-- the energy grid, and the state of the natural gas and nuclear power industries. >> good morning, everybody. i call this meeting to order. senator capito and i are pleased to be joined this morning by a distinguished panel of witnesses to discuss climate change and our electricity sector. mr. rusco, who is here in person, welcome. mayor garcetti, who i presume is out in california. mr. fowke, ms. snyder, mr. wood, we welcome you one and all. experts talk about climate change, things like parts per million and carbon dioxide equivalent, go beyond these terms and the reality is more severe and the urgency more apparent. in texas last month, that reality hit home. an estimated 4.5 million texans lost power. some stranded for days on end in the freezing cold without heat or running water. families literally froze to death. or were poisoned by carbon dioxide. -- carbon monoxide or were trapped in fires. overall, the crisis took the lives of 80 people and the estimate of damage to people's homes, their businesses and livelihoods are expected to reach over $90 billion. it is heartbreaking and it should never have happened in this country. it is clear texas was ill prepared for unusually frigid temperatures. gas-fired power plants natural , gas wellheads succumbed to temperatures they were not prepared for. it was not the first time we saw devastation fueled by climate change. sadly, it will not be the last. as we are here today, a report released this morning by the government accountability office found climate change is expected to have far-reaching effects on the electricity grid that could cost the american people tens of billions of dollars in damage and power outages, like the devastation we just saw in texas. damage and power outages, like the devastation we just saw in texas. a future of suffering from climate change is not written in stone. we can invest in a cleaner electric sector. mr. president says, we need to build back better. a judge wants asked in a tories bank robber during the great depression, the judge asked, why do you rob banks? he replied, that is where the money is. people ask me, why do we need to reduce climate emissions? that is where a good deal of the emissions are. as it turns out, the electricity sector is the second largest driver of climate change in our country. transportation is the first. responsible for about 28% of our country's total greenhouse gas emissions part electricity a second. a source of 27%. industry is the third, accounting for about 22%. it adds up to more than three quarters of the greenhouse gas emissions in our country. if we want a cleaner, safer planet -- and we do, all of us -- we have to make the reduction of emissions a priority. president obama understood this, that is what he set a national target of reducing powerplant emissions my 32%. the clean power plan was crafted after responding to 4.3 million public comments and working with local leaders and stakeholders. i double checked -- 4.3 million -- that is the correct number of comments. they responded to just about every one of them. there were plenty of critics who argued several years ago that these were too ambitious. president trump agreed and he repealed the clean power plan and replaced it with an unambitious, ultimately illegal plan thrown out by courts. it turns out the critics could not have been more wrong about the clean power plant. american utilities are far surpassing goals. we will hear soon from one of our witnesses, mr. fowke from capito energy -- xcel energy. they are on track to reduce 85% of carbon emissions by 2030. this move toward clean energy did not happen by chance. state and local programs are driving energy markets and utilities to go clean. today, 30 states have adopted a mandatory renewable or clean energy standard for their electricity sector. 30 states. 14 of them have plans in place to transition to one hunter percent renewable or zero emission energy. dozens of utility companies have pledged to de-carbonized. this is encouraging progress. the one-way we can get to a truly clean and safe electricity sector is if we come together, a lasting, bipartisan path forward. president biden, when i hear the words clean energy, the words that come to mind for me are job creation. we need every job we can create and grow. clean energy can create millions of good paying jobs, strengthen our economy and build a more sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. we have a real opportunity to make this happen for the american people that think we have an obligation not to let them down. with that, i am delighted to turn to our ranking member, shelley cap for her opening statement. >> i want to thank the witnesses who are joining us and the opportunity to talk about an issue that is important to everyone. i think the recent cold weather disaster the chairman talked about in texas and similar weather-related outages have revealed two major challenges for the electric sector that policymakers must address. one is reliability. we need to ensure our energy systems are resilient to the impacts, such as extreme weather, storms, wildfires or cyber attacks. if an emergency occurs, want to make sure any of those impacts are remedied quickly. the other is affordability. building and maintaining a power system, especially with innovative technologies comes at a price. we need to make sure we are not making it unaffordable to turn on lights, especially during and after an external challenge to grid reliability. also, for those who are in the low to mid incomes, where the higher cost of utilities are particularly difficult to manage. i would suggest there are two key strategies this committee can support to advance these goals. first, we need in all of the above energy strategy. clean energy is not just wind and solar power. it includes nuclear energy, low-carb and natural gas, hydropower, geothermal, battery storage -- innovative technologies, such as carbon capture utilization. fuel diversity will pay dividends in addressing reliability by providing flexibility to switch sources if one generation becomes unavailable. despite the progress, some may seek to ignore, american emissions have decreased in the power sector over the last decade. global emissions have risen, especially in china. as of 2019, carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by 33% since 2005, and 2017 marked the ninth time this century the u.s. reduced emissions more than any other nation. we need to continue to build up america's energy leadership and invest in innovation and innovative ways that would directly tie in with the theme i mentioned before -- we cannot build back better if we cannot build anything at all. while general oversight of the grid is not within the committee's jurisdiction, proper permitting absolutely is. certainty in permitting and consistently of regulations is essential for building the umbrella infrastructure to achieve goals of reliability and affordability. for too long, states and project sponsors have been stuck in a regulatory purgatory, seeking endless approvals from up to 13 different federal agencies. additionally, dozens of state and local approvals are typically required before construction. building on the streamlining provisions enacted under title 41, and the creation of the federal permitting counsel, the one federal decision policy called for early coordination predictable timelines to deliver decisions in a timely manner without compromising any environmental protections. however, one federal decision was revoked under president biden's first actions in office, when he signed executive order 13990. it will be hard to deliver on clean energy is permitting complexity represents an insurmountable challenge. as one example, new wind and solar projects are often instructed -- constructed hundreds of miles from consumers, far from transition lines to move electricity where it is needed. without the ability to timely permit, the ambitious goals set by president biden of zero emissions by 2035 is just a costly pipedream. if there was any doubt to the path by democrat frank want us to think about, if we look -- my democrat friends want us to think about -- i am pleased we have mayor garcetti on the panel because i want to look at what is specifically going on in the city of los angeles. according to the bureau of labor statistics, in january, los angeles households paid 52.5% more for electricity than the nationwide average in the same month. that is despite l.a.'s famously beautiful and milder weather. this is nearly 7% more than los angeles residents paid last january. the trend is going in the wrong direction for affordability in the city of angels. with reliability in 2019, the average american lost power for approximately 4.7 hours, including as result of extreme weather events. in california, also in 2019, customers had 9.78 hours without power, which is more than a five hour difference, which does not sound like much, but if you look at it percentage-wise, it is double the amount of time. wildfires and controlled outages are not the only things to blame. los angeles led the way with 5787 blackouts in the year 2017, impacting more than 6.4 million customers. that goes to my reliability premise. that is before ambitious plans to electrify transmission and shutter the state's remaining nuclear plants and put pressure on its natural gas plants. i noticed the mayor will be closing -- it said three natural gas plants print california, its demand for power stresses systems of neighboring states. for now, it looks like things will continue to go in that direction in california. i suggest we can do it a better way for the rest of the country. i do not disagree with everything the mayor has put forward. in his testimony, he hit on my other premise of were i think we need to go. i was pleased to see and hope to engage him on him being interested on the permit streamlining aspect of getting cleaner energy to every household. this is certainly something i agree with them on and i believe to be a priority for our committee. i want to thank the chairman and take a moment -- should i introduce question mark -- should i introduce? >> never a bad time to introduce west virginian. what you think all of the witnesses and particularly jim would for being here to testify. jim wood is a director of energy at the university of west virginia. in 2019, mr. wood was appointed by our governor to the task force. the task force is working to bring manufacturing opportunity to the state ahead of the anticipated expansion of the industry in appalachia. additionally, he has 30 years of experience in the power industry. he came to west virginia university in 2013. he was ceo of the massachusetts based company with power generation technologies. prior to that, he was deputy assistant secretary of the office of clean coal for president obama and was responsible for a $4.5 million project based on carbon capture and storage, fuel cells. i am really happy to have jim, i have relied upon him as an expert. we are happy to have him that wvu and pleased to have him on the committee today. >> mr. wood, welcome. it is good to have another west virginia and in the room. i want to recognize the senator and introduce the mayor of the largest city in california. >> thank you, mr. chair and ranking member capito for inviting me and allowing me to introduce my friend, the mayor of the second largest city in america, mayor garcetti. he is a fourth-generation angeleno, born and raised in the san fernando valley. he is a true public servant. we served together on the los angeles city council, he is an intelligence officer in that united states naval reserve and currently serves as the 42nd mayor of the city of santos. throughout his tenure, he has been eating the way it was some of the nation's most ambitious climate goals, helpful over the course of the last four years was the prior administration -- mayor garcetti mobilized mayors across america with the paris climate agreement. the city of los angeles has the largest municipal electrical and water utility in the country. we refer to it as the los angeles department of water and power. that utility is rapidly and successfully -- california's state renewable energy goals ahead of schedule. mayor garcetti has served in leadership roles for l.a. metro, our transit agency. serving as chair, where he advanced the letter fixation of the bus fleet -- electrification for the bus fleet. leadership of one of the largest metropolitan transit systems in the nation, he has that a critical voice locally, regionally and nationally on climate change, not just for the sake of achieving climate goals, but fostering economic growth and opportunity. please welcome my friend, mayor eric garcetti. >> thank you for that introduction. can you hurt me? >> i can. >> ina retired navy captain -- i am a retired navy captain. also, the intelligence officer for my squadron. are you still in the reserves? thank you for your service in that capacity. with that, several other distinguished witnesses on the panel, frank rusco, live and in person for today's hearing. he is the dr. of natural resources an environment of the government accountability office. his job is to serve as our watchdog and help us be more fiscally responsible. we are also fortunate to have two other witnesses join us virtually. ben fowke, the ceo of xcel energy. also, sandra snyder, a vice president of the natural gas association of america. we thank you for joining us today. mr. rusco, why don't we start with you. you may proceed you are ready. >> thank you. members of the committee, i am pleased to be here today to discuss the need for greater climate resilience of the electricity grid. the fourth national climate assessment, published in november of 2018, warned about extreme weather and other disaster causing events, will increase in that adaptation measures will need to be taken to avoid large societal losses. in addition, the electricity grid, as part of energy infrastructure more broadly, is considered a critical infrastructure that should be resilient to all hazards to protect public health, safety, the economy and national security. they report being issued this morning looks at climate resilience of the electricity grid in this context. we found the costs of large power outages that occurred recently in texas will likely cost many billions of dollars annually unless the grid is made more resilient to climate related extreme weather, wildfires and flooding. these include the direct cost of repairing damage caused to the grid, but also includes significant but hard to quantify societal costs. these include the costs to consumers and businesses that lose power during climate-related events. they also include public health and safety disruptions when power to other key sectors is disrupted. the cost borne by consumers during power outages are not equally distributed across income levels print frequently, lower income consumers suffer disproportionately during power outages because they have less access to alternative power sources, such as rooftop solar or generators, and fewer resources to be able to temporarily relocate out of the affected area. lower income areas are less likely to afford increases in rates, which is the way maintenance cost of the grid are covered. how do we know what investments to make and how can it be paid for? the disaster risk framework provides some ideas. first, the federal government needs to play a role in providing quality information to all stakeholders, including private owners of the grid, state and local regulators and rate payers about the risk associated with climate related power disruptions. this can help state and local regulators understand the need for resilience measures. secondly, the federal government can play a role in integrating -- to achieve a consensus on what specific actions need to be taken. third, the federal government can provide positive incentives or reduce disincentives to encourage resiliency measures to be undertaken. the key federal agencies at play , one has the capacity and has taken many steps in cooperation with some utilities, national labs and other key stakeholders to identify climate change risks to the grid. however, the other needs to develop a plan to guide its resilience efforts and to better leverage the national labs in these efforts. doe also needs an agencywide strategy to climate change risks. similarly, one needs to assess climate risks to the grid and plan a response using authority over grid reliability. doe can help identify and plan what resilience measures should be taken, this leaves a question about how it will be paid for. some observations from our body of work may be useful. climate change poses risks to systems and creates a fiscal exposure to the federal government. the federal government can reduce fiscal exposure if efforts are coordinated and directed toward common goals, such as improving climate resilience. secondly, climate resilience will take a whole society approach to determine what measures to take and what parts of society bear what costs. lower income populations often bear a disproportionate burden during disaster events and are less able to pay for individual resilience measures or for those built into the greater system. lastly, as the national climate session advises, even though there remains uncertainty about the precise effects and climate change in every sector, acting sooner rather than later, learning along the way is the appropriate path toward climate adaptation. this ends my oral statement. i will be happy to answer any questions. >> you have given us a lot to chew on. we look forward to asking you questions. mayor garcetti, we thank you for joining us. welcome. >> thank you so much. to the entire group, thank you so much. two decades later, we are proud of your representation. i visited with them, thank you for the honor. i am honored to testify on this issue before you today. the nation's largest power and water utility. managing demands equal to that in the state of colorado just to give you a picture of our challenges. an energy grid that is 100% renewable, reliable can be achieved. in 2002, our utility was 2% renewable, 50% coal. today, we are 40% renewable. a bipartisan group of over 500 mayors, republicans, emma kress, independent -- democrats, independents. it is creating economic opportunity, fueling the next generation of american innovation. it is an important part. we have to build it from scratch. we are building a renewable grid on our own. all while helping to keep the power flowing 24/7. power for ventilators keeping loved ones alive. 40% of all the grids. power for stadiums and venues that help with economic recovery. we have not had a single blackout in los angeles because we make sure renewable energy is also reliable energy. we have joined with partners across the united states, hydropower in the pacific northwest, wind power in wyoming and new mexico. in los angeles, rooftops, it is not the rate of electricity that everyone cares about. $1.5 billion in savings. climate events are getting more frequent. they are more dangerous. people are literally losing their lives. this makes it urgent. july we have invested in infrastructure, distributing stations overloaded, some without power for a few days. it's time for us to change that old book. the second example is october 20 19, 80 800 acres had burned and we became close to losing our transmission into los angeles. we came within an inch of rolling blackouts, but we could rely on local energy and rooftops that kept the energy going. there are two questions that occupy the minds of young americans. [inaudible] zero carbon grid, zero carbon transportation, zero grid waste, and zero waste of water. 100% no later than 2045. we are working with the