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Immediate action needed to curb climate change, panel is told in Pittsburgh

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Immediate action needed to curb climate change, panel is told in Pittsburgh

Much of the testimony Wednesday before the state Senate Democratic Policy Committee focused on the need at the state and local level to take immediate action to mitigate climate change by reducing carbon emissions.

George Hartenstein, deputy director for waste, air, radiation and remediation in the state Department of Environmental Protection, was one of several speakers at the morning-long meeting in an IBEW Local #5 assembly room on the South Side who said Pennsylvania is already feeling ecological, economic and public health impacts from the changing climate.

Mr. Hartenstein testified that climate change is contributing to increased flooding, severe storms, heat waves and drought. He said average temperatures in the state could climb by 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050 unless greenhouse gas emissions are curtailed significantly.

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"If not properly addressed, changes in climate could result in more frequent road washouts, challenges in our transportation infrastructure, higher likelihood of power outages, and shifts in economic activity," Mr. Hartenstein said. "Based on the overwhelming scientific evidence, those harms are likely to increase in number and severity.

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Mandy Warner, senior manager for climate and air policy for the Environmental Defense Fund, testified that Pennsylvania emits more greenhouse gases than all but two other states, and although those emissions are declining they are not falling fast enough.

Scientists say greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, causing warming and other changes to the Earth’s climate.

Ms. Warner said Pennsylvania has some of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the country and is the only state in the northeast without a hard limit on carbon pollution from the power sector or any plan to put one in place.

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Calls to reduce or end the use of coal to produce electricity generated pushback from Rachel Gleason, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance. She said the continued burning of fossil fuels is the “key to prosperity,” adding that neither wind nor solar can produce reliable, affordable electricity.

Kevin Sunday, director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, told the panel that the chamber believes “environmental stewardship and economic growth are mutually compatible objectives.”

He also said that while the chamber recognizes that human activity is a major contributing factor in climate change, government officials should be “judicious” in taking actions that impact the state’s coal and gas production or that prevent businesses and consumers from making choices “to develop and utilize the energy solution that works best for them. . .”

State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh and chair of the committee, said the policy committee’s hearing was prompted by President Donald Trump’s decision last year to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord and commitments to reduce the nation’s emissions of greenhouse gases, including curbs on carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons and sulfur emissions, by 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

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“We cannot ignore the scientific facts,’ Ms. Boscola said. “The future of our communities and all of our humanity depend on us taking action. We need to cut non-renewable energy usage to zero by 2050.”

She said the climate change problem is real, imminent and multifaceted, and political leaders have a responsibility to address it.

"We need to reduce carbon emissions. How we do that will take both immediate steps and a long-term focus," Ms. Boscola said.

Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said that in the absence of federal action, the state must continue to participate and provide leadership in “cooperative efforts to stave of the catastrophic consequences of global warming.”

Thomas Schuster, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club in Pennsylvania, said the latest scientific reports contain a "sense of urgency," and noted that clean energy and efficiency have the potential to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the state.

About 50 people attended the committee meeting and 12 provided testimony.

Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1983, or on Twitter @donhopey.

Correction (made 10:35 a.m. Nov. 29): In an earlier version of this story, Sen. Jay Costa was incorrectly identified in a photo caption.

First Published: November 28, 2018, 7:55 p.m.
Updated: November 29, 2018, 12:13 a.m.

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