Frank Pallone: “I thank the gentleman from Colorado for yielding time, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 5118, the Wildfire Response…”

“I thank the gentleman from Colorado for yielding time, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 5118, the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act. Climate change and extreme weather are already wreaking havoc on American families and businesses. Every day, we read news stories about drought conditions in the West and the corn belt, wildfires displacing Americans from their homes, and the potential collapse of Texas' power grid from extreme heat and unreliable fossil fuel power plants. Just this week, in my home State of New Jersey, Governor Murphy is encouraging residents to conserve water due to dry conditions. Now, the impacts of climate and extreme weather are truly being felt everywhere. That is why I am proud to support this package of commonsense proposals, including many from the Energy and Commerce Committee, to mitigate the effects of extreme weather on our electric grid and water resources. I just want to highlight a couple of the key provisions from our committee. The bill includes legislation from Representative O'Halleran, requiring the Federal Government to identify grid infrastructure that is vulnerable to natural disasters. It includes Representative Casten's legislation to ensure that different regions of the country can share power during extreme weather events.…”