SD46 DFL

In December, Senator Al Franken and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) explained to their colleagues how the oil and coal industries have funded scientists who spread misinformation and doubt on climate change through conservative foundations.  In fact, these scientists are often the same ones that were paid by the tobacco industry to deny that smoking causes cancer.  In their engaging hour long discussion, they laid out the preponderance of evidence showing climate change is real and indicated that 97% of scientists who have published peer reviewed articles on climate change as well as the National Academy of Sciences agree that it is urgent that we take steps to reduce the amount of CO2 produced by fossil fuels.

Senator Franken talked about the effect of climate change on the forests and fields of the plains, while Senator Whitehouse spoke of the acidification that the warming of the ocean has caused.  They ended their colloquy by speaking about the innovation and clean energy progress in their respective states.  Senator Franken told of the progress Minnesota's utility companies have made in increasing clean energy in Minnesota, of the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant being built in Minnesota, of St. Paul's downtown centrally heated with woody biomass, and of the Sage Electrochromics plant that manufactures windows with a photovoltaic cell that blocks out all UV during the summer and lets in all the light in winter.  Senator Whitehouse spoke of the offshore wind energy under planning in Rhode Island and of the jet fuel being manufactured from algae.

Senator Franken concluded by stating, "Climate change is real, and failure to address it is bad for our standing in the global economy, bad for the Federal budget, and bad for our national security. We can do better than that for our children and our grandchildren and posterity."  Watch their informative discussion, or read Executive Director of Fresh Energy Michael Noble's summary of the colloquy.