“We Are Running Out of Time”: Congressman Neguse Responds to Latest IPCC Report with Urgent Warning

Washington D.C.—Today, Congressman Joe Neguse, the only member of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis from the Rocky Mountain region, and Chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, issued the following statement in response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report.

“For decades, scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been warning us of the worsening and catastrophic consequences of inaction on climate change. Every time they release a new report, there is collective outrage at the damaging assessment of the state of our planet, and yet the years pass by while policymakers fail to take this threat seriously and take the necessary steps to make whole-of-government investments to reduce emissions and save our planet,” said Congressman Joe Neguse. “We are running out of time. For communities in Colorado, the crisis has reached our backyards – burning homes through historic and unprecedented wildfires, damaging water supplies through drought and flash flooding and affecting the very air that we breathe. There is currently a $500 billion-dollar climate package being debated in Congress. If it cannot get to the President’s desk as a down payment for climate action, the Congress is failing our communities, our planet, and future generations.”

Congressman Neguse represents Boulder, Colorado where 1,084 homes and businesses were recently destroyed in the destructive Marshall Fire. He also represents Grand and Larimer Counties, which experienced the most historic wildfire season on record in 2020, in the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires, followed by flash flooding in the Poudre Canyon, which took 3 lives and exacerbated damage to local water supplies. In summer 2021, the Denver metro area experienced the worst air quality in the world. These climate impacts follow 100-year floods in 2013 which local communities are still rebuilding from.

Since coming to Congress, Congressman Neguse has introduced countless bills aimed at tackling the climate crisis and mitigating the impacts. His plan to launch a 21st Century Climate Conservation Corps has captured the imagination of the American people and would put a new generation to work in our public lands working on climate resilience projects. His Carbon Cost Act would ensure Congress is leading by example and tracking the carbon-emission impacts of legislation passed through the Chamber. He is also leading a resolution calling for a whole-of-government approach to tackle the biodiversity crisis and protect lands and wildlife and a legislative package to invest in regenerative agriculture research. As communities in the 2nd face worsening and more intense wildfires, as Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus, Congressman Neguse is leading the Western Wildfire Support Act to comprehensively scale-up fire suppression resources, Tim’s Act, to raise federal wildland firefighter pay, as well as the Wildfire Recovery Act and Wildfire Smoke Relief Act to support communities. Recently, two laws led by Congressman Neguse to formalize a popular forest restoration program and ensure a disaster safe power grid, were enacted into law alongside the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.