Summary: Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Max Baucus (D-MT) today introduced legislation that addresses the harmful impacts that climate change could have on natural resources such as forests, coastlines and wildlife habitats, and on the people and economies that depend on those resources.  “The Natural Resources Climate Adaptation Act of 2009” (S. 1933) seeks to make the most effective use of science and natural resources management to combat the negative effects of a warming planet, and it provides for funding to help tackle these problems.

The legislation:

• Requires all Federal agencies with relevant expertise to work on natural resources’ climate change adaptation and to work together across jurisdictional boundaries.
• Requires these agencies to identify and produce necessary scientific information, and to prepare a national strategy and individual agency plans to maximize the resilience of landscapes and to minimize adverse climate change impacts.
• Establishes a fund to be available without further appropriations, to provide resources for existing federal, state and tribal programs for their work in addressing climate change impacts. This work will include such things as restoring watersheds to ensure abundant clean water supplies, managing forest health and restoring wetlands to protect coastal communities.
• States receiving funding are also to participate in planning and any information produced will be shared with all interested stakeholders. This will ensure the most effective use of government resources and broad deployment of the latest scientific information and best management practices.

Source: October 27, 2009 Senate E&NR Committee Press Release

More Information: The full press release is at http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.detail&PressRelease_id=760f9be7-fc9c-48bd-b8f6-0c36b0e94fb4

Contact: 202-224-8046

Prepared by: This message was distributed by Kellen Mahoney, who may be reached at e-mail: kmahoney@eetnews.com