Kevin Vranes has a phud in Physical Ocean- ography and Cli- matology. He now studies sci- ence policy and politics at the In a few other posts about the changing Congressional landscape for climate in wake of the November midterms, I identified Rep. John Dingell (MI), the incoming chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as a major potential roadblock to meaningful GHG legislation. Things look strong on the Senate side, but on the House side they appear to start and end with Rep. Dingell. And by that I mean "mostly end."
Now you can see for yourself exactly where Dingell is coming from and is headed, and it ain't pretty. It's frightening to think that he sounds eerily apace with Mr. Inhofe. At least I've never seen Inhofe be condescending and sexist in public.
Comments
# 1 | Andrew Alden | December 22, 2006 7:24 PM
In his word choices and "young lady" stuff, he sounds just like a lot of people my dad's age. In his substantive comments, he sounds like he'll look for the best deal, which is what one expects from a politician. Senator Inhofe, OTOH, is an out-and-out crank. Dingell did not serve for 50 years by running too far ahead of the crowd.
# 2 | Louise | December 23, 2006 1:22 AM
Though Gore's speech was enjoyabole, it is disappointing that during 8 years of Clinton-Gore they did not touch the CAFE standards for autos. That allowed the SUV boom, more pollutants, and forther dependence on foreign oil.
# 3 | Eli Rabett | December 27, 2006 10:25 AM
Dingell is coming from Detroit, there is also gambling going on in Rick's Cafe. Your level of surprise is more than a bit disingenuous. The interesting question is whether the Democratic Caucus in the house will roll over him.
And yes Louise, Clinton Gore spent their political capital between 92 and 94 in meeting the budget shortfall and health care. The first worked, the second was an Ira Magaziner complicated mess that got shouted down. Between 94 and 2000, perhaps your question would be better addressed to Mr. DeLay and Gingrich. A major effort was the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles which concentrated on the development of hybrid autos.
# 4 | Steve Hemphill | December 28, 2006 12:12 PM
So, what of substance did you disagree with in the Grist article? Calling for mandatory CO2 cuts when it does nothing in the global picture except handicap our country is ludicrous - especially considering how little we really know about the effects of CO2 vs. everything else having to do with a burgeoning population. Forcings are like addition and subtraction - Feedbacks are like integrals. Forcings easy, feedbacks hard.
# 5 | Eli Rabett | December 28, 2006 3:45 PM
Shocked, I tell you Eli is shocked that a representative from Detroit like John Dingell would oppose improving gas mileage. Now that we got that out of the way, how about the serious question of how far the Democratic caucus in the house will let him dominate the discussion. And yes, this has been discussed elsewhere. You can google it, the string [Dingell greenhouse caucus] works pretty well and yes the leadership has their own bill for US energy independence, but I didn't have to tell you that, did I?
# 6 | Tanison | December 29, 2006 8:02 PM
I'll tell you whats not pretty Kevin. And thats these last two posts which amount to a form of appeasement.
Can you tell me anything wrong with the Inhofe approach? Apart from one or two mistakes he might have made?
You are an oceanographer. So you at least ought to understand probably better then anyone just how full of it the alarmists are.
Time to make a clean break with these clowns.
It might be nearly as hard as Whittacker Chambers break with the communist party but you being an oceanographer, if you don't do it soon and decisively, people will look askance at you in a couple of decades and figure you for a weak-minded sell-out. A sort of 'Good German.'
Great post that third-to-last one. But its time to come in from the cold.
# 7 | Eli Rabett | December 29, 2006 10:52 PM
Louise might have noticed that between 1994 and 2000 Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, and were more than mildly hostile to any effort to increase CAFE standards. During the first two years, Clinton-Gore were quite busy returning the US to financial solvency (see Krugman, P. on why such sysiphysian labors are perhaps not well advised given the propensity of the other side to behave like a bunch of feces flinging monkeys.
On the other hand, Gore was responsible for the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles which developed advanced diesel-electric hybrid motors for autos. We may even get some of these vehicles if gasoline remains high.
# 8 | Steve Hemphill | January 13, 2007 8:38 PM
So, no specific comments on the substance?