pelosi cuts dingell out on the writing of global warming legislation

It looks like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is making her move to legislate around Dingell and his Committee on Energy and Commerce in order to raise fuel economy standards and hasten the development of renewable forms of energy. My hope had always been that out Congressman might be the person to lead this charge, and perhaps start changing the fate of Michigan in the process. It’s unfortunate that, instead, he’s relegated himself to the sidelines and ensured that our desires would not be taken into consideration. It’s unfortunate that this is how our Congressman chooses to end his illustrious 50+ year career in politics, fighting tooth and nail to give the Big 3 the go-ahead to keep producing gas-guzzling SUVs when we all know 1) the world’s oil supply is running out, 2) our addiction to it makes us vulnerable, and 3) its use is doing irreparable harm to our ecosystem.

I don’t know that there’s time, but hopefully there’s still a way that he can get on the right side of this debate, not just for the sake of his legacy, but for the sake of Michigan’s future generations… If you haven’t yet, please do sign our letter to Dingell, urging him to do just that.

And, to put things in perspective, while we here in the States are debating a goals of 35 miles per gallon, and the use of 20% renewables by 2020, other countries are leaving us in the dust. New Zealand, for instance, today announced a new goal of 90% renewables by 2025. (They already produce 70% of their electricity from wind, hydro and geothermal.) If we cannot commit to the modest and achievable goal of 20% by 2020, we don’t have a chance of making it through to the end of this century successfully.

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4 Comments

  1. egpenet
    Posted October 15, 2007 at 10:20 pm | Permalink

    Yawn.

  2. Robert
    Posted October 17, 2007 at 6:57 pm | Permalink

    In a way it’s sorta good news isn’t it? I mean Dingell needs to get with it or get cut out of it entirely. Where’s all the praise for Pelosi? Shouldn’t those folks here that normally like o call her names be giving her some props for this?

  3. mark
    Posted October 18, 2007 at 9:27 pm | Permalink

    Dingell no doubt is taking some pleasure in the fact that everything Pelosi touched this week turned to shit. Three times at bat, three big strikes. She wasn’t able to overturn the President’s veto on children’s health insurance. She wasn’t able to stop the Spying on Americans bill. And she also lost on the resolution to recognize the Armenian genocide.

    Maybe he’s not taking pleasure – that’s perhaps too strong – but my guess is the liklihood of her being able to legislate around him on global warming is growing more unlikely.

    So, no, Robert, no props for her today.

  4. Robert
    Posted October 23, 2007 at 2:55 pm | Permalink

    Damn, this is a tough crowd.

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