Climate, Energy, & Environment

As a former environmental lawyer, Chair of the New Democrat Coalition’s Climate Change and Clean Energy Task Force, and member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I am dedicated to combating climate change and building clean energy. Unfortunately, San Diego is vulnerable to some of the worst consequences of climate change--from droughts, to wildfires, to floods from rising sea levels. We must not only work to curb climate change, but also prepare for the effects it has on our region and nation.

San Diego is home to many innovative green energy and cleantech companies that are important to our environment and economy. I will work in Congress to make sure these companies, as well as the premier research institutions in our region, get the support they need. I will also continue working with Republicans and Democrats to pass ambitious policies to reduce climate pollution and build the clean energy economy of the future.

Tackling the Climate Crisis

To protect San Diegans and the nation from the worst consequences of climate change, we must rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I have introduced and passed several bills to reduce our emissions while maintaining a flourishing economy. Some examples include:

• Introducing and passing the bipartisan Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USEIT) Act to help deploy carbon capture and carbon removal technologies.
• Introducing and passing the Prevent Outages with Energy Resiliency Options Nationwide (POWER ON) Act to help build interstate electric transmission lines faster.
• Securing additional funding for the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office in the Inflation Reduction Act.
• Leading efforts to protect solar energy projects and jobs, support clean technologies, and provide funding for electric transmission projects.
  
• Introducing comprehensive and bipartisan legislation--the Save Our Sequoias (SOS) Act—to protect historic giant sequoias from wildland fire and the Cleaner Air Spaces Act to protect communities from wildfire smoke.
• Introducing the National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Act to boost the country’s resilience to extreme weather.

Building clean energy faster

To address climate and environmental challenges, we can’t just stop bad projects; we must rapidly build good projects. Currently our overburdensome regulatory and permitting processes cause significant delays to clean energy, infrastructure, and even nature restoration projects. I am working to pass comprehensive reforms to streamline the review process for good projects while maintaining sound environmental analysis and community input. Some examples include:

• Introducing bills to speed the permitting, siting, and construction of interstate and interregional electric transmission lines including the Facilitating America's Siting of Transmission and Electric Reliability (FASTER) Act and the BIG WIRES Act.
• Introducing a bill, the Building Chips in America Act, to help bring microchip manufacturing back to America while maintaining environmental protections for clean air and water.