The California Coast is Well Represented in the House Climate Crisis Committee
The House has announced the House Select Committee on the Climate Crises. We applaud the name of “Climate Crises” in this age of Trump. Of the majority seven Democrats appointed to this committee, three are from California, and they are from coastal districts.
We start with Representative Jared Huffman of CA 2, which runs all the way from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, and covers six counties. He was first elected to the House in 2012. Previously, from 2006-2012, he was the CA assemblyman from the 6th district. He chaired the Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee, and chaired the Assembly Environmental Caucus. He was a senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council. He had also been the Director of the Marin Municipal Water District.
Rep. Huffman is on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is on the Natural Resources Committee, and on its Subcommittees on Energy and Mineral Resources, Water and Power, and Public Lands and Environmental Regulation.
Next is Rep. Julia Brownley of CA 26, which covers most of Ventura County. On the coast it runs from Point Mugu through Port Hueneme to Ventura, covering 43 coastline miles. She has been on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee.
Rep. Brownley introduced a bill to eliminate tax subsidies for Big Oil. She also has the Student Loan Repayment Assistance Act that incentivizes employers to offer assistance to repay the loans.
She is on many health caucuses, but also the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, the Safe Climate Caucus, the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, and the House Science and National Laboratories Caucus.
Finally is Rep. Mike Levin, of CA 49th, who won the district of retired Republican Darrell Issa, that stretches from Dana Point to Del Mar, or over 50 miles of coastline. He has endorsed the Green New Deal. He has been an attorney on clean energy and environmental issues.
He is a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, which has held the first congressional meeting on the climate in ten years. He is Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Environment, Public Lands, and Water Task Force. He is also in the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition.
He has sponsored legislation to ban future offshore oil and gas drilling leases. He jointly sponsored the Raise the Wage Act of 2019. He backs electrifying the transportation infrastructure.
