Ranking Members Waxman and Rush Call for Hearing on Carbon Dioxide Emissions’ Effects on Oceans
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Energy and Power Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby L. Rush sent a letter to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield urging them to hold a hearing on the rapid acidifying of oceans due to rising emissions of carbon dioxide. Studies from Columbia University, the University of Bristol, and others concluded that, due to carbon dioxide emissions, ocean acidification is occurring much faster than at any other point in Earth’s history, perhaps causing unprecedented marine ecosystem change.
The full text of the letter is below and also available online here.
March 21, 2012
The Honorable Fred Upton
Chairman
Energy and Commerce Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Ed Whitfield
Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy and Power
U.S. House of Representatives
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Upton and Chairman Whitfield:
While many are familiar with the scientific evidence that carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for climate change, fewer are aware of carbon dioxide’s serious effects on our oceans. We are writing to urge you to hold a hearing on a new scientific study showing that the ocean is acidifying at an unprecedented rate due to rising emissions of carbon dioxide.
The world’s oceans serve as sponges to absorb excess carbon dioxide. But when carbon dioxide enters the oceans too quickly, oceans can acidify, damaging sensitive marine ecosystems and species. According to the United Nations Environment Program, ocean acidification is “rapidly becoming a critical issue with the potential, if unabated, to affect many species and their ecosystems, pertinently including those associated with human food resources.”[1]
Columbia University, the University of Bristol, and others recently examined the geologic record over the last 300 million years for evidence of significant periods of ocean acidification. The researchers concluded the current rate of ocean acidification is at least ten times faster than at any other point in the Earth’s history, including periods that led to major extinctions.[2] Professor Andy Ridgwell from the University of Bristol stated that the study suggests that “the current acidification is potentially unparalleled” and “raises the possibility that we are entering an unknown territory of marine ecosystem change.”[3]
These findings underscore one of the potentially serious consequences of failing to act to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. We urge you to schedule a hearing on this matter as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
|
Henry A. Waxman |
Bobby L. Rush |
[1] United Nations Environment Program, Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification: A Threat to Food Security (2010).
[2] The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification, Science (Mar. 2, 2012); Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Ocean Acidification Rate May Be Unprecedented, Study Says (Mar. 1, 2012).
[3] University of Bristol, Learning about the future from the past (Mar. 2, 2012).
Letter to Chairmen Upton and Whitfield from Reps. Waxman and Rush (March 21, 2012).