House Energy Chair Declares All Coal Options Open in New Global Warming Hearings
In what may be a move away from his traditional opposition to coal and his concern about its role in global warming, Chairman Henry Waxman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has commented that regulating coal is:
“[A] very difficult question we have to deal with. I think there needs to be a future for coal. We have to sequester the emissions. Coal is a natural resource in the United States and I expect it will play a critical role in our overall sources of energy.”
How this will fit with his previously stated commitment to enact “comprehensive energy, climate and health care reform” remains to be seen.
This move towards a more neutral position on coal mining will please the National Mining Association, which has in the past commented that Waxman is “a very slower learner on the importance of coal for affordable energy. …It would have been problematic in the best of times to have Mr. Waxman’s views prevail”.
With the administration’s stated interest in “be[ing] a leader in developing and implementing a global and coordinated response to climate change”, it would be surprising to think that the new Chairman of Energy and Commerce would not work with President Obama on pursuing “an energy policy that reduces our carbon emissions while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and gas, fighting climate change and enhancing our economic and energy security”
While it is still early in the legislative calendar, Chairman Waxman has begun committee hearings including one involving the US Climate Action Partnership, which includes presidents of the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as the CEO of ConocoPhillips.
Image: Effects of coal mining via Flickr’s Media Commons
i like it
This might be reading a bit too much into Waxman’s comment. The context of his remarks were a discussion of the need for immediate reductions on coal-related carbon emissions through cap and trade, and a “future” — which we all know is nowhere close — in which coal emissions are sequestered. That’s hardly all options on the table.
However, it’s also clear that the forces of climate change denial and delay are going to argue forcefully that we can’t afford in these tough times to regulate coal use in any way, and the pressure on Congress to back off serious global warming legislation is building. Of course, they say the same in good times, too.
When will James Hansen release the code for GISS for peer review?