Sens. Bingaman, Baucus Introduce Climate Change Adaptation Bill

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., have introduced legislation to establish a federal fund for climate change adaptation projects on government land, E&E News PM reported. The bill was planned to complement the broader climate change bill before the Senate.

Bingaman and Baucus called their bill "good policy" and "an important and necessary piece of legislation" for protecting natural resources. It covered collaboration by federal agencies on climate adaptation, developing a broad strategy on adaptation, and funding current adaptation programs by federal, state, and tribal agencies. Bingaman was quoted as saying of the bill: "It sets out a variety of things that I think would be good policy, that relate to the Department of Interior, and that's part of the jurisdiction of our Natural Resources Committee. And that's why I introduced it."