(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) issued the following statement on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate detailing the effects of climate change on the world’s oceans and ice:

“The health of Earth’s oceans and ice is vital to the existence of plant and animal species, the infrastructure along our coasts, and humankind. The IPCC report laid out critical data showing warming, acidification, loss of oxygen, and rising sea levels in our oceans, issues that the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee has focused on this term. The levels of harm to our waters are an urgent concern, and pose a direct threat to coastal communities. I’m proud of the bills the House has passed so far to address the health of our oceans, and hope the Senate will take them up.”

The House of Representatives has passed four bipartisan pieces of legislation to protect our oceans that originated in the Science, Space, and Technology Committee Subcommittee on Environment, which Congresswoman Fletcher chairs: H.R. 1921, the Ocean Acidification Innovation Act of 2019; H.R. 1237, the Coastal and Ocean Acidification Stressors and Threats (COAST) Research Act of 2019; H.R. 1716, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2019; and H.R. 988, the National Estuaries and Acidification Research (NEAR) Act of 2019.

Read the full IPCC report here.