Well come to order. I may look like congressman huffman but im not. Know its a shock. Im congressman lowenthal and is back in sonoma dealing with the wildfires and get back here to to washington. That, you ll hoping know, that the fires subside, that, you know, many people are safe, and that mr. Huffman soon. S so with that, the subcommittee oceans and wildlife will come to order. The subcommittee is meeting hear a testimony on a sea of problems. The impacts of plastic pollution wildlife. And format, anytee rule oral Opening Statements at the hearings are limited to the minority the Ranking Member, the vice chair and the vice Ranking Member. Hear from llow us to our witnesses sooner and help eople help members keep to their schedules. So therefore i ask for unanimous members hat all Opening Statements be made a part of the hearing record. F they are submitted to the subcommittee clerk by 5 00 p. M. Oday, or the close of the hearing, whichever comes first. Objections, so ordered. Ill open up and welcome all the witnesses. Pressing ussing a environmental issue and thats plastic pollution. Certainly Single Use Plastics made life easier but these aterials come at a much higher cost than many would like to admit. Instics last for center tris the Natural Environment and are found nearly everywhere on our planet. Impactar i witnessed the wildlifec pollution on in antarctica, one of the few relatively s been untouched by human activity but not untouched by the scourge of plastics. Personally ive been involved in trying to tackle the growing years. For over 20 working with my constituent and friend, captain charles moore, created the scientific and who organization, research f the early on the plastic garbage situation. Here is an estimated 8 Million Metric Tons of plastics that enter the oceans each year at a garbage truck ne per minute. Threatening biodiversity and accumulating in the food that we eat. Plastics have been found in samples right here in the capitals visit center. Making clay also mat change worse. The global life cycle emissions years plastic production throughout the united the same as 462 coal fired power plants per year and that number is rising. Plastic production is an Environmental Justice issue also. Petro chemical factories and incineration facilities are located in low income communities where local Health Quality impacts are quite significant but ignored. Y are finally, in the subcommittee we eed to look at solutions to deal with, for example, fishing gear, fishing gear thats been continues to t catch fish. Marine mammals, turtles, birds and corals. Clear that we need to reduce plastic pollution. Commitments and bans and taxes on single use plastic items can be part of the but we must expand our tools to address this growing health ental and public problem. In this committee, we switched pitchers and glasses for water rather than the disposable plastic Water Bottles see so often around the capital. Easy t every switch is as and not everyone has the option. Cleaningcial burden of up pollution should not be on solely on the taxpayers. Its imperative that the ompanies that manufacture and sell these products take ownership of their environmental impacts. Congress needs to step up. It is for this reason that ive een working on comprehensive legislation with senator udoll. Our legislation seeks to create circular approach by extended place an producer responsibility program. Recycling content tandards, as well as phasing out certain single use items with more sustainable alternatives. To announce we have a discussion draft of this esolution quite soon which and idisseminate publicly you to let me f your comments. Noah recently funded 14 new aspects of ressing this problem. The 2. 7 million provided to come projects doesnt even close to addressing the scale of the oceanplastic problem. Is this we need to do more. E need to look at a broader range of solutions, that will revent wildlife from being strangled and to keep microplastics from ending up on our plate. I look forward to hearing more from our witnesses ideas and i will now member to ranking share his remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. To subcommittee meets today hear testimony on plastics and their impact on our oceans. Rom the written testimony it appears that the majority is blaming American Consumers for the plastic wasting that reaches oceans and is proposing to place restrictions on them that ill dramatically reduce the convenience and Higher Quality of life that plastics have modern ted to our society, while increasing costs dramatically. Blaming America First seems to be a recurring theme but the facts paint a very different picture. 2017 study published in the Environmental Science and Technology Magazine found that 88 and 95 of all the lastic debris that enters our oceans comes from 10 rivers, none of which is anywhere close to the United States. Eight of those rivers are in asia and two are in africa. 2015 study the top 20 Marine Plastic polluters 10. 76 d as much as Million Metric Tons of plastic debris. The United States generated just tons. Llion metric barely 1 . Indeed the entire United States less water borne plastic pollution than north korea. The majority blame for this . American consumers. Kilpatrick once observed they always blame America First. Epa, americans have increased Plastic Recycling tons in 1980 to 3. 1 2015. On tons in thats a 155 fold increase. Consumers go to great engths to properly dispose of Plastic Waste and the numbers show that. American consumers are heroes, fight lains, in this against plastic pollution of our oceans. We should be celebrating them punishing them. Yet thats just what draconian on plastic use would do starting with the 1. 7 illion families who depend on plastics manufacturing to put food on the table, roofs over heir heads and taxes in our government coffers. The single largest state remains my home state of california where 80,000 californians are directly plastics n the industry. Misplaced object of the lefts re appears to be single use plastic containers. The toothpaste tube, shampoo plastic bag. They criticize being wasteful ince the plastic is used once, discarded and yet takes between 50 and a thousand years to decay. Disposed e properly of, and americans do, i have to that hat exactly is problem . The most common single use packaging of the ancient world we had progressed from nimal skins and gourds was a ceramic, a massive hill called mount in rome, is composed of discarded which have not degraded in nearly 2,000 years, world is not worse for it and the romans were better off for it which begs the question . If were going to ban single use containers exactly what will replace them . How about your toothpaste . Toothpaste came in collapsible metal tubes. The opponents of plastic find environmentally friendly container . The toothpaste tube was invented consumers from the unhygiene knick practice of getting toothpaste in glass jars and dipping your toothbrush into them. Shall we return to glass jars . Powderedat, it came in form in cardboard boxes which required mixing a batch every to brush your teeth. Plastics have largely replaced container the best to protect food against food spoilage. Before aluminum it was tin. It takes four pounds of boxi dad mining and ip strip 7 1 2 kilowatts of electricity to make one pound of aluminum do. Plastic critics really think an environmental friendly alternative is to return to the metal containers . Before metal containers glass was commonly used. Takes roughly a million years to decompose, a thousand times longer than the longest for plastic decomposition. I suppose we could go back to i dboard and paper but remember the campaign decade ago to ban paper bags as wasteful environmentally offensive so we dutifully replaced them with plastic bags which have now ire of the he environmental left. Single use plastics, properly of, means greater convenience and lower prices for American Consumers and a much environmental footprint than all of the different packaging materials that they have replaced. So im very interested in hearing today why americans, who exemplary record of responsible plastic disposal and recycling, are to blame for the of other people in other countries and why those same americans should now be with higher prices, less convenience, and a lower standard of living. I would like to know what are the plastics critics propose as an alternative to they c containers that havent already rejected over years . I yield back. Im going to ask for unanimous consent that the person from new mexico, representative of holland be to sit on the dias and participate. Ordered. Objection, so now im going to introduce our witnesses. Ur first witness is mr. Ed ansda ted danson. Es also the vice chair of the board of directors at oceana, involveds been closely since its inception. Our next witness will be mr. Parras, who is the founder nd executive director at the texas Environmental Justice tejas. Cy service, or ollowing him well hear from jenna jambeck, an associate at the university of on plastic impact. And d finally, a president c. E. O. Of the plastics industry association. Let me remind all witnesses our Committee Rules they must limit their oral statements to five minutes but their entire will appear in the hearing record. When you begin, the lights on witness table will turn green. After four minutes, the yellow light will come on. Time will have expired when the red light comes on and it please comet o your statement. Ill also allow the entire panel testify before questioning witnesses. The chair now recognizes mr. To testify. Welcome to our committee. I would like to thank the Ranking Member and the committee to testify. m vice chairman of oceanas board of directors. Oceana is the Largest International advocacy solely toon dedicated ocean conservation. I have been working on ocean than 30 years, in the late 1980s, i cofounded he american oceans campaign, which then joined with oceana in 2002. To testify today about the growing problem of plastic ourution thats threatening oceans. Almost from the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed, faced with throwaway plastic. We face it when we brush our of h with a toothbrush made plastic and squeezed toothpaste out of plastic tube. Hair with wash our shampoo and conditioner from plastic bottles. Routines f our daily might include one or several coffees and cups with plastic lids. Plastic takeout containers, with plastic shopping, nd grocery where single use plastic is unavoidable. There isnt a place on earth the pollution from all of this plastic. He list of marine animals affected by plastic pollution grows. Lastic has been consumed by an estimated 90 of seabird species. Species of every sea turtle. Even our corals are threatened. Polluting the marine environment, plastic poses a risk to human health. Seeing plastic in our soil, air, and , bodies. Plastic particles have been everything from honey and beer to salt and tea. Affecting our climate. If plastic was a country, it fifth e the planets largest emitter of Greenhouse Gases. Plastic production rates anticipated to increase, so will lastics affect some of the climate and oceans. The most important thing to emember about plastic is that it lasts for centuries. This is what makes single use so profoundly flawed. They are created from a material to last forever but are designed to be used once and thrown away. Simply improving recycling rates will not solve the plastic crisis. Of all the Plastic Waste ever 9 has been y recycled. That means the vast majority was landfill, incinerated or ended up polluting our Natural Environment including our oceans. Recycling is like trying to mop from an overflowing bathtub while the faucet is still running. Facet to turn off the and reduce the production of plastic. Companies need to significantly the amount of single use on to they are putting the market and offer consumers plasticfree choices for their products. Unfortunately, companies arent doing enough and thats why we need your help. Policies governing the production and use of single use these are effective and policies are becoming more common around the world and country. Is the e. U. , peru, chile and canada announced or are implementing policies to reduce plastic pollution. Cities, counties, and states have taken the initiative assing policies to reduce Single Use Plastics, but ultimately, comprehensive u. S. Action is needed. This committee should use its authority to tackle the problem. Applaud you for stopping the use of plastic Water Bottles in hearings. The National Park service had a policy to encourage National Stop selling water in plastic bottles. Unfortunately the policy has reversed. The committee should make our ational parks, wildlife refugees, marine sanctuaries and other federal lands and waters single use plasticfree zones. Pass federal s to legislation that stops plastic pollution at the source that. Significantly reduces the of this everlasting ollutant, and that holds corporations responsible for this Global Crisis and enable states and cities to continue to lead the way on solutions. Dont fall for the false promise of recycling. And please dont stoop to incineration. The runaway increase in plastic production and reduce the amount of plastic that companies are making and forcing on us because they will last for centuries. To waste. More time thank you. Thank you, mr. Danson. He chair now recognizes mr. Parras to testify for five minutes. Welcome to the committee. I, too, thank you, mr. Ranking lowenthal and member im want parras with texas Environmental Justice advocacy services. This for working on over 16 years. We work at the intersection of human rights and social justice issues. We call houston home and share the largest petro complex in the nation, the second largest in the world. Also the averagest city petro meaning that chemical plants and other industries and infrastructures on the fence line of communities bordering them. Of plastic relies on fossil fuels. Produced they cs come from oil. The explosion of natural gas roducts has led to an ever increasing demand form national gas liquid, reaching the block of, the building lastic production, its a product of oil refining. Ts eat key element of plastic production. And others [inaudible] exposed to a dangerous mix of toxic pollutants, both authorized and nonauthorized, released by many sources industrial located along the ship channel. Overly the last several years complex has emical been expanding. Post Hurricane Harvey we began realized missions and that the expansion in our communities were related a growing market plastics. At terminals, all center around one thing, production of plastics. This erstood that expansion was focuseded on lg facilities. However, we now understand the and gas mic oil shifting from traditional production into new forms of utilization. However, as they expand, so, the instability of this the chemical plants and weve seen chemical e of disasters in the houston ship channel. In the most recent fire 37 people were injured, some with thirddegree burns. Initially evacuated but later required to reenter the plant as the fire was still burning. Compound the problems the ommissions quality monitors malfunctioned during the event the five Community Members to protect their health. When those Community Members ere unaware of proper shelter in place, exxonmobil, 20 billion in their expansion for the gulf of texas. Disasters the 2019, the fire in fire were held hostage under plume 47 miles long and 1 miles wide. On july 31, l fire 019, where 37 workers were injured, and on september 20, chemical barges collided after Tropical Storm vanished evacuation routes. In a recent report for the center for international environmental, they found if trends in the Oil Consumption continue as expected the the entire of oil by plastics sector will account for consumption by 2050. Uncovered 2 3 of the plastic related facilities in the houston region violated pollution control laws over the last five years and were environmental enforcement. But many more exceeded their not penalized. E compound in emissions including an increased risk for cancer and other health conditions. Plastic [inaudible] from our dinner table to the of the ocean, every art of the chain that creates plastic harms us. Plastic is being produced near ulnerable communities, predominantly people of color, poor people, indigenous and who have to pay the price, shortening the children and ur elderly, and i have exceeded my ill submit the entire document, thank you. Parras. K you, mr. The chair now recognizes dr. To for five minutes. Welcome to the committee. Lowenthalou, chairman and Ranking Member mcclintock and the rest of the subcommittee. To be here to testify. My name is jenna jambeck. Professor of environmental engineer at the university of georgia. Ive been conducting research on solid waste for over 23 years with related projects on marine especiallylf for 18, projects regarding location and spatial analysis, quantification characterization, and global Plastic Waste management. I have also witnessed and in the oceans sailing across the atlantic in 2014. Codeveloped a mobile litter retractor, which was funded by the noah Marine Program in 2011, w