Sec. 2. Findings
392 words·~2 min read·
/bill/118/hr/9573/ih/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds that— climate change, resulting primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels, is an immediate, grave threat to the communities, environment, and economy of the United States; severe consequences of climate change have already materialized in the United States, including rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, extreme weather events, flooding, heat waves, loss of biodiversity, and other climate change-driven ecosystem threats; the Federal Government jointly with States and localities must develop and implement protective measures to counteract the adverse effects of climate change, protect communities, and build resilience to extreme weather; the government response must include protections for communities that are most vulnerable to climate change impacts, especially communities of color, low-income communities, and Tribal and Indigenous communities that are also more likely to have experienced systemic disinvestment and be overburdened by fossil fuel pollution; the protective measures necessary to respond to the adverse effects of climate change in the United States will require trillions of dollars of new investment during the decade after the date of enactment of this Act; climate change related extreme weather events, such as those described in paragraph (2), cost the United States at least $150,000,000,000 each year and disproportionately affect underserved and overburdened communities, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment; the $100,000,000,000 each year that fossil fuel companies are collectively assessed for the Polluters Pay Climate Fund established in this Act represents only a small portion of the total cost to the Federal Government to respond to climate change related extreme weather events and make needed climate change adaptation and resilience investments; peer-reviewed research can now determine with great accuracy the share of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by the operations and products of specific fossil fuel companies, which is what informs the formulas to determine carbon dioxide emissions that are used in the amendments made by this Act; the fossil fuel industry has been aware of the central role that their product plays in causing climate change since before the year 2000; the fossil fuel industry must now increase their contribution to government expenditures to protect the Nation from climate disaster; and this Act and assessments under the amendments made by this Act are not intended— to be a determination of fault; or to have any impact on the ability of any person or other government to hold polluters accountable for harms caused.