apologize, i have questions for the other mayors, but i am out of time. chair castor: great. i will recognize myself for five minutes for questions. thank you again to all of these terrific witnesses. there is so many technological advancements that we can use to help lower electric bills for all of our neighbors. you have done a hit on one of

the stumbling blocks and that is the fact that you are preempted from implementing certain standards, kind of bringing and some of the modern technology and this is a problem in other states, too, where local communities are bound by state law that prohibits the adoption of modern codes and standards that are proven to reduce pollution and help bring online some of the smart technology. how do we craft legislation in the congress, how do we address that? we do not like to take too heavy of hand and we do not need that kind of national hammer, but we're going to have to help local communities get these things done, how do we do that? mayor rhodes-conway: thank you. it is an excellent question.

the principle that i would use to guide you is the principle of floors, not ceilings. the federal government, state governments should set a minimum requirement, and a state of wisconsin set of floor which allowed jurisdictions like madison or green bay to exceed that, given our local conditions, for example, flooding. it would allow us the flexibility that we need, but not require everybody to hit the higher standard that madison might want to hit, so i do think that anything that could get states to that principal and philosophy would be extremely important and valuable to us. failing that, i think incentivizing states to move towards adoption of the greatest codes.

here in wisconsin, we ignored last -- the last code update, so we are falling behind every day. thankfully, the governor is taking action to move forward on that, but nonetheless, it leaves us vulnerable at the local level of not being able to do the things that we need to do to protect our community. chair castor: yes, thank you. such common sense and we have to use every tool in the toolbox. it has been good to hear that there is bipartisan recognition that the burdens of the climate crisis often fall on the working class neighbors and are black -- our black and brown neighbors. fema is currently seeking help from cities and the public to change the way they address climate threats for underserved communities but my question to all of our panel, what can

congress do now, now we are marching forward to hammer out the american jobs plan, what do we need to include it to help your cities center environmental justice across the board from transportation, water, infrastructure, and housing? what needs to be said and done throughout legislation that we intend to pass? let's go in the same order, mayor garcetti. check your audio, mayor. mayor garcetti: my time is limited and at such a huge question but i would say the most important thing is to make sure you are demanding equity managers. either the data has to be collected or the output of hitting all communities. that is a way to make sure that these jobs are local, do local

hire, embed debt, not just a waiver and create a whole workforce, so this is not just about doing something for this legislation, but really creating clear pathways that will be the climate warriors of the next generation. chair castor: mayor bottoms. mayor lance bottoms: small grant funding to our partners and also flexibility. i will go back to hurricane katrina. we are in inland city, not expecting any major impact from hurricanes, but we had to take in a huge amount of the population of new orleans, climate refugees into our city, so these unexpected expenditures that we experienced too often, so any flexibility and

expediency and getting funding directly to our cities would be helpful. chair castor: i certainly hear that from my mayor as well. do not park it through the state, get it to the local communities that know how to get things done. you all have been a terrific panel and i appreciate the involvement of all of our committee members today. thank you. without objection, i'm going to enter some documents into the record. i know congressman crenshaw brought up some issues on the sources of flooding, and i will tell you, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, they have the most up-to-date scientific analysis on changing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and i recommend them to you, and it

shows that we're are talking about extremes here in the western and northern parts of the country warming faster while places that typically get a lot of rainfall are getting more of it in many extreme events, so folks who may be watching this hearing may have questions, go dig in and find out what is happening in your location, because the climate crisis is impacting communities across america in different ways, but we are paying more, and we are all suffering through many of these extreme events and we will have to come more resilient. without objection, i would like to enter into the record adrian -- june 4 letter for water utility use throughout the state of florida encouraging congress to invest and water recycling programs as a part of the infra -- infrastructure package to help communities with resilient and mitigate the climate change. a june 10 letter detailing the critical need for investment in

our nation's infrastructure. with serious consequences if we fail to act, and across all infrastructure sectors with modern codes and standards to protect public health and safety. without objection, all members will have 10 business days to submit questions to the witnesses. i ask our witnesses to respond promptly. thank you again. the committee on climate crisis is now adjourned, have a great weekend. ♪