WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Climate change could disrupt U.S. energy supplies by seriously damaging key infrastructure in the country, experts testified Tuesday before Congress.

Energy production usually surfaces in climate discussions as the culprit behind changing global temperatures, but the effects of climate change will reverse the tables as new weather patterns begin to impact the energy sector, witnesses said at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Experts predict rising temperatures and altered weather trends will wreak the most havoc in coastal regions, where an increasing number of storms are projected to hit as a result of climate change. This could severely affect energy infrastructure in the United States, said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.

"A significant portion of our nation's critical energy infrastructure is concentrated in coastal areas that are vulnerable to natural hazards and changes in climate," said Bingaman, chairman of the Energy Committee. "This infrastructure forms the heart of a nationally and globally interdependent energy system."

The Gulf Coast represents a particularly vulnerable area, Bingaman said, because of the key role it plays in energy distribution for the nation. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the region in 2005, a third of the nation's refining capacity was closed, causing an increase in energy prices.