Casten Delivers First Major Speech on Climate Change
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Sean Casten (IL-06) today delivered his first major floor speech on climate change. Casten's top priorities in Congress include tackling climate change by reducing CO2 emissions and he has been calling for expedited action to address the looming threat. Casten currently serves on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
To watch Casten's speech, click the image above or click here.
Casten, in part, said, "We, in this body, need to begin tackling climate change now and we should start by talking about it differently. Not as an unproven scientific theory. Not as a political inconvenience. And not as a job-killer. But as an economic opportunity. Action on climate change can be the path to making the U.S. more globally competitive.
I do not speak on this Floor today as a theorist. From 2000 – 2016, I built multiple companies with missions to profitably reduce greenhouse gas emissions. My colleagues and I made US manufacturers more competitive by reducing their energy expenses. More than 80 projects and $300 million of capital investment later I can say three things with certainty:
One: there are no thermodynamic barriers to dramatically lowering U.S. CO2 emissions. Two: there are no economic barriers to profit-maximizing behavior. Which leads me to three: there are numerous legal barriers to profitably reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
So let's make U.S. manufacturers more competitive. Let's help them cut costs… energy costs. Let's protect U.S. jobs. Let's make our energy system more resilient. And let's lower CO2 emissions. I think that's pretty bipartisan. As I go to work on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, I will be working toward writing and introducing legislation and look forward to hearing all the great ideas from my colleagues in this body. I don't have all the answers, but I know we do."