Climate Change Solutions - July 19, 2022

Congress continued to focus on the 2023 Farm Bill. The House Agriculture Committee held hearings on the forestry title of the bill and the state of credit for young, beginning, and underserved producers. We are tracking the environmental, energy, and climate highlights of the Congressional hearings in the lead up to the farm bill here.

The Empowering Resilient Local Communities Act (H.R.8300) was introduced in the House and would direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to issue guidance on extreme temperature events. To learn more about policies and practices to address extreme heat, check out our briefing, Living with Climate Change: Extreme Heat.

Congress also focused on managing toxic chemicals like perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and mercury. The bipartisan Federal PFAS Research Evaluation Act (H.R.7289) would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study the hazards of and management opportunities for PFAS. A similar bill (S.4492) was introduced in the Senate last month.

A hearing was held by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the bipartisan Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act (S.1345/H.R.2761), which would require EPA to establish a mercury monitoring program to track mercury concentration changes in the environment.

See the full environment and energy legislative trackers for July 5-8 and July 11-15.