Bring more and more people into, at least contact with some of these issues. That doesnt mean they will learn the right things but it opens doors. I think back all to what moved the needle. What changed the course of Human History here in our country and its always been popular movements. The civil rights movement, the womens movement, lgbt. Thats just national. Americans linked with people in west africa and even angola during the blood diamond years to help bring about change there. Popular movements are where things are rooted. I think thats where those folks that have a high profile that have sandwiched themselves in their artistic endevours. The light is coming at us and people like akon have taken the mirror and shifted it at this issue and listen to these people. I think thats what ive seen in most effective is when a celebrity goes into a country that offer very little. Lets let lets have this person tell the story from that country. Giving a platform to africans to tell their story. They have a voice. Its just amplified now. You spent six years as editor of the Financial Times. You got to decide whats in and whats out. Hold up d how did you make your decisions . Granted its a business newspaper but how did you make your decisions of what stories you wanted to tell. For an audience of policy makers and businessmen essentially, your, theres a need to cover a real breadth of stories from all over the world. You cant ignore the politics and the Security Issues and you cant ignore the economy. In a way the Financial Times is modelled to cover different parts of the world in a fairly similar way. The problem with africa has been in the past, at least, that the Financial Times scale. You want billions. You dont want a million. In terms of the actual money thats moving you want marking moving stories. In the past, a lot of our business coverage was focused on oil. More recently the key has been to identify trends. Because not every deal is huge although youre getting some really big deals now happening. You need to identify the trends in order to cover the business on the continent. I think one of the big challenges is, and i think this applies to all the media is how few journalists we have on this enormous continent. You have 55 states. A lot of it, were working with four bureaus if you include cairo and it simply isnt possible to cover the ground. Theres a flip side to that too, which is in the age of the internet you have a huge array of different sources of information potentially on the web and sites. Actually, its very deceptive because there are so few journalists theres a homogenization of news. It can really set the news agenda. He may be one of two foreign corresponden correspondents. This is changing because the African Media has developed so much but its still an issue. The news can be set by so few journalists. In terms of deciding what we cover, if there are big crisis its hard to ignore in strategic states. That tends to soak up resources. I think weve had a blend of stories. I think a lot of the western media is still kind of hard wired to cover conflict on the continent and crisis. How do we get to where the positive story, i guess, sells . Isnt that what it comes down to whats going to sell newspapers . What it boils down to is conflict is what sells. Thats right. Its partly that. This is what were trying to push back against. If thats what sells that becomes the image. I disagree. Its also an issue of which voice is the loudest. If you take this country and its fairly similar in britain as well, the voices that are loudest have tended to be the faithbased groups and ngos and the very effective and noisy character on my left, john. Because their focus has tended to be conflict resolution then youve got a lot of focus on that in the media as well. Equally, i dont think theres a voice yet in this country thats really effectively pushing the business story in africa thats talking about the real transformation in the continents relations with the outside world has taken place over the last 15 years. One of my perceptions of the summit, the african leader summit is that trade and investment will move to the forefront of the u. S. Africa agenda. Obama had that meeting in tanzania last year. Hes doing it for a daylong event tomorrow. Its going with be one of three times on the agenda. It seems to me that the dynamic is shifting. Is this something that can really get reported about and written about . Up to a point, yes. I think the trade story has been for more than a decade now the only other story that there is outside of conflict in africa and lets face it, its not just africa. The news media we cover conflict. Thats what we do. Its not news if its like we dont like good stories. People call me up and say why are you focusing on the negative. I dont even hear them. Its just noise. Thats the definition of news. Were always going to flock to the conflict story and in a lot of ways we should because its not just what sells but oftentimes this is whats important and theres usually some underlying cause that needs to be reported. I used to work for the wall street journal and trade was my beat. I was always constantly looking for because they said you have the entire world, just go out there and write about trade stories. I would go to cambodia and china and you name it. I was writing about trade spats in this place and that place and i really wanted to do an africa trade story and there was nothing. I couldnt see anything. Every time i came up with a proposal they were like its too small. Its not the china agreement. They didnt like the fact that the money was so small flipped us into writing about it as a qui quirky little off beat story. You end up times relegating these stories. I think its still going to be a long time before you see the type of robust coverage of trade and Economic Development in africa that you see of trade in say china or asia because africa does not have that kind of money. You dont have the number of people. Its viewed in a different way. First its yes. News you dont need marketing for that. The second thing is indeed if you only base this on numbers, you know, you dont have a story necessarily. The continent is about 1. 4, 1. 5 trillion gdp. The numbers do not necessarily comparing. Theres an underlying story which is worse. Its all the human story which is there. People need to realize more and more that its not the perfect mirror. You look at the mirror and sometimes you see things there which are not true. Sometimes you see things that are ugly and maybe its because if youre ugly then it gives you that picture too. Its not a perfect mirror. At the end of the day i think we cannot change anything as long as we africans do not frame our narrative. Thats really what it would boil down to ultimately. Youve got to frame this. Im not happy about the fact that our head of states didnt frame this story. The second thing is weve got to get the chance to all the people out there who are on social media and who are doing lot of working. When you really think about it, africa africans, many of them in the United States and the head of many theres also a lot of stereotypes. At the end of the day this is also human nature. Weve got to give a chance for this movement which just started to grow and that everywhere and the media has its role. The citizens have their role t but let me ask akon about african culture and in your work and the Media Outlets that you see, do you see an increasingly accurate regul reflection of african perception . With the human eye i do. I can clearly see the advantages and the inspiration that inspires the rest of the world. Getting back to the media aspect you cant blame them. They report what they see. Us as humans we have to evaluate that information and work with it. How does it benefit us . How does it not benefit us . We as a human race will never go forward if we put business and corporate gain before the fact of that youre human first. Its period. People will sell any and everybody out for a dollars. Theres no human value anymore. As much money as the corporations and the media even what they report, Corporation Reports they do foundations. They try to give back but even in that game its more funneling funds back on how they can gain more money. One of the things were seeing in africa with some of our major corporations invest there is they are creating jobs and skill. Thats what they say. Where are the jobs . Procter gamble created 2,000 jobs there. Theres almost a billion people in africa. 2,000 isnt doing nothing. Got to start somewhere. Say every year we say we have to start somewhere. When i can literally employ tens of thousands, i employ a couple hundred. Can you imagine i dont even blame them because as africans we shouldnt have to reach out to build our own country. Theres enough money in africa itself. Let me give you an example. You can check the statistics. Every six months theres a new billionaire coming out of africa. If we just bank in africa. Lets not even help nobody in africa again. All rich billionaires and millionaires from afterin africa just bank there, that alone will help build our own economy. You follow . We dont even go that far. Thats what hurts me more than anything. Its like were so dependent on our neighbors to help us when all we need is just each other. Do you see that changing at all . Its going to happen with youth. I think the youth is the only thing that can do it. I dont think this generation and the generation before can do it. We have to teach them moving forward on how not to allow the history to hold you done. If we continue to do what were doing and follow our leaders, in so many words, were going to be right back here. Its like a 360 never ending cycle. Someone has to take the stand and do whats necessary. More for the fact of you being human first. It goes right back to, this is not quite related to africa but the scenarios dont really change. The conflict in gaza. Its clear that palestine, they cant afford a military to fight back. They dont have the resources that israel have. From the human nature, like the human part of it, you cant sit here and literally kill women and children and think its okay because you think one rocket is going to kill or dissent out to avoid two or three people dying youre killing thousands of people. Theres no human rationale to that to me. As people we have to think us first. Everything will come naturally if we do the right thing amongst each other. You follow what im saying . Fair point. Let me pivot to john. You wanted to get involved in this. Maybe on two points on in ongoing discussion. From our side of the equation this idea of generating more development through keeping retaining that money in africa is a compelling one and part of the equation, perhaps, is all of the work that is being done on the continent of africa and corruption being a two way street with so much of the money thats come in and corrupted certain elites in african governments have been as a result of huge investments, very untransparent investments from the United States and from europe and certain asian countries. The move now increasingly towards more transparency and more accountability for money thats been diverted away from state budgets that could go into health and education and all forms of social welfare, Capital Development and infrastructure. I think thats one piece of the puzzle as well that we need to talk about. Secondly on the media stuff, everybodys correct. Were going to keep the world is going to keep focusing on if it bleeds, it leads. No matter where you are. If youre in st. Louis they will cover who got shot that day and the world news will cover where the bang is blowing up the loudest. You can cover these stories in a way that changes peoples perceptions. Usually when we see a nightly news version of an african conflict they will run straight to the one white aid worker and interview them because well, the audience has to be able to identify with this sort. Whereas the truth of every Crisis Response in africa is its led an staffed and organized by africans. 99 of the people that are working in these crisis and difficult situations are africans, putting their lives on the line. When you look at the park rangers protecting the wildlife from being poached its africans. When you look at who is on the front lines of human right struggles and prodemocracy struggles, its the africans in the streets saying we want to see change and the Health Care Workers in west africa, if you can see who is bearing the brunt. I think covering a story theyre going to cover the stories but cover in a way that values and demonstrate that africans are at the core of the solution and not just the problem. That would be very helpful. The nightly news in nairobi is it reported in the same way . Does it lead with who was shot today or what bank was robbed or is it different . Different. If you live here within the United States, the anchor is reporting for him. Thats where the empathy is done. There are hundreds of lives and who ended up dying. Thats just the plain reality. Everybody knows that you also competing. It enables africans to tell their own story. If youre in the United States of america and youre entwisted in what will going on, you can get it. I think thats taken too much away from what the people in the western media can be doing. I dont see it looking for the american angle when people are writing about china and write about pakistan and afghanistan and write about anywhere else except for africa. I agree with you. We tend to do it with africa. We got to find an american angle. I dont see us doing it with anywhere else. Why is that so . Weve got to ask yourselves why is that so. I think the answer is we still see this is not we, americans, we africans. Youre moving around a lot in that chair. We Americans Still see wee africans as very foreign and different. We dont understand africa. If youre a historian in 100 years time looking at trying to figure out what happened since the me lynn yum, you would miss the story. You would think the continent was wracked by conflict. You wouldnt realize theres been this extraordinary transformation going on. You get a much broader picture of what happened. You tell us in your book that when youre working for wall street and you came to washington that you were going to go on ron browns ship to china and you gave your lyberian passport to the woman and she said is this real. You said this encouraged you to get your American Ship and passport. Do you think we know africa at all . Would that happen again today . Yes and no. Its definitely gotten better. This was in the 90s when liberia was in the middle of the civil war. Liberia is 50,000 times better now than it was in of the 90s. The carnage was unbelievable. That said, its still a very rare thing. I was traveling with my sister a few years ago. We were on a train, overnight train going from england we were going from paris to florence, italy. Dont ask me why me took the train. I had my american passport and my sister had her passport. They stopped the train in the middle of the night and dragged her out there with her liberian passport. They were like examining the passport as if it was some exotic thing they never seen before. I remember krcracking up when s came into the compartment an hour later. She was furious but that was par for the course. I think that was still even that was still right around the end of the civil war. I think things are very different now. Id like to believe its become a lot more sort of normal and usual to see people from all Different Countries in africa moving about far more freely. One of the reasons i became an american citizen was i departments want the visa hassle anymore. Theres not a single country i could go to where i didnt spend two weeks at various embassies. Thats a really horrible reason to become an american citizen. Reasons in the reasons. Good outcome. One last question before i open to the floor. Does anybody think that the Africa Leader summit will change american perceptions of africa . No. Its been insufficient framing of the story by the leadership. I also think its a real mark up that the summit is taking place. Great its happening. The change happens all of us do on a daily basis not because of the summit, which is a great m summit by the way. Does this change . I think it marginally improves things. Enhancing a different type of relationship between africa and the United States more equal. More of partnership. Its one very small step on a long road that needs to be taken. Akon, what do you think . Absolutely. I agree with shaun. Its a way to pretty much make up for what could be done. Thats how it feels. This is not the only place that a summit like this was held for africa. Its six times a year everywhere. Ghana, ethiopia. We can have a million summits, if africans themselves dont build their own country, there will be a million more summits. Let me open up to some questions here. I met last week a fellow youth leader too. I come from the united republic of tanzania. Ive been doing business and i was lucky to receive the usdf grant. In so many ways my story is the story of so many other young people in africa. Not just in the struggle of trying to reshape the image of a continent but also push for growth and prosperity. Just a hint a few is where all the people, all the generations say that this is how its done with say it can be better. We start our own businesses with the new energy and focus. We optimistic than the pessimism that exist. We make 75 of the population. We wake up to the realization of how much we can actually change the politics, the businesses and actually drive tangible change. The question, i want to throw back to the panel has to do with the u. S. Africa relations. Basically, United States and africa has a reputation of permanent interest and not personal innocent friends. For some of us who are attending the summit, weve been receiving warnings that what are you doing there . What are those americans trying to put in your head . They think that you pick stories, you pick angles that work best for the american and International Interests than the local we think we have a lot of good stories. Were the first generation to access hightech now. We dont just download akon music. By the way im honored to meet you. We also share our stories. We tell our american friends that africans is not all a jungle and diseases and wars. We have happiness in cities. That is a positive aspect. What im trying to ask here is what is america trying to do to get past this Bad Reputation and even more important to what extent is america willing to treat africa as equal and avoid bad branding or punitive measures when africa decides to act in its best interest. John let me throw it back to you from having worked in the white house and state department. One of the things that isnt being featured a lot in this summit but is one of the things that the United States invested a lot in in the last few years is Crisis Response and Crisis Response capabilities of african institutions. Look at Peace Keeping and Peace Enforcement operations that the United States has invested quite a lot in biluilding up the capacity to be the first responders. You look at some of the peace, in every conflict in africa today the principal negotiators, the principal peacemakers are africans. I think the United States has instead of trying to big foot that as we might have during the cold war and the period thereafter, the u. S. Has helped and worked in support of African Solutions for some of these conflicts and build up the capacity of not only African Union and its peacemaking abilities but also it will sub regional organizations echo us and eastern africa. Thats subpar of the less told story. The United States dont really get anything out of it. A lot of trade investment stuff the u. S. Benefits greatly. Its an incredibly important agenda and a lot of people wonder why the u. S. Is trying to invest in this and theyre curious and perhaps even concerned about what american corporate interests might have in africa but theres a whole other element of peacemaking, Peace Keeping and humanitarian response and Public Health development, education support, all these kinds of things that the United States is involved in as well. I think its hopefully will lay a Stronger Foundation for the relationship between the United States and the african continent. Well take some more over here. Ill take two. Im kate thompson. Going back to the question about the africas own journalist. I believe that Story Tellers shape our world. When i look at the journalism in africa and i think of it as a supply problem and a demand probl problem. In some cases that dont have the professional training or skills to analyze. What are we doing african Story Tellers tell their own story that youve all sort of mentioned. What are we doing to help that . Why isnt the Financial Times hire more african journalists, for example . Great. Thank you. Can you identify yourself . The african is very rich country and should attract tourism. Not a Single Organization in United States promote african tourism. I went there invited by a friend of mine. Ive never seen anything like it. Its fascinating. Why dont we promote tourism . Thats really what get americans to know african and to know the culture and to all what you have to do promote tourism and can make it safe for them to come and enjoy being in africa and enjoy the beautiful continent. I can tell you, i can answer that one right there. I know a number of the travel agents that would love to take you to africa. See me afterwards and ill give you the names. Over there, please. Texas is the largest exporter to africa from a brookings report that was done with more than 5 billion worth of exports to the continent. As were talking about reframing and recreating a narrative about what it means to do business in africa, id love for us to push back on some of the comments that ive heard about the fact that there is a lot of coverage being done about trade because theres not. Theres a lot more coverage being done around aid to africa. If we change the conversation to look at africa as a growth opportunity, as a Market Opportunity as why arent you investing in africa versus why you should invest, i think it will really do our country a service. With that being said my question is austin is one of the Fastest Growing Technology Centers in the country. Africa is one of the Fastest Growing continents in the world. How do we continue to to keep pushing this conversation about trade and entrepreneur inner lo loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Inner loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Nner loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Er loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Er loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. R loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Loopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Oopship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Pship looking at it from a tech pship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Hip looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Ship looking at it from a tech perspective. Thats a great story. Thank you very much. My name is betsy and im from kenya. I have two comments. I went to a meeting on friday. This absence of proper presentation of africa. It does a lot of disservice to American Investment or potential. Part of the conversation was most a couple of business people. Their perception is that africa is not open to them for business because its been taken of by the chinese because they dont care about human rights. The other directive is they dont do business in africa. This is the panel. I think it would also be interesting to see whether the American Media sees itself as having more and changing that perception. I think there is also a lot to be done by the american to be change this perception. Having said that i think the panel all said is you all said no. The europeafrica summit that happened. There are more people from my country here in washington this week that went to brussels. There must be something to said about the hype and the conversation. I think a lot will not change but the level of debate s a lot more about this summit. Why doesnt ft hire more African Writers or train African Writers . First of all, they should. Second of all theres a complex. When covering a west africa and its not a bad idea to have english guy or american just as it would be anywhere else in the world because you have an outside perspective thats one. Its true that we havent had african journalist but theres room for improvement. I disagree with the premise in the way that we should be helping African Media. Tons of millions of people listen to it all across africa. Its daily news media. Now very few people listen to it. Theres so many african radios, tv channels. In a way i think the media is involved. Its not some newspaper deteriorating quality. For instance, the franceafrica summit has been happening for years. Theres a lot of hope in there. Second point, i just want to say this, theres always been bad excuses for not going to africa. If you actual ly take the help shine africa relations, its not new. Youre losing this. It is probably Public Service for me to actually from this side ofd world frame the scope. For American Companies to say what you can do better by going to africa. Thats really what it is. One of the great ironies right now is the great kind of frontier capitalism that built this country, its so american is actually its the chinese that are doing it in africa. American Companies Really arent getting in there and getting their hands dirty building railways. Its the chinese. Id like to insert something on this great chinese and africa story that we consistently hear. I dont think its necessarily all roses. I think that we get that here because were constantly were told the chinese are beating the americans, and they are in africa. I think that comes with a lot of damage, societal damage and a lot of cultural damage. I spent much of last year in liberia. I was working on a book. The chinese are liberia was founded by freed slaves from america. It should be the ultimate american story. The Chinese Government were working on a second, fourth or fifth university and be part of adjunct of the university of liberia just outside of monroe. The university of the liberia is very overcrowded. For the bathrooms the chinese built, theres this big controversy in liberia because they built that he has outside toilets that are just holes in the ground. The liberian students refused to use them. They were like this is africa. People should be used to going to the bathroom with a hole in the ground. For two years now these dorms are sitting there empty not being used by the population because you have this sort of cultural conflict there and i was getting into a big fight with a friend of mine they were like this is insane. Why are they not. I kept trying to explain. They feel insulted. Nay spent millions of dollars. Why couldnt they put proper bathrooms. Theres a lot often these disconnections between these cultures that we dont see these sorts of stories here in the United States. Al i would say is i was struck by sounds like a good story. It would be a great story. I dont write about liberia. Its very much case of when were here looking at it looks as if china has completely taken over. Theres a lot of prejudice. Theres a lot of suspicion. Its not, i just think we shouldnt whitewash it when we talk about it here. Our eyes should be open when americans go to these countries. Its not as if other people dont have issues as well. I think in any situation theres going to be a good and a bad to the situation. I just left china. I went into a facility where the bathroom was a hole in the ground. Thats their culture. It wasnt that they did anything disrespectful. Thats their culture. The liberian culture and Chinese Culture are similar when it comes to family and stories. They are kind of similar. The way of how they live, their diet is kind of different from ours. I think a lot of times its always a misunderstanding or miscommunication because we dont communicate enough as a human race. Ultimately anywhere you go in the world theres going to be parts of cultures that you may not be experienced with. Me being in america and learning here, ive realized just how much i need to know because when i first came to this country, i spoke fluent french, i came to the u. S. And learned english. I was so busy learning english that i lost my french because no one speaks nothing here but english. The only reason i spoke walof is we spoke it at home. I dont see how you can be in catered. Thats the only thing that the u. S. Can expand on and be better with is educating americans toward the outside world. I think africa has always been one of those continent where if there was remotely closedown. Theres a lot more to africa that needs to be learned. Even in the schools. When we look at American History, africa has played a huge role building america. But you would never even know that. So it goes all the way back down. Back o to china itself, the only reason they think fooel like they are taking over africa is because they really are. Its true. I can say this because im a born american. That means me an american citizen. With my project, we have 14 countries that were locked into contract supplying homes, street lights, but its ironic that im an american citizen and i have been funded by the chinese. Its not that u. S. Dont have the opportunity, dont have the respect, dont have the man power, dont have the experience to do it, i just feel personally theres not enough interest in africa, yet, for the u. S. To put their hands on it. They have the power to do it, walk in right now and be out of there and africa could be amazing with that partnership. I think if u. S. And africa actually joined forces and created the United States of africa, this would empower and strengthen america a lot more, believe it or not. I think she might have left, but shes right. Not investing in africa will completely disable u. S. In the future because what africa has to offer that chinese how is taking advantage of, and you see how fast china is building, but if they have africa on top of what they are already building, they will become the worlds new superpower. Its a question of do you get involved now or do you wait and be very arrogant and allow that to happen and then come back y later and realize we made a mist take. It goes back to the music industry. Its almost like it reflects reality. The nemusic industry was so powerful at one point. Everyone needed a record deal to be famous. Digital came on board. It wasnt really a threat yet because its digital. No one understands it yet. How does it make money . We dont note yet. While thats happening, you have a Small Company called apple who is creating what could be the next music industry. They go to someone like universal, sony, warner brothers, all these guys and says, listen, we have a new format that may work for you. We dont really understand that. How can we license your music and sell is on platform . Just take it. Were cool. Have it. They give up the whole catalog to apple. Apple creates itunes. Now everything that you buy related to music, entertainment, movies, film, you name it, you have to go to itunes to download it and own access to content that universal spends billions of dollars creating so they can get 30 of what apple makes 70 of what they are making. So they took over the music business because they didnt see tomorrow. Akon, i want to bring it back to africa. I want to convey a twitter question. What is being done to bridge the gap between africans in the continent and can media play a role in this . Every day, and im sure akon can do this too, every day beyo get news and Information Online from your own country, every day. So media is playing that role, and it would keep growing that way. I think we have time for just a couple more questions. Right here. This question is for akon. Im a technologist and we have an army in africa. Were constantly thinking about creating something to own that content and novembavigating thr. But since we are so bound, we dont know what to do. What kind of focus what is the media focus we should be basically be focusing on . My question to the panelists and you kind of touched about it a few minutes ago, but you didnt go deeper. The first from africa to United States was here. So far is not utilizing to its full potential to change what you are talking about africa. We are all in this room as being a leader of this country and when you get to africa, you see the american guy two times and write a book about it but doesnt have the perspective. So how can we, people in this room, make that change happen that america can use the real african and tell them what can really happened on the continent and what really matter as the change that we are looking for . Good question. One more question over here. Thank you very much. I come from kenya. We operate in a e region where perhaps i think my question is back to the panelists, maybe akon is whatever the stories we write, we continue to write about transforming the continent whether you write differently. I think the question in the last panel was around the Technology Revolution on data and voice. 500 Million People connected in the continent shifting the conversations happening today. We have a lot of american investors today. Is there a chance 55 countries, its not one story. One is positive and it will be like that for a long time. Its not one africa for us. Every single country is different. Is there a chance to see utilizing that Technology Platform to shape the stories that transforms the continent . E we just have a couple minutes. Why dont we just go down the panel and everybody can respond and have some final comments. There were several questions that were put to you. One about technology and how can be utilized. Absolutely. I would start with mobile. Because right now mobile hand held is the key communication. Anything you can operate from the phone, create apps that you can use on phones. A lot of the rural areas dont have smart phones. But theres minimized type of technology that creates apps that can utilize technologies that actually work with smart phones or just to be able to communicate. Any business that you can have that can operate from a cell phone, you can use in africa for sure. Do you want to respond . I was just going to ask if you can help me make this dumb phone be a little smarter. I got something to talk to you about afterwards. Im one of those loyalists. I cant let go of the blackberry. I was going to try to answer only to say that in the 30 years i have sort of been involved in politics in the american system and policymaking on africa, its very powerful when african constituencies Work Together and come together around specific issues. I go all the way back to somalia in the late 1980s where they helped dismantle the dictatorship. They couldnt anticipate what came after that, but the power of them working together in the Congressional District, it made a big impression on me. I have seen that replicated many, many times over the last 25, 30 years. And i think about the trade agreement between the United States and africa that needs to be renewed in the coming year and for africans to come together for that name of which is agoa, i think about the way the lost boys and other people were sent all throughout the United States in their reintegration journeys, getting asylum in the u. S. And how they are politically very important in each Congressional District they live in now. When they come together, the impact they can have on the United States Foreign Policy and peace in south sudan can be incredible. How much of an impact, they were so divided for so long, but when the doddfrank bill came along and it was a provision that said we want American Companies to divulge and be transparent about the investments they are making in africa. The companies listed, just be open and honest about how youre getting your resources downstream in your supply chains. They had a big impact Congressional District by Congressional District. Its that unity that impact, that raw possibility resides. Just had a footnote in 2008. The Obama Campaign going to district after district talking to communities. It didnt even matter if they were americans or not because even if they werent, they knew somebody who was. It was incredibly electric and that power can be replicated over and over again. Let me come to you. Thanks. Just want to end by saying we hear all the time that necessities of invention, which is true. But at the same time what i usually say is desperation is action. And when you look at my brother whether talking about how to use American Companies or africa use people here. When they are stuck in the middle with knowledge and talent they can use to get ahead because they are losing ground more and more, so when they become desperate, they will go to action. And i think, for me, the outlook is great. I really want to end at that. Opportunity is great for africa. Theres still a lot of work to be done. Its all of us and our kids who will finish it. Thank you. William . Just speaking about one of the slightly less told stories is the number of africans actually going back to take opportunities in places like kenya, ghana. But i think to take it right pack to how you started this complex picture that comes out of the continent, its amazing that you have that trend alongside this extraordinary kind of exitus where tens of thousands of people are marching across the Sahara Desert into a watery grave in the mediterranean. Those two trends actually rather sum up whats happening on the continent today. Theres still places where people are really suffering and desperate, but you have these tremendous opportunities, which are bringing it back. Incredibly complex picture. I dont know which side of the chair you want to sit on. We have the idea of how to get the african story across. And i think the western news media part of me says at the New York Times and the Financial Times and wall street journal and all these news institutions really need to do a better job of finding africans to tell their stories. Ditto for hollywood and tv. And then the african in me says we have to find a better way of telling our own stories as africans and doing it ourselves. It shouldnt be africans relying on the New York Times to tell our story. We should be taking charge of our own destiny and telling the world what we have to say. And then the american in me says that we also here, those americans who have an interest in africa should read those stories. Go out and buy the book, read them, support these burgeoning group of African Writers who are fantastic. Hear, hear. [ applause ] we have gone over our time. Before we depart, just let me say theres a reception after this immediately. Where is it . Right next door. So please come and join us. Let me thank the panelists for really your willingness to come on and attack a subject thats not often taken on and easily discussed. I thank you very much. Let me ask you to give them a hand. [ applause ] president obama is traveling on this thursday morning to the washington, d. C. Suburbs. He will be near alexandria, virginia, signing a 16. 3 billion plan addressing health care at the v. A. Its intent to clear away months long wait list for appointments at clinics. Well have that bill signing along with the president s remarks starting at 11 20 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Members of congress are tweeting this morning about the bill signing and other veterans issues. One writes, today i will join the white house and fellow v. A. Members to watch the president sign legislation to reform the v. A. And help our vets into law. Senator Bernie Sanders says, its time to hire more doctors, nurses and staff at v. A. Health facilities. And arizona representative kirsten represents, looking forward to meeting secretary mcdonald at phoenix and continue working to get quality care for vets. You can see the bill signing on cspan starting at 11 20 eastern. Later today a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee will hold a hearing on the outbreak of ebola recently been plaguing western parts of africa. The director of the centers for Disease Control will testify. Thats live at 2 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. You can weigh in with your thoughts on facebook and twitter. Here on cspan 3, former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein will be part of a discussion on watergate and the resignation of Richard Nixon. He will be joined by colleagues live at 7 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan 3. American history tv on cspan 3 this weekend. Friday night at 8 00 eastern, watergate, 40 years later. Cbs special report and president nixons address to the nation saturday at noon eastern a live callin program with author and journalist john pharrell on nixons life, legacy and watergate scandal that ended his administration. And sunday at 8 00, gerald ford becomes the 38th president of the United States. This weekend on cspan 3s mi American History tv. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held an oversight meeting this week to hear from Gina Mccarthy on the agencys proposed Carbon Dioxide regulations. Back in june they proposed the clean power plant which requires fossil fuel burning plants to identify the best and cheapest way t0 reduce pollution. Barbara boxer is the chair. David vitter is Ranking Member. Good morning, everybody. This oversight hearing will examine the critically important steps that the Obama Administration is taking to address Climate Change by reducing Carbon Pollution. Today well focus on the president s new proposal to reduce dangerous Carbon Pollution from the biggest source, power plants. Just this last week when i welcomed the miners, it is my pleasure to welcome the Moms Clean Air force. Were glad to see you here with the kids in tow. Power plants account for nearly 40 of all pollution released in the air. Currently there are no limits. The president s plan in my view is a winwin for the American People because by addressing Climate Change through Carbon Pollution reduction, we can cut many types of air pollutants that also threaten human health. Climate change and rising temperatures will lead to increased ground level ozone and smog which could worsen respiratory illnesses like asthma, increased air pollutants from wildfires and more flood related deaths. When the president announced his power plant proposal at the Childrens National Medical Center in washington, he visited with young asthma patients to highlight the Health Impacts of air pollution and to underscore how important addressing dangerous Carbon Pollution is to our childrens health. This proposal will play a vital role in protecting Public Health and will save thousands of lives. It will avoid up to 3700 cases of bronchitises in children, 150,000 asthma attacks, 3300 heart attacks, 6600 premature deaths and 490,000 missed days at school and work. I often say if people cant breathe, they cant go the to work or school. More than 9 of American Children are already living with asthma and it is the third leading cause of hospitalizations for children. So we all benefit from having clean air to breathe. It literally saves lives. We need to take action now to protect families and communities from the mounting impacts of Climate Change and dangerous Carbon Pollution. A recent congressionally required National Climate assessment report tells us we could see a 10 degree fahrenheit rise in temperatures if we dont act to limit dangerous pollution now. The president s new proposal will not only protect Public Health and save lives, it will enable america to lead the way to avert the most calamitous impacts of Climate Change such as Sea Level Rise, dangerous heat waves and economic disruption. We must safeguard our children, our grabbed children and future generations as the president stated we have a moral obligation to leave our children a planet thats not irrevocably polluted 0 are damaged. The Obama Administration gets it and so do the American People. A recent Washington Post abc poll a bipartisan majority of the American People want federal limits on Carbon Pollution. Approximately 70 say the federal government should require limits to Carbon Pollution from existing power plants. 70 and 70 support requiring states to limit the amount of Carbon Pollution within their borders. Just last month, the Committee Heard from four former epa administrator whos served under republican president s from Richard Nixon to george w. Bush and they all agreed that Climate Change requires action now and it should not be a partisan issue. The president s plan relies on the authorities under the Clean Air Act which was created with a bipartisan consensus in 1970, the Clean Air Act passed by a vote of 730 in the senate and in the house, 3751. I dont know who that one was. And it was signed into law by president nixon. In 1990, the revisions to the Clean Air Act passed the senate by 8911 and the house by 40121 and was signed into law by president George Herbert walker bush. The Clean Air Act has a proven track record of success. Since 1970, emissions of pollutants have dropped 72 while the u. S. Gdp has grown by 219 and total private sector jobs have increased by 101 . So while pollutants have dropped by 2 since 1970, private sector jobs have increased by 101 and the gdp increased by 219 . So all this fear mongering we hear on my friends on the other side about job losses disproven every time. If you take their quotes, they matchup with the quotes that we heard both in 1970 when nixon signed it and then again in when George Herbert walker bush signed it. The president s proposal i believe will create thousands of jobs while ensuring big polluters reduce their dangerous contributions to Climate Change. I want to thank epa administrator Jean Mccarthy for being with us today and i look forward to her testimony. So im going to turn it over to senator vitter. I wanted to mention we have a vote at 11 00. We have two options. We can work as hard as we can and then when it hits 11 15 end or we can take a pause and come back. Either way is good with me. So well see administrator where we are at that time. Senator vitter. Thank you, chairman boxer, for convening todays hearing. And i look forward to hearing from administrator mccarthy on epas proposed existing source rule. Its really a truly unprecedented outside the fence set of regulations that will have major negative impacts on our nations electricity system. And i hope we talk about this very directly. Epas proposal does a number of things but fundamentally it hijacks that electricity system all in the name of flexibility. In reality, are epa usurps the role of state governments and public utility commissions. As well as ferc. Doe and other federal agencies that do have the authority over an expertises in Electricity Generation issues. Unfortunately, for epa, electricity is not directly under its jurisdiction. Changing dispatch rules to require the most expensive power be delivered first. Mandating efficiency and the use of renewables are examples of intrastate generation transmission and distribution matters reserved to the states by the federal power act. Moreover, epa attempts to dump the politically unpopular Decision Making of having to pick winners and losers on the state regulators and legislators. Epas proposed rule seeks to turn states into either hostages or unwilling accomplices in its effort to impoverish families and businesses and communities. In its existing source proposal, epa goes beyond the plain reading of the Clean Air Act section 111, directing states to achieve questionable Emission Reduction targets from a limited menu of economic little damaging and legally questionable options. As i mentioned before,ing electricity prices in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative states and california are 45 higher than in my home state of louisiana and yet, 56 of louisiana families already at their lower louisiana rate spend an average of 21 of their after tax income on energy. They simply capital afford the higher electricity bills that will inevitably result from this rule. Epa is also setting up states to fail. Our local economies to fail, to deliver on the president s promise that is electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket. All for virtually immeasurable climate benefits. This rule is all pain and no gain therefore, and we need to look to our friends in australia, for instance, who just last week repealed their carbon tax in recognition of this sort of lesson. Its also noteworthy that epas blueprint is fundamentally spectacular to nrdcs and it drives states to implement renewable portfolio standards to replace fossil fuel energy, whether they like it or not. And in states like louisiana where wind and solar are not feasible or not at all practical, were supposed to divert economically valuable timber into fuel for Electricity Generation. Thats a very expensive feed stock compared to say coal or natural gas. In defense of a tax by the New York Times and others, the administrator also readily admits that her agency must revisit Nuclear Energy since right now it encourages the closure of nuclear plants. So beak, epa is insisting that states as the ration electricity and limit Consumer Choice especially if that choice involves using more electricity. As 40 of my Republican Senate colleagues and i have stated in our june 3rd letter, epas proposed rule will increase costs to families, schools, hospitals and businesses and in doing so as always, it it will hit the poor, the elderly, those on fixed incomes the hardest. In reality, are its a federal takeover of our american electricity system. And i for one am not at all comfortable for this epa takeover, this is dramatic expansion of epas role and authority. Neither are the people of louisiana. So i look forward to this discussion. Its vet very important. And there are a lot of important stakes on the line. Thank you, madame chair. Senator vitter. According to arrival, well go next to the senator whitehouse, followed by senator which canner. Thank you, chairman boxer and Ranking Member vitter for hosting this important hearing and administrator mccarthy, thank you for being here for your continued leadership on this vital issue. Obviously, my state has a very different point of view than that expressed by the Ranking Member. We are on the losing end of Carbon Pollution in a lot of respects and we urge you on. Epas mission to protect human health and the environment is one of the most fundamental and popular responsibilities of the federal government. And theres no greater environmental threat today than Climate Change. Epa has a duty to respond. It also has a mandate to respond. Epa took a critical step forward in this fight when it exercised its existing Clean Air Act authority as established by congress and affirmed by the Supreme Court to propose Carbon Pollution standards for existing power plants. That proposal is based on unprecedented public engagement. More than 300 Public Meetings with stakeholders of all kinds and across the political spectrum. Epas plan puts states in the drivers seat to come up with their own best plans to meet state specific targets. States and Power Companies have a wide variety of options to cut Carbon Pollution like boosting Renewable Energy, establishing Energy Savings targets, investing in efficiency, or joining one of the existing cap and trade programs like our reggie program in new england. States can develop plans to create jobs. Plans that cut electricity costs by boosting efficiency, plans that is achieve major pollution reductions. As proposed, the rule will reduce Carbon Pollution while providing as much as 93 billion in Public Benefit. 93 billion in Public Benefit per year by 2030. A recent Washington Post abc news poll found that 70 of the public supports federal standards to limit Carbon Pollution. Last month the wall street journal and nbc news released a poll showing that twothirds of americans support president obamas new Carbon Pollution standard. More than half say the u. S. Should address Climate Change even if it means higher electricity bills for them but it wont because efficiency can reduce your bill even if the per unit cost can go up. Epas proposal is supported by major utilities Like National grid. Faith organizations like the u. S. Conference of catholic bishops, Public Health groups like the American Lung association. Theres also support from name plate american corporations like mars, nike, and starbucks. Id like to ask consent to enter into the record a letter from more than 125 Companies Expressing support for the standard. Without objection, so ordered. I just want to mention, if there are babies who are talking, its important that you consider that we have an overflow room in g50. So because its kind of hard to hear over that wonderful sound. That were hearing from the back. Your call but we do have a room in g50. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you, madame chair. We had four former republican epa administrators to testify before our subcommittee on clean air and Nuclear Safety last month. They agreed all four that epas rule is a reasonable way to reduce Carbon Pollution and that industry has a history of overstating the Compliance Costs of environmental regulations. The benefits of the Clean Air Act according to a 2011 epa assessment will outweigh its cost by a ratio of 301, 30 of value in the lives of regular americans for every 1 the polluters had to pay in cleanup costs. Thats a good deal for america. Administrator mccarthy, epas Carbon Pollution standards will lead to tremendous economic, environmental and Health Benefits forever americans. Do not be deterred by the polluters and their republican allies in congress who is attack the proposal. Theyre fighting to protect the present present status quo which is polluters polluting at will and profiting at public expense. And do not worry, you are way more popular than they are and the American People have far more confidence in you. States are already achieving Greater Energy efficiency in renewables use than assumed in the proposed standards. Factor those into the standards. Raise the bar. Develop Carbon Pollution standards for other major sources like cement kilns and refineries. Administrator, the American People are behind you and counting on epa to stand strong. Stand up for the American People and go even further as you develop the final power plant standards in the months ahead. History will judge your efforts favorably. Thank you very much. Return to senator vicker. Thank you, madame chair. This morning we have an opportunity to discuss the serious implications of the administrations unilateral move to execute its oppressive climate agenda. Some of my friends on the other side continue to speak of Carbon Pollution which suggests to some people that they are talking about particulate emissions. Of course, we know what is being talked about with this proposed rule is Carbon Dioxide emissions from existing power plants. And these regulations regarding co2 could negatively impact every single american. The president seems determined to wage an allout war on coal. Launching costly regulations that would have little effect on changing the climate. Over the past ten years, global coal consumption has soared by 65 during the aim period, u. S. Coal exports have skyrocketed by more than 200 . Coal is burned to provide 40 of the worlds electricity needs in a reliable and economical way. So although the coal consumption has soared, recent global average temperatures have stagnated over the past 17 years. This is a fact worth repeating. There has been no rise in global average temperatures over the past 17 years. Regardless, the administration continues to defend its heavy handed climate regulations with assertions that global average temperatures are on the rise. The regulation that were here to discuss today is epas most blatant overreach thus far. Under the guise of the Clean Air Act, the agency proposed to mandate entities that are far outside its regulatory authority. The rule does not simply attempt to reduce emissions from existing plants. For the first time, epa has a regulation that reaches up to and including the power meter. Epa is relying on the talking points that its proposed rule is flexible and allows states to create their own plans. I know this will be mentioned today but this is fiction when it comes to many states. Rule is a regulatory noose for electricity providers and users in my state of mississippi. In fact, in states like mississippi, we are being punished by epa for having a diversified portfolio of electrical generation. 100 of mississippis current Coal Production will be forced to close down. Under this rule. In place of coal, epa suggested increase in the use of Renewable Energy resources an increase by more than 250 of Renewable Energy sources. Yet their own Technical Support documents show zero potential for this time of Renewable Energy resource in mississippi. What good is flexibility if theres no chance of flexibility . Low cost and reliable electricity is at the core of economic growth. Many parts of the country have been experiencing a manufacturing renaissance in part due to the Great Success of American Energy and innovation and the shale revolution. Unfortunately ep rules do not account for future Economic Development and come actually thwart new growth. Their socalled flexible regulation would mandate that states put co2 emissions bob all else. If the proposed rules move forward and i hope they do not, our economy would be put at an economic disadvantage. Utilities and states will be handcuffed by the mandate because they have to rely on uneconomical resources to power americas homes and businesses increasing the costs for everyone. The consequences of the administrations proposed rule would be disastrous for our economy and again, would have minuscule impact on the environment. In summary, my friends the proposed rule is a breathtaking regulatory overreach. It is a job killer. It is based on questionable science,ing it is of dubious legality under the Clean Air Act. It amounts to an end run against congress. It is inflexible. It will have no effect on the climate and is therefore pointless and is punitive to name a few. Thank you, madame chair. Well, outside of that, youll love it. I know. Im just kidding. That was very effective and i was just trying to lighten up the atmosphere. Senator sanders. So youre leaning, yes, is that right, roger . All right. Administrator mccarthy, thank you very much for being here and thank you very much for the work you are doing. We are in a remarkable moment in American History. And in fact, in world history. And that is for the first time to the best of my knowledge, we have a Major Political party which by and large, is rejecting what the Scientific Community is saying. Now we can disagree about funding for education or health care and all that stuff. But if we cannot accept what the overwhelming majority of scientists are taking and there is no more debate. The overwhelming majority of scientists are saying a, Climate Change is real, Climate Change is caused by human activity, Climate Change is already causing devastating problems in the United States and around the world, and if we do not get our act together, by significantly reducing carbon and methane emissions, that situation will only get worse. That is not really a debate anymore and that we have a Major Political party that is rejecting that is extremely frightening. Now, the evidence is overwhelming. According to the u. S. National Climate Assessment released in may, the average global temperature has increased by more than 1. 5 degrees fahrenheit between 1 0 and 2012 and temperatures in my state of vermont and in new england have increased at least 2. 5 degrees fahrenheit just in the last 30 years. By 2100, new england could be as much as 10 degrees hotter. That is extraordinary. The debate that we should be having and it would be an important debate because nobody has all the answers, is how do you deal with this crisis. How do we working with countries around the world to reduce carbon to transform our energy system. How do you do this . Thats tough stuff. Nobody has any magical answer but that should be the debate. The idea that were still debating whether or not this is a real issue when the Scientific Community tells us this is the planetary crisis of our time is extremely distressing. Planetary warming is causing sea levels to rise. National ocean noaa reported that global average sea level has increased 8 inches since 1880. Several locations along the east coast and the gulf of mexico have experienced more than inches of local Sea Level Rise in only the past 50 years. What we are talking about if we do not get our act together is major cities in the United States and countries around the world, parts of countries around the world being underwater. Being underwater. As a result of rising sea levels and increasingly intense storms, catastrophic storm surges have been rising, as well. People talk about financial issues. I will remind my colleagues that Hurricane Sandy cost this government alone over 60 billion. And all over the world, all over the world, there are projections that we will be spending trillions of dollars, trillions of dollars in order to deal with rising sea levels, extreme weather disturbances and other manifestations of Climate Change. I would remind my colleagues that in a certain sense, this debate thats taking place today is very similar to a debate that took place 50 or 60 years ago right here in congress. And that is we had Tobacco Industry lobbyists coming in here and heads of the Tobacco Industry saying tobacco causing cancer . Oh, no, that cant be the case. And they brought doctors in here, guys who were smoking kools and putting ads on television and they were spending huge amounts of money trying to convince account American People that tobacco had nothing to do with cancer, emphysema and other serious illnesses. Finally the truth won out and the truth will win out on this debate, as well. Our job is to transform our energy system, work with countries around the world to reduce carbon and to help save the planet so that these young people will have a habitable nation and a habitable world in the years to come. Thank you, senator. Senator fisher, followed by senator cardin and senator inhofe and then senator barrasso. Chairman boxer and Ranking Member vitter, thank you so much for holding the hearing today. I want to welcome administrator mccarthy. It is always a pleasure to see you. Thank you for being here today. We all share in the goal of cleaner air and can be proud of the tremendous improvements we have made in air quality over the past several decades. Air pollution has decreased even as our population and the number of vehicles on the roads have increased and even as our economy has grown. In nebraska, our public power utilities have made significant investment in coldgenerated facilities in order to provide an even cleaner source of that lowcost energy in our state. While the regulatory actions that issued today are being pursued under the authority of the Clean Air Act, they are a significant departure from the true aims of the statute. In an unprecedented use of the law, this administration is seeking to reduce u. S. Emissions of Carbon Dioxide. Ostensibly to control Global Temperatures while the environmental benefits of capping carbon in america are negligible at best. The economic consequences are unquestionably devastating. President obama himself warned that electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket under a plan to control carbon. More than 80 of Americas Energy needs are met through carbon admitting conventional fuels. Last year coal and natural gas provided 66 of u. S. Electricity generation. As epa forces carbon reduction, it inflicts Higher Energy costs on American Families and on businesses. While the economic pain would be felt throughout the country, it is americas poorest families that will be hit the hardest. The median family spends about 5 cents out of every dollar on energy costs. Lowincome families spend about 20 cents. States like nebraska that receive a majority of their electricity from coalfired generation would also be disproportionately harmed under this proposal. President guidelines would force the premature retirement of efficient, lowcost, coalfueled generation. Lead to the potential loss of billions of dollars in investments made over the last decade to make coal plants cleaner. And require construction of higher cost replacement generation. And would increase natural gas prices. Also troubling sr. The epaset admission guidelines that are not achievable at the affected source, the electricity and generating unit. Energy efficiency and renewable portfolio medicine dates should not come through regulatory fiat. While i do not have enough time to list all the concerns raised by this proposal, you know that i believe there are many. The issues are complex, and the impacts are far reaching. While i appreciate the 120day Comment Period that was granted for Public Comment on this rule, the challenge presented to the states and other stakeholders to analyze and assess the enormous range of issues that are posed is beyond expectations. The level of complexity of the proposal, the volume of technical documents that are released, the amount of coordination required and the magnitude of Energy Impacts of the rule, i believe, warrant a 60day extension of that public Comment Period. I hope to visit with you about that. Im pleased were spending time today examining some of the concerns raised by the proposal. This is an important discussion. This is an important debate. And i look forward to todays dialogue. Thank you. Thank you, senator fisher. Senator cardon. Thank you, madam chair. First, let me thank administrator Gina Mccarthy for being here and taking on the responsibilities of the Environmental Protection agency at this critical moment in our history. Its not an easy task, and you were willing to step forward knowing full well the challenges you would confront. I want to thank you for being willing to do this. The chairman already mentioned that there are children at the hearing. I think thats wonderful. Because its their future that were talking about. Its the environment they will be living in thats very much impacted by what we do here and what the administration is doing. The impact of Climate Change in maryland is well understood. The people in my state recognize the risks that are involved as a result of Climate Change. 70 of the population of maryland lives in coastal areas. And theyre at risk. Property owners are at risk of losing their properties, and they know the Financial Impact that is involved. The people in maryland, the iconic shorelines that we have, thats our way of life, that is at risk. The economics of my state are at risk from the poultry industry that depends upon a reasonable price for corn and the cost of producing the poultry know that the weather conditions have made corn more expensive. Therefore, their business more difficult. The loss of our crab population. Seafood industry also understands the warmer waters affect all the produce coming out of the chesapeake bay. The port of baltimore is one of the economic hearts of our state. The Climate Change, rising sea levels make it more difficult to run the baltimore port click economically. I could go on and on from the aberdeen grounds to the river in the southern part of the our state to the naval academy. All very much impacted by Climate Change. And as my colleagues have pointed out, the science is indisputable that our activities here in our communities are affecting Climate Change. Congress should have acted. Madam chair, we tried. We should have provided the framework for the way that we deal with Climate Change. We tried. But we were stopped. We wanted to use a marketbased solution to make it clear and make it more available for private companies to invest. But no, we were stopped in those efforts. So the administration is doing what theyre required to do. Epa has the authority and the responsibility to act. And three Supreme Court decisions have made it clear that youre acting within that authority. Let me just quote from the case that the chair mentioned. Justice scalia, what he said just recently. And i quote, that it bears mention that epa is getting almost everything it wanted in this case. It sought to regulate sources that it said were responsible for 86 of all Greenhouse Gas emissions from statutory source nationwide. Under our holding, epa will be able to regulate source responsible for 83 of those emissions. And then quoting from the Clean Air Act not quoting, but the Clean Air Act gives you authority to have baseline standards, which are talking about achieving a 30 net reduction in Carbon Pollution from power plants using 2005 as the baseline by 2030. You have the authority. You have the responsibility. Youre acting. And thank you for the flexibility that youre providing. Youre putting the states in charge. Youre giving them the power they need to do whats right for their community. We can work regional among different states. Thats what youve allowed, and i thank you for that proposal. Maryland Energy Companies have acted. Constellation and exelon have taken on this challenge and done it in a costeffective way and created jobs in the meantime. Madam chair, i hope that it doesnt take another Cuyahoga River to catch on fire, which we needed before we enacted the Clean Air Act or for toxic air to be breathed by the people in los angeles before we enacted the Clean Air Act. I hope it doesnt take the loss in maryland or the washing away of the everglades or dust bowls to become the regular in our bread basket in this country before we act on this critical issue. I thank the administration for taking action. I Hope Congress will take action to be your partner in making the reality of americas leadership on global Climate Change what is desperately needed. Thank you, senator. Thank you for being here. Very nice to see you. Theres so many problems that have been pointed out already by my colleagues with the existing source carbon rule that its hard to know where to begin. First theres the issue of the impossible efficiency requirements that will replace some power plants. Then theres the question of what should happen with the standard, the compliance for coal plants and how theyre supposed to achieve reductions without going belly up. And how epa plans to enforce the rule and to what extent the agency will be allowed to tweak the states plan if its not making the progress that it needs to be made during the decadelong compliance period. These are very complex questions. And there are hundreds more, many smart people have been reading this rule for the last two months and theyre at a loss for what this will actually look like. In other words, it appears the epa is urging the nation to trust them as they are about to take over the entire electricity market in the black box confines of the Comment Period. That said, there are a few things that are crystal clear. First of all, we know the rule will cause electricity prices to go up. We know this from the epas own logic. Epas rule set out to save the 6 of Nuclear Generators that have become economically marginal. How will the epa do this . By increasing electricity prices in the absence of regulatory relief from the nrc and the epa, which is not happening, the only way to keep a marginal nuclear plan in business is for it to be paid more for its power. The only way the epa can do that is by pushing the prices up. The second thing that we know is that this rule will end up with the United States looking like germany where the poor and the Business Community alike are reeling under the high electricity prices. Their prices are now three times what they are in the United States. And this is something the administration is doing even though the American People really dont care about this. Talk about all the people joining in and saying that Global Warming is happening and science is over. They say that because theres nothing else they can say. Weve already had this before our United States senate many times. Its been resoundingly defeated by a larger margin each time it comes up. Its come up four times. And so thats the trend line thats there. We all understand that. We know that in a recent gallup poll, it showed i can remember when Global Warming was the number one, or number two concern. As of two weeks ago, it was 14 out of 15 concerns. According to the pew research center, 53 of americans believe Global Warming is happening. When asked whats causing it, they say theres not enough evidence to show its because of humans. He put his 50 million up. Hes going to raise the other 50 million. According to politico a couple days ago, hes been able to raise only 1. 2 million from outside donors. The third thing we know is that this rule will have essentially no impact on Global Temperatures which is the very reason because thats ultimately what the rule is supposed to do. And according to one analysis, which was used a model developed by the epa, the esps rule will reduce global temperature. This is using their analysis. By 0. 02 degrees celsius as is shown on this chart. Its hardly measurable with all of the costs were being involved in. Combine that with the other day i had it was monday night. I had dinner with senator coreman who happened to be here in the country from australia. Senator coreman is the guy that was leading the cause after he had one time supported the idea of taxing carbon to repeal it. So theyve repealed it in australia. So for the you stop and think about it, its china, its in russia and the other states. Even if you believe all this, theyre the ones who are sitting back, anxiously hoping well somehow tax carbon so theyll be able to draw in our base. The last thing, since im running out of time here, is theres a study thats floating around that says this rule will enhance natural gas. You give an argument it would, but i think what theyre forgetting to mention is that this is a war on fossil fuels. Natural gas is a fossil fuel. As you can see up here, they would be next. The war on fossil fuels is going to come right after natural gas right after coal. So thats whats behind the whole thing. And i appreciate your holding this hearing. Well see what happens. Thanks, senator. Senator barasso. Thank you so much. The New York Times wrote a piece about the outsized role that the National Resources defense council, the nrdc, had in developing the epas new regulations to curb power plant emissions. The article focused on three key senior nrdc officials who the times described as washingtons bestpaid lobbyists who developed the core of epas plan. Washingtons bestpaid lobbyist developed the core of epas plan. The New York Times stated that on june 2nd, president obama proposed a new Environmental Protection agency rule to curb power plant emissions that used as its blueprint the work of three men and their team. The article says it was a remarkable victory for the Natural Resources defense council. Council. Now, for those outside the belt way, the nrdc is a 120 million a year lobby magazine backed by hollywood elites. It is absolutely shameful to me that the epa under the direction here of the administrator will allow this powerful group of lawyers and lobbyists to draft their regulations. But yet this same administrator refuses to actually listen to the people whose lives and jobs will be severely impacted by these regulations drawn up by wealthy lawyers and lobbyists. In fact, the administrator refuses to listen to the thousands of americans who will be impacted by this rule. The epa administrator has refused to go out and visit folks in coal country whose lives the agency is upending. The epa administrator wont hold a public hearing in wyoming, wont hold a public hearing in kentucky. The epa administrator has literally gone out of her way and the epa has gone out of its way to avoid hearing from unemployed families who have lost or will lose everything their job, their home, their retirement savings, issues relating to their health, all because the epa has decided to push a rule that was drafted behind closed doors by powerful, wealthy washington lawyers and lobbyists at the nrdc. Lets be clear inrdc is a wealthy elite powerful lobby magazine with more than influence over Decision Making in washington than any ordinary american citizen. They have millions which gives them access. The epa has turned a deaf ear on those who dont. It should come as no surprise that this is how the epas regulations for new and existing power plant was hatched. In fact, the times article argues that the nrdc employs these very same tactics during the Bush Administration to craft their comprehensive Energy Strategy. When the bush Energy Strategy was released a president time the nrdc released the following statement about how it was crafted. The conclusions of the cheney task force are a product of an undemocratic process. When nrdc filed a freedom of information act the story continues. Nrdc filed a freedom of information act, request for documents identifying members of the task force and the calendars of task force members, the department of energy denied the reque request. I would say this is quite a change of heart by this group of wealthy washington lobbyists and lawyers. If im wrong, then the nrdc and the epa and its administrator can provide and should provide all records and documents that are requested by members of this committee and my house colleagues on how these new regulations for coalfired power plants were crafted because right now it sure looks like the epa led a trio of highpowered washington lobbyists write their regulations for them. If what the times is reporting is what the epa administrator has called preposterous then the epa must comply with any committee and freedom of information act requests for these documents. Comply with requests from our house colleagues, comply so that we can then know the truth. If the answer is no, that you will not comply or that there are more recordkeeping mishaps, broken hard drives, lost files, then well know the truth about this agency as well. Thank you, madam chairman, i look forward to the testimony. Thank you, senator. Now, heres where we stand, because were trying to move on. Were going to accommodate the senators who were here so were going to move to senator carper, senator sessions and well close with senator merkley at that point unless theres serious objection were going to move to administrator mccarthy and the colleagues that come later can have an extra minute to the a little bit of an opening if thats okay with everybody. Okay . So lets move forward and we will go now to senator carper. Thanks, madam chair. Welcome administrator mccarthy. Very nice to see you. For a number of years i served as either the Ranking Member as the chair of the subcommittee on clean air and Nuclear Safety. I remember early in those days i think the chair at the time and i were meeting with a number of utility ceos from around the country and we were talking about legislation dealing with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, co 2. And after an hour long meeting this one utility ceo from some place down south, a southern state, i dont remember which one, kind of a curmudgeon like guy, he said at the end of our hourlong conversation, he said all right, senators, this is what you should do. You should tell us what the rules are going to be. You should give us a reasonable amount of time to implement those rules. Give us a little bit of flexibility and get out of the way. Thats what he said. Tell us what the rules are going to be, give us a reasonable amount of flexibility, a reasonable amount of time and get out of the way. That was ten years ago. Well, my hope and my belief is that epa is actually not just said these are what the rules are going to be, they said after talking to a lot of stakeholders including utilities including coal companies, including environmental groups, including state and local governments, epa said this is what we think the rules should be and in doing so basically put out a draft of what they think the rules should be, asked for a lot of response, a lot of input from people around the country. And thats where we are. I think its great the that the administrator is here but the way their system works here, epa doesnt mandate whats going to happen. I hope they get input from all kinds of groups, including groups liked for the c. That would make sense. I hope they get input from the coal companiesment that would make sense. So im glad youre here and im glad were going to have an opportunity to provide input to that. Delaware and some other states feel the impact of Climate Change that have already taken place to reduce our local power plant Carbon Emissions. Unfortunately, few states like us cannot tack this will issue alone. All states have to do their fair share if were going to make an impact. The clean power act works to take on the largest source of Carbon Emissions together. I want to thank the administrator, i want to thank our president for their leadership and moving forward with this rule. Opponents of this rule are going to say that we have to choose between having a cleaner environment and a stronger economy. Ive said a million times thats a false choice. We can have both. And if were smart, we will have both. In fact, weve done it time and time again. We know the inaction of Climate Change only costs us money in the long run. Inaction could be devastating to our economy. In fact, the Government Accountability office has already listed Climate Change as one of the biggest fiscal risks facing our nation. Theyre not making this stuff up. It is. And thats why i think we need to move forward with the clean power plan. However, for such an important rule we need epa to get it right. We need to have a rule that reduces Carbon Emissions, protects Public Health and grows our economy, which is finally growing quite nicely. We need a rule that does not pick winners and losers between Clean Energy Technology and we need a rule thats flexible, legally defensible so states can meet their Carbon Targets. I believe epa is trying to strike the right balance. God knows it isnt easy. Through unprecedented outreach and hearings through over 300 stake holders nationwide, epa has built a propose l. The epas proposal recognizes that what might work for delaware may not work for california, may not work for oklahoma or alabama or mississippi or nebraska. But rather your proposal allows each state the flexibility to find the most Cost Effective way to reduce their own emissions. As my father would say, god rest his soul, that sounds like common sense to me. After working for more than a decade on legislative efforts to reduce Carbon Emissions from power plants, i applaud the epas decision to set Carbon Targets that are meaningful, flexible, and feasible. Let me close by saying i encourage the epa to continue to listen and make adjustments as needed to ensure we get this one right. Its important that we do. I look forward to todays discussion and future discussions on this rule. Welcome and thank you. Thank you, senator. Senator sessions followed by senator merkley and then administrator were going to turn to you. Thank you, madam chair, and the American Economy is important, i know you know that. We have a decline in median family wages in america since 2007 from 55,000 to 50,000. We have an employment rate among workingage population as low as the 1970s, its been declining steadi steadily. And energy the decline in energy prices, one of the finest things that helped the American Economy in recent years so Lower Cost Energy clearly creates jobs, it creates wealth and every 10 a family has to pay for an electric bill or more for their gasoline bill does weaken the economy if it is for no benefit. Our little benefit. So we have to ask that. We can reach some accord on a lot of these issues, ms. Mccarthy. I dont think theres any doubt about it. Things that are Cost Effective, clean, efficiency programs are things that, properly done, i think do make america healthier and stronger economy and there are Common Ground that we can have. One of the Common Grounds i think is Nuclear Power and we need to consider that more. Last month in our Regulatory Group versus epas Supreme Court said this. When an Agency Claims to discover in a long statute an unheralded power to regulate a significant portion of the american econo