***PRESS RELEASE***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13, 2016
Contact: Nora Leccese
202-246-7253
Nora.leccese@pcusa.org
Reverend Nelson Testifies to U.S. Senate on
Moral Imperative to Act on Climate
Washington, D.C.—On the morning of Wednesday April 13th
at 9:30 am, Office of Public Witness Director Rev J Herbert Nelson testified at
a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing entitled “Examining
the Role of Environmental Policies on Access to Energy and Economic
Opportunity.” The hearing was called to illuminate the impact of the President’s
climate policies on economic opportunity, national security, and related issues
and also addressed the moral imperative to act on climate change. Reverend Nelson was joined by fellow minority
witness Michael Breen, President and CEO of Truman National Security Project
Father and by majority witnesses Robert A. Sirico, President of Action
Institute; Major General Robert Scales, Senior Military Analyst and Alex
Epstein, President at the Center for Industrial Progress.
Reverend Nelson spoke of his time as Pastor of an inner city
congregation in Memphis, Tennessee and of the hardship he witnessed in a
community that was bordered on all sides by heavy polluters. Reverend Nelson
revealed, “I shared my home and my community with some of the most intense
industrial pollution in the country from a chemical plant, a coal-fired power
generating station, and an oil refinery. Ours was a predominately African
American community, which like so many low-income communities of color in our
nation, suffered disproportionately under the health burdens of living in an
industrial zone.”
He brought to the committee’s attention that faithful
climate action is not solely a Presbyterian issue and that there is broad based
ecumenical and interfaith support for the Clean Power Plan and the Green
Climate Fund. Reverend Nelson submitted a letter released on Monday April 11th
that was signed by 121
faith organizations urging Congress to invest the President’s recommended $750
million in the Green Climate Fund for Fiscal Year 2017.
In his testimony, Reverend Nelson implored the nation to
accept its moral responsibility to address global warming. Reverend Nelson stated, “We do this because
we believe the only thing that will ‘put a stay’ on climate change is swift,
faithful action to heal and protect God’s creation.” You can watch the archived
webcast of the hearing here.
Read Reverend Nelson’s full written
testimony below, and click HERE
for a link to a PDF.
###
Testimony of Reverend Dr. J Herbert Nelson II
Director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness
Senate Committee
on Environment and Public Works
"Examining the Role of
Environmental Policies on
Access to Energy and Economic
Opportunity.”
April 13, 2016
Hello, my name is Reverend Doctor J Herbert Nelson and I
direct the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness. Chairman Inhofe, Ranking Member Boxer, and
Committee Members, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
I come to you today not only with 30 years of pastoral
experience in a community that bore the harmful impacts of industrial pollution,
not only as director of our denomination’s national advocacy office, but as a
representative of an ecumenical Christian community that understands the urgent
moral imperative to act on climate change and protect God’s great creation.
Scripture affirms:
“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live
in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers”
(Ps. 24:1–2); The Christian affirmation of God’s creation and love for the
world means protection for all human, animal and plant life. It is apt, then,
that we discuss environmental policy in tandem with economic policy, for care
for all of creation, including our neighbors’
health and economic wellbeing, is central to our concern in addressing climate
change.
I served as Pastor of
a poor inner city congregation in Memphis, Tennessee before coming to
Washington, DC. I shared my home and my community with some of the most intense
industrial pollution in the country from a chemical plant, a coal-fired power
generating station, and an oil refinery. Ours was a predominantly African
American community, which like so many low-income communities of color in our
nation, suffered disproportionately under the health burdens of living in an
industrial zone. It was widely reported at the time that Africans Americans
were 79 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where
industrial pollution was suspected of posing the greatest health danger[1].
Memphis residents were
often sick and were forced to miss school and work because of chronic asthma
caused by pollutants[2]. I recall one activist I
knew, Doris Bradshaw, who lived on land contaminated by a nearby military
storage facility. After her grandmother’s untimely death from an aggressive
cervical cancer, which doctors told her was environmentally induced, Ms.
Bradshaw delved into her own investigation of the contaminants of the land and
air. She was shocked to find a laundry list of chemicals that had been
improperly disposed of and stored there, and those responsible for the disposal
had not been held accountable[3]. I am certain that the
CEOs and profiteers of those companies did not live in areas where the air and
water made their family ill. As pastor, I conducted funerals of people who died
before their time, made countless hospital visits for maladies my flock should not
have had to endure, and engaged in organizing to bring justice to those
afflicted by careless environmental practices. We seek an earth restored, where
economic development is not paid for with the health of our most vulnerable
sisters and brothers in Christ.
Presbyterians have established
since 1981 that we have an ethical obligation to secure a livable planet for present
and future generations. A report approved by the 218th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) entitled The
Power to Change: U.S. Energy Policy And Global Warming[4] states emphatically that we have both a spiritual and
moral responsibility to address the issues related to climate change. In order
to do this in the Reformed tradition, we believe that repentance is
required. Repentance in our biblical understanding calls individuals and
nations to stop the actions that are contrary to God’s desires for the
sustainability of human life, while turning to a new way of living that
promotes the John 10:10 vision of an abundant life. With God’s grace, we can receive
the power to change.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recognizes that there is no
greater measure of God’s abundant provision than that of the energy provided by
the sun and wind. As such, our denomination has called for the removal of
market barriers for broad based investment in renewable energy. We have already
seen prices of renewables drop below the prices of carbon based energy sources
in some areas[5],
and believe it is part of our moral imperative to continue these development
projects. We charge the federal government to continue to shift subsidies and
financial incentives away from fossil fuel extraction and towards renewable
energy infrastructure in order to protect the affordable energy prices that many
low income families rely on. Our denomination also recognizes that carbon based
energy sources are artificially inexpensive, and that we would be stunned if
costs to human health and reclamation of God’s damaged creation were reflected
in the utility bills of everyday Americans. We know not what we do.
At this time, I would like to make some
specific remarks about the President’s Climate Action Plan. Protestant,
Catholic, Jewish, and Evangelical institutions have commented extensively on
the importance of the President’s Plan, including and especially the Clean
Power Plan and curbing methane waste.[6]
I will submit for the record more than two dozen statements by Catholic,
Evangelical, Protestant, and Jewish leadership that express strong support for
those two aspects of the Climate Action Plan. The Clean Power Plan will help
communities like the one I pastored in Memphis to gather stakeholders and
together, forge a path forward to make the transition to a much-needed clean
energy future that will protect our community’s health. In spite of the Supreme
Court stay, as well as some states’ decisions to stall progress, faith
communities are forging ahead at the grassroots level to have the conversations
on the ground about making inevitable and necessary changes in our energy
economy, which will ultimately benefit all of us. We do this because we believe
the only thing that will “put a stay” on climate change is swift, faithful
action to heal and protect God’s creation. Furthermore, because faith
communities value good stewardship, we believe methane standards by EPA and BLM
of new and existing methane pollution sources need to be swiftly completed. One only need visit Porter Ranch, California
or any other community close to an oil and gas extraction site to see
devastating impacts of careless, easily fix-able methane leaks. Currently,
the methane pollution wasted by the oil and gas industry each year is enough to
heat nearly 6 million homes each winter. Furthermore, millions
in taxpayer money literally go up in smoke due to venting and flaring practices
on our public lands. States, Tribes and federal taxpayers lose royalty
revenues when natural gas is wasted – as much as $23 million annually in
royalty revenue for the Federal Government and the States that share it,
according to a 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
Our advocacy does not end at our own borders, for we know
well that energy decisions made by the US are amplified the world over. People
of faith came out in unprecedented numbers to advocate for global climate
action in the COP 21 Paris Climate Agreement. Collectively, we delivered nearly
two million petition signatures to negotiators calling for a fair, ambitious,
binding climate agreement. The agreement reached is a reflection of the
powerful advocacy work of communities around the world. World leaders have
finally recognized that the moral imperative for ambitious climate action — now
and for decades to come — is strong. Yet, although the deal is an important
step forward, it is insufficient. We commend negotiators for laying a strong
foundation for climate change mitigation, and recognize that we in the United
States have significant work to do to make good on existing promises, as well
as achieve the level of change necessary. As we continue to build on this
agreement, we call on the United States to take leadership in keeping existing
climate finance commitments, as well as planning for the social, political, and
financial implications of climate-related loss and damage.
It is a matter of justice that
developed nations who have put the most greenhouse gasses into the air take
responsibility for developing nations’ ability to mitigate and adapt to climate
change. Developing nations need access to renewable energy infrastructure, as
well as the tools to address climate impacts such as severe weather, droughts,
and flooding. The Paris Agreement included some basic climate finance
mechanisms which our communities can build on in future years. Since its
inception, faith communities have vigorously supported the Green Climate Fund. Along
with my testimony, I will submit for the record a letter released on Monday,
April 11, 2016 that was signed by 115 faith organizations urging Congress to
invest the President’s recommended $750 million in the Green Climate Fund for Fiscal
Year 2017. Along with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), some of the signers
include the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Jewish Council of Public
Affairs, the National Council of Churches USA, and the Evangelical
Environmental Network.
This is not simply a Presbyterian concern; various
communions and denominations from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to
the Alliance of Baptists to the United Methodist Church to the Roman Catholic Church
and Evangelicals have joined together in the common mission to care for God’s
creation. Many of these Christian traditions also hold theological principles
reflected in Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’. Laudato Si’ is one of two papal
encyclicals that, because its subject matter is universally relevant, is
addressed to all people, rather than only to Catholics. We
affirm its echo of the great St. Francis’ reverence for nature. At the same
time, we join the Pope in the urgency of truth-telling: we humans are largely
responsible for global warming and we have to find ways to reverse track.
With our Lord, we will
stand with the “least of these” (Matt. 25:40) and advocate for the poor and
oppressed in present and future generations who are often the victims of
environmental injustice and who are least able to mitigate the impact of global
warming that [is falling] disproportionately on them. … [W]e implore our nation
to accept its moral responsibility to address global warming. I thank you for
the opportunity to testify and look forward to your questions.
[1]
Pace, David. “Minorities Suffer Most from Industrial Pollution.” Associated Press. 12/14/2005. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10452037/ns/us_news-environment/t/minorities-suffer-most-industrial-pollution/#.Vwqu72QrLjE
[2]
Jia, Chunrong, Wesley James, and Satish Kedia. “Relationship of Racial
Composition and Cancer Risks from Air Toxics Exposure in Memphis, Tennessee,
U.S.A.” Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014
Aug; 11(8): 7713–7724. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4143828/#B5-ijerph-11-07713
[3]Freeman,
Sarah Wilkerson. Tennessee Women: Their
Lives and Times. University of Georgia Press, 2009. P. 415
[4]“The Power to Change: U.S. Energy Policy and
Global Warming,” approved by the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), 2008, http://www.pcusa.org/resource/power-change-us-energy-policy-global-warming/.
[5] Jacobs,
Mike. “Where is Wind Energy Cheaper than Natural Gas?”. Union of Concerned Scientists. October 18, 2013. http://blog.ucsusa.org/mike-jacobs/where-is-wind-energy-cheaper-than-natural-gas-276
[6]
National Religious Partnership for the Environment. http://www.nrpe.org/climate-statements.html
