[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 938 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 938
To require the President to declare a national emergency relating to
climate change under the National Emergencies Act, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 23, 2021
Mr. Sanders introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the President to declare a national emergency relating to
climate change under the National Emergencies Act, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Climate Emergency Act of
2021'' or the ``Climate Emergency Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) 2010 to 2019 was the hottest decade on record;
(2) global atmospheric concentrations of the primary global
warming pollutant, carbon dioxide--
(A) have increased by 40 percent since
preindustrial times, from 280 parts per million to 415
parts per million, primarily due to human activities,
including burning fossil fuels and deforestation;
(B) are rising at a rate of 2 to 3 parts per
million annually; and
(C) must be reduced to not more than 350 parts per
million, and likely lower, ``if humanity wishes to
preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization
developed and to which life on Earth is adapted,''
according to former National Aeronautics and Space
Administration climatologist, Dr. James Hansen;
(3) global atmospheric concentrations of other greenhouse
gases, including methane, nitrous oxide, and
hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased substantially since
preindustrial times, primarily due to human activities,
including burning fossil fuels;
(4) climate science and observations of climate change
impacts, including ocean warming and acidification, floods,
droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather, demonstrate that a
global rise in temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius above
preindustrial levels is already having dangerous impacts on
human populations and the environment;
(5) the 2018 National Climate Assessment found that climate
change due to global warming has caused, and is expected to
cause additional, substantial interference with and growing
losses to human health and safety, infrastructure, property,
industry, recreation, natural resources, agricultural systems,
and quality of life in the United States;
(6) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has
determined that climate change is already increasing the
frequency of extreme weather and other climate-related
disasters, including drought, wildfire, and storms that include
precipitation;
(7) climate-related natural disasters have increased
exponentially over the past decade, costing the United States
more than double the long-term average during the period of
2014 through 2018, with total costs of natural disasters during
that period of approximately $100,000,000,000 per year;
(8) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have
found wide-ranging, acute, and fatal public health consequences
from climate change that impact communities across the United
States;
(9) the National Climate and Health Assessment of the
United States Global Change Research Program identified climate
change as a significant threat to the health of the people of
the United States, leading to increased--
(A) temperature-related deaths and illnesses;
(B) air quality impacts;
(C) extreme weather events;
(D) numbers of vector-borne diseases;
(E) waterborne illnesses;
(F) food safety, nutrition, and distribution
complications; and
(G) mental health and well-being concerns;
(10) the consequences of climate change already
disproportionately impact frontline communities and endanger
populations made especially vulnerable by existing exposure to
extreme weather events, including children, the elderly, and
individuals with pre-existing disabilities and health
conditions;
(11) individuals and families on the frontlines of climate
change across the United States, including territories, living
with income inequality and poverty, institutional racism,
inequity on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, poor
infrastructure, and lack of access to health care, housing,
clean water, and food security are often in close proximity to
environmental stressors or sources of pollution, particularly
communities of color, indigenous communities, and low-income
communities, which--
(A) are often the first exposed to the impacts of
climate change;
(B) experience outsized risk because of the close
proximity of the community to environmental hazards and
stressors, in addition to collocation with waste and
other sources of pollution; and
(C) have the fewest resources to mitigate those
impacts or to relocate, which will exacerbate
preexisting challenges;
(12) according to Dr. Robert Bullard and Dr. Beverly
Wright, ``environmental and public health threats from natural
and human-made disasters are not randomly distributed,
affecting some communities more than others'', therefore a
response to the climate emergency necessitates the adoption of
just community transition policies and processes available to
all communities, which include policies and processes rooted in
principles, as described in the 17 Principles of Environmental
Justice written and adopted at the First National People of
Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24
through 27, 1991, in Washington, DC, of racial and socio-
economic equity, self-determination, and democracy, as well as
the fundamental human right of all people to clean air and
water, healthy food, health care, adequate land, education, and
shelter;
(13) climate change holds grave and immediate consequences
not just for the population of the United States, including
territories, but for communities across the world, particularly
those communities in the Global South on the frontlines of the
climate crisis, which are at risk of forced displacement;
(14) communities in rural, urban, and suburban areas are
all dramatically affected by climate change, though the
specific economic, health, social, and environmental impacts
may be different;
(15) the United States Department of State, Department of
Defense, and intelligence community have identified climate
change as a threat to national security, and the Department of
Homeland Security views climate change as a top homeland
security risk;
(16) climate change is a threat multiplier with the
potential--
(A) to exacerbate many of the challenges the United
States already confronts, including conflicts over
scarce resources, conditions conducive to violent
extremism, and the spread of infectious diseases; and
(B) to produce new, unforeseeable challenges in the
future;
(17) in 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change projected that the Earth could warm 1.5 degrees
Celsius above preindustrial levels as early as 2030;
(18) the climatic changes resulting from global warming
above 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, including
changes resulting from global warming of more than 2 degrees
Celsius above preindustrial levels, are projected to result in
irreversible, catastrophic changes to public health,
livelihoods, quality of life, food security, water supplies,
human security, and economic growth;
(19) in 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental Science-
Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found
that human-induced climate change is pushing the planet toward
the sixth mass species extinction, which threatens the food
security, water supply, and well-being of billions of people;
(20) according to climate scientists, limiting warming to
no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels,
and likely lower, is most likely to avoid irreversible and
catastrophic climate change;
(21) even with global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius
above preindustrial levels, the planet is projected to
experience--
(A) a significant rise in sea levels;
(B) extraordinary loss of biodiversity; and
(C) intensifying droughts, floods, wildfires, and
other extreme weather events;
(22) according to climate scientists, addressing the
climate emergency will require an economically just phase-out
of the use of oil, gas, and coal in order to keep carbon, which
is the primary constituent of fossil fuels, in the ground and
out of the atmosphere;
(23) the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change has determined that limiting warming through emissions
reduction and carbon sequestration will require rapid, and
immediate, acceleration and proliferation of ``far-reaching,
multilevel, and cross-sectoral climate mitigation'' and
``transitions in energy, land, urban and rural infrastructure
(including transport and buildings), and industrial systems'';
(24) in the United States, massive, comprehensive, and
urgent governmental action is required immediately to achieve
the transitions of those systems in response to the severe
existing and projected economic, social, public health, and
national security threats posed by the climate crisis;
(25) the massive scope and scale of action necessary to
stabilize the climate will require unprecedented levels of
public awareness, engagement, and deliberation to develop and
implement effective, just, and equitable policies to address
the climate crisis;
(26) the Constitution of the United States protects the
fundamental right to life, liberty, property, and equal
protection of the laws;
(27) a climate system capable of sustaining human life is
fundamental to a free and ordered society, and is preservative
of fundamental rights, including the right to life, liberty,
property, personal security, family autonomy, bodily integrity,
and the ability to learn, practice, and transmit cultural and
religious traditions;
(28) the United States has a proud history of
collaborative, constructive, massive-scale Federal
mobilizations of resources and labor in order to solve great
challenges, including the Interstate Highway System, the Apollo
11 Moon landing, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and World War
II;
(29) the United States stands uniquely poised to
substantially grow the economy and attain social and health
benefits from a massive mobilization of resources and labor
that far outweigh the costs of inaction;
(30) millions of middle class jobs can be created by
raising labor standards through project labor agreements and
protecting and expanding the right of workers to organize so
that workers in the United States and the communities of those
workers are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future in a
zero-emissions economy that guarantees good jobs at fair union
wages with quality benefits;
(31) frontline communities, Tribal governments and
communities, people of color, and labor unions must be
equitably and actively engaged in the climate mobilization, in
a way that aligns with the Jemez Principles for Democratic
Organizing written and adopted at the Working Group Meeting for
Globalization and Trade held on December 6 through 8, 1996, in
Jemez, Mexico, and prioritized through local climate mitigation
and adaptation planning, policy, and program delivery so that
workers in the United States, the communities of those workers,
are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future;
(32) a number of local jurisdictions and governments in the
United States, including New York City and Los Angeles, and
across the world, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of
Ireland, Portugal, and Canada, have already declared a climate
emergency, and a number of State and local governments are
considering declaring a climate emergency;
(33) State, local, and Tribal governments must be supported
in efforts to hold to account those actors whose activities
have deepened and accelerated the climate crisis and who have
benefitted from delayed action to address the climate change
emergency and to develop a fossil fuel-free economy;
(34) a collaborative response to the climate crisis will
require the Federal Government to work with international,
State, and local governments, including with those governments
that have declared a climate emergency, to reverse the impacts
of the climate crisis; and
(35) the United States has an obligation, as a primary
driver of accelerated climate change, to mobilize at emergency
speed to restore a safe climate and environment not just for
communities of the United States, including territories, but
for communities across the world, particularly those on the
frontlines of the climate crisis who have least contributed to
the crisis, and to account for global and community impacts of
any actions it takes in response to the climate crisis.
SEC. 3. EMERGENCY DECLARATION.
(a) In General.--The President shall declare a national emergency
under section 201 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1621)
relating to climate change.
(b) Response.--In response to the national emergency declared under
subsection (a), the President shall ensure that the Federal
Government--
(1) invests in large-scale mitigation and resiliency
projects, including projects that--
(A) upgrade public infrastructure to expand access
to clean and affordable energy, transportation, high-
speed broadband, and water infrastructure, with a
particular focus on public systems;
(B) modernize and retrofit millions of homes,
schools, offices, and industrial buildings to reduce
pollution and energy costs;
(C) invest in public health in preparation for, and
in response to, increasingly extreme climactic events;
(D) protect and restore wetlands, forests, public
land, and other natural climate solutions;
(E) create opportunities for farmers and rural
communities, including by bolstering regenerative
agriculture and investing in local and regional food
systems that support farmers, agricultural workers,
healthy soil, and climate resilience;
(F) develop and transform the industrial base of
the United States while creating high-skill and high-
wage manufacturing jobs, including by--
(i) expanding the manufacturing of clean
energy technologies;
(ii) reducing industrial pollution; and
(iii) prioritizing clean, domestic
manufacturing for the projects described in
clauses (i) and (ii); and
(G) establish new employment programs, as
necessary, to meet the goals of the projects described
in subparagraphs (A) through (F);
(2) with respect to the investments made for projects
described in paragraph (1), enables--
(A) a racially and socially just transition to a
clean energy economy by ensuring that at least 40
percent of investments made under this subsection are
to historically disadvantaged communities;
(B) the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions;
(C) resilience in the face of climate change
impacts;
(D) support for small businesses, particularly
women-owned and minority-owned small businesses; and
(E) the expansion of public services;
(3) avoids projects, as described in paragraph (1), that--
(A) increase inequality;
(B) exacerbate, or fail to reduce, pollution at the
source;
(C) violate human rights;
(D) privatize public land, public water, or natural
resources;
(E) expedite the destruction of ecosystems; or
(F) decrease union density or membership;
(4) with respect to the projects described in paragraph
(1), creates jobs that conform to labor standards that--
(A) provide family-sustaining wages and benefits;
(B) ensure a safe workplace;
(C) protect the rights of workers to organize; and
(D) prioritize the hiring of local workers to
ensure wages stay within communities and stimulate
local economic activity;
(5) prioritizes local and equitable hiring and contracting
for the projects described in paragraph (1) that create
opportunities for--
(A) communities of color and indigenous
communities;
(B) women;
(C) veterans;
(D) individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community;
(E) individuals who are disabled or chronically
ill;
(F) individuals who were formerly incarcerated; and
(G) other marginalized individuals and communities;
(6) through the projects described in paragraph (1),
combats environmental injustice, including by--
(A) curtailing air, water, and land pollution from
all sources;
(B) removing health hazards from marginalized
communities;
(C) remediating the cumulative health and
environmental impacts of toxic pollution and climate
change;
(D) ensuring that affected communities have
equitable access to public health resources that have
been systemically denied to communities of color and
indigenous communities; and
(E) upholding the fundamental rights of all people
in the United States to be free from the perils of
climate change; and
(7) reinvests in existing, and creates new, public sector
institutions, inspired by and improving on New Deal-era public
sector institutions by addressing historic inequities, to
strategically and coherently mobilize and channel investment at
the scale and pace required by the national emergency declared
under subsection (a).
(c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall submit to
Congress a report describing actions taken in response to the national
emergency declared under subsection (a).
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