Timely hearing next week on climate change

Next week, the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee will hold a timely hearing on, "What should Pennsylvania be doing to address climate change?" The hearing will be held on Monday, December 16, at 10 a.m. in 418 Main Capitol.

Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, the minority chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, is organizing the hearing.

The committee will hear from a panel including:

• Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Penn State University
• Tom Peterson, president and CEO of the Center for Climate Strategies
• Janet Milkman, executive director of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council
• Christina Simeone, director of the PennFuture Energy Center
• Rick Price, executive director of Western Pennsylvania Clean Cities
• Erik Johanson, manager of strategic business planning for SEPTA

The hearing is timely for a number of reasons beyond the sheer urgency of the climate change problem. First, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is well behind in producing public reports on the state's climate efforts and climate impacts on Pennsylvania as required by the 2008 Pennsylvania Climate Change Act. 

And last week, during his Senate confirmation hearing, DEP Secretary Christopher Abruzzo created a ruckus when he claimed that he had not read any scientific studies indicating adverse impacts of climate change on humans, plants or animals.

For more on Abruzzo's statement, please read PennFuture president Cindy Dunn's open letter to Abruzzo in another Session Daze blog post.