The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee put climate change on the agenda Wednesday by inviting Governor Roy Cooper to Washington to talk about what North Carolina is doing to address climate change.

Committee hearings on climate change in the House and Senate this week marked the first time in many years congressional committees are taking up the issue.

“North Carolinians, unfortunately, know about this the hard way,” Cooper said. “We have weathered two so-called ‘Five-Hundred-Year Floods’ within two years. And three of them within 20 years.”

Folks in the low lands of Eastern North Carolina are not the only residents feel the impact of a changing climate, Cooper said. In his testimony, he pointed to erratic weather as the cause of hardships in the western part of the state, such as increased mudslides, lost Apple crops and damaged infrastructure.

Congressman Gregorio Sablan from the Northern Mariana Islands asked Governor Cooper about what states and the federal government can do to address residents displaced temporarily, or permanently, due to extreme weather.

“Congressman, in North Carolina, I think we have seen it as you have, the people who can afford it the least often get hit the hardest in these natural disasters,” Cooper said.

He added limited affordable housing continues to be an issue in North Carolina but could be part of a strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Not everyone on the House committee approved of the choice of topic for the day.

Ranking member of the House committee and Utah Congressman Rob Bishop was critical of the committee’s decision to take up climate change. He joked that if February was going to be Climate Change month, at least it’s the shortest month of the year. Records show that Bishop received more than $100,000 from the Oil and Gas Industry during his 2018 election campaign, more than any other contributor.

Orange County Commissioners passed a resolution last month asking their own congressman, David Price, to support the creation of an exploratory committee on the Green New Deal.

Without explicitly endorsing the Green New Deal, Price’s spokesperson said the new Democratic majority in the House will be exploring its options, including the Green New Deal.

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