Waxman Defeats Dingell for Energy Committee Chairmanship

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) made history yesterday by challenging and defeating the sitting chairman of the House energy and commerce committee, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) by a 137 to 122 vote of the full Democratic caucus.

This committee is immensely important, with jurisdiction over a wide variety of domestic matters. Waxman and his allies want much tougher laws to reduce global warming, something Barack Obama also promised.  Dingell, in contrast, was much more concerned with protecting the automobile industry than with protecting the environment.

Waxman is a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is also from California.  His counterpart in the Senate is yet another Californian, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA).  With most of the power concerning the environment in hands of Waxman, Boxer, Pelosi, and Obama, it is likely that global warming will be addressed very quickly in the new administration, with the views of the Californians playing a dominant role.

Clean Coal is an Expensive Myth

If last week’s VP debate was any indication, Senator Biden and Governor Palin didn’t get the memo on “clean coal”.  It reads something like this:  ”Coal cannot be effectively cleaned, we should invest our limited government funds (see: Bailout) in energy solutions that are environmentally safe today.”

Clean coal technology is also VERY expensive, and will have rising variable costs over time (transportation of fuel, miners’ wages, maintenance of complex cleaning systems, etc).  Compare to solar and wind energy sources, which have fewer incremental costs once built.  How much does the transportation of sun and wind cost?  ZERO!
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