Breaking: Waxman Beats out Dingell for US Energy Panel Chair

onNov 20, 2008 @ 08:05 PST

Just got word that Rep. Henry Waxman has won the nod to head the Energy and Commerce Committee over Rep. John Dingell 137 to 122 in votes.

This is a new day for climate policy in the United States, Waxman is a leading champion in Congress of laws to protect the environment and fight global warming, while Dingell spent the last two years more interested in boosting the Big Auto lobby and fighting against higher fuel economy standards for cars.

Waxman is also well known the “Waxman Hearings” that took on the tobacco industry over their massive efforts in the 80’s and 90’s to fight and confuse the science around tobacco use and cancer rates.

Update: here’s the New York times story on the Dingell Defeat – Longtime Head of House Energy Panel is Ousted

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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