GOP to host “Mock Climate Hearing” (a.k.a. Coal/Oil-apalooza 2009)

onApr 30, 2009 @ 11:31 PDT

House GOP leaders intend to stage a “mock climate hearing” to attack the Waxman-Markey “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” currently being debated by Congress. Led by Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Indiana), the “hearing” might as well be called the Summit of Dirty Fuels Industry Apologists.

Pence has invited John Engler, former Governor of Michigan and current president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and a slew of oil and coal industry apologists to slam the cap-and-trade legislation as harmful to consumers and the economy during the mock event to be held in the new Capitol Visitor Center. Among the “handful of other experts,” according to Politico, are unnamed “scholars from the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, the president of Laredo Petroleum and a former official at the Environmental Protection Agency.”

Pence, who stated recently that the cap and trade legislation “amounts to an economic declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals on Capitol Hill,” has been named by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to head the new House GOP American Energy Solutions Group (a.k.a. the Drill Baby Drill! Group). No doubt several members of the group will show up at the mock hearing, including Pence’s co-chairmen Reps. John Shimkus (R-IL) and Fred Upton (R-MI).

The hearing is part of the GOP’s plan for a “communications offensive over the next four weeks” to assert that the Waxman-Markey climate legislation “amounts to a national energy tax that will destroy jobs and increase costs for every single American.”

We hope the tourists and grade school field-trippers enjoy this sideshow in the Capitol Visitor Center, but the real debate about the future of America’s energy and climate security will take place in the actual halls of Congress.

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.

Europe’s Blue Hydrogen Plans Risk Generating Annual Emissions on par With Denmark

ByAline Nippert

onOct 12, 2024 @ 21:01 PDT

DeSmog estimates raise questions over climate benefits as EU officials consider whether the technology should qualify for billions of euros in subsidies.