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Representatives Tour NREL Among Others On Eve Of Climate Crisis Hearing

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- Before the first ever field hearing for the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, members of Congress have been visiting Colorado's schools and Laboratories learning as much as possible. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday at the University of Colorado Boulder campus.

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"I've caught a glimpse of the future. The future is clean energy. Colorado now is one of the leading states in the country and we've got to replicate that on a national level," said Congresswoman Kathy Caster, the Chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

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Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat representing Colorado, is back in his home district. It has been an alphabet soup for the places the representatives toured, including NOAA, CIRES, NREL, NCAR and UCAR, finding out about government-funded climate science at each stop.

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RELATED: Rep. Joe Neguse Leads Congressional Climate Crisis Hearing In Boulder

"We are really the epicenter of climate research in the United States," said Neguse. "The technological advances that are happening in these labs is breathtaking."

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The tour was a mix of Republicans and Democrats. They visited the NREL Flatirons Campus to see how the industry is testing new products and ways to improve the wind energy sector.

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"Colorado is blessed with the top notch scientists and collaborators, and businesses and academics that are putting all of our technological resources to work," Caster said. "This will help us tackle the climate crisis as we have to reduce our carbon pollution across the globe. We have the tools to do it! We just have to decide in Washington to do it."

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The hearing is at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Wittemyer Courtroom on Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon.

LINK: Climate Crisis Hearing

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