Energy and Environment
Information regarding my stance on Energy and Environment issues.
The House Science Committee invited a panel of ocean researchers and technologists to testify at a subcommittee hearing last week on their exploration goals and Congress' role in promoting the field. Discussion focused on opportunities for decreasing the cost of exploration technology through unmanned systems, increasing partnerships with the private sector and other countries, and inspiring the public about the oceans.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) has already observed damaging environmental changes at home—like the change in seawater chemistry that is harming her state's shellfish industry.
"I represent the amazingly beautiful Oregon north coast," Bonamici told Bloomberg Environment. "We realized that ocean acidification was affecting that industry, and then really started looking at ocean acidification and realizing we really need to do something about it."
A bill by Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey to study the acidification of estuaries including the Indian River Lagoon was approved Wednesday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher is pushing for the passage of the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2019, this year's iteration of a bill that would provide for, among other things, clearing trees in the name of wildfire prevention.
Rep. Bill Posey's (R-Rockledge) bipartisan legislation to fight coastal acidification and help estuaries like our Indian River Lagoon was recently approved by the Full House Science Committee.
Posey introduced the National Estuaries and Acidification Research Act (H.R. 988) with Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), both fellow co-chairs of the Congressional Estuary Caucus.