Buttigieg says climate change is affecting transportation
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this month. Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CBS Sunday the effects of climate change are "already upon us" and affecting the industry he oversees.
The big picture: CBS' Margaret Brennan asked Buttigieg on "Face The Nation" what he was planning for in response to the strain extreme weather was placing on the system and whether he needed to change regulations because of more severe turbulence.
Context: Buttigieg's comments come days after severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight left one person dead and 71 others injured and on the same day as a Qatar Airways plane flying from Doha to Dublin left 12 people injured.
Thought bubble, via Axios' Andrew Freedman: There have been studies published tying climate change to increasing turbulence in parts of the world, though this is an area of active research.
What they're saying: Brennan asked Buttigieg whether he expected to see more incidents like the Singapore Airlines incident in the U.S.
- "To be clear, something that extreme is very rare," he replied. "But turbulence can happen and sometimes it can happen unexpectedly."
Zoom in: Buttigieg said the reality was "the effects of climate change are already upon us in terms of our transportation."
- He pointed to recent heat waves "that shouldn't statistically even be possible threatening to melt the cables of transit systems in the Pacific Northwest" and "hurricane seasons becoming more and more extreme, along with indications that turbulence was up by about 15%.
- "That means assessing anything and everything that we can do about it," he said.
Between the lines: Buttigieg's comments concur with a sweeping federal report out last November that found the effects of climate change were increasingly evident across the U.S.
- The congressionally mandated report argued for transformational adaptation policies and steep emissions cuts.
The bottom line: "Our climate is evolving," Buttigieg said.
- "Our policies and our technology and our infrastructure have to evolve accordingly, too. This is all about making sure that we stay ahead of the curve, keeping aviation as safe as it is. It's not for nothing that it became the safest form of travel in America."
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