Energy and Environment

That's why I was excited to see bold new proposals for conserving our ocean and combating climate change in the Ocean Based Climate Solutions Act, introduced by Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, in the U.S. House recently, co-sponsored by Oregon's Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Rep. Earl Blumenauer. This bill proposes a bold agenda that will reorient America's relationship to our oceans, recognizing the important role our coastal waters play in our cultural imagination and in the life-support systems of our planet.

Maue and Legates's involvement has prompted concerns they may seek to recruit like-minded scientists to draft the report, which typically paints a dire picture of the climate-related challenges facing the U.S. "We cannot stand by and tolerate the suppression, censorship, and manipulation of climate science," lawmakers wrote in the letter spearheaded by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.).

House Democrats, led by Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor (Fla.), Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), and Reps. Don Beyer (Va.) and Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), made clear their opposition to any attempts by the Trump administration to derail the fifth National Climate Assessment, amid several staffing moves in recent weeks atop the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

This bipartisan legislation — introduced by Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon and co-sponsored by Florida Republican representatives Bill Posey and Brian Mast and Democrat Alcee Hastings — aims to identify, protect and restore coastal ecosystems like kelp, seagrasses, marshes and mangroves that capture and store carbon. The Senate bill was co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.