Alan Lowenthal: “Climate change is a long-term threat to my home State of California and to all coastal States. Climate change will…”

“Climate change is a long-term threat to my home State of California and to all coastal States. Climate change will increase the risk of flooding and eventual submersion of millions of American low-lying homes. Mr. Speaker, I hold up this article that a group of scientists from Princeton and the University of Arizona recently published, a journal article that quantifies State by State the coastal populations that are exposed to storm surges and sea level rise. The researchers found that in California there are more than 138,000 housing units and over 325,000 Californians living on land that is below one meter of high tide. And in the entire United States, there are approximately 3.7 million Americans living on land below one meter of high tide. Mr. Speaker, if Congress and the world does nothing, climate change will have a devastating impact on these 3.7 million Americans who are on the front line of climate change. And that number will only grow. ____________________”