Article published November 23, 2008
Dingell’s loss of key position reflects new political climate
John Dingell’s ouster as chairman of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce erases any doubt about meaningful climate legislation being passed by the next Congress.
That’s good for the carbon-spewing Great Lakes region, even if it serves as a political embarrassment for the southeastern Michigan Democrat who is three months away from becoming the longest-serving U.S. House member in the nation’s history.
Though the Great Lakes region will face a delicate — if not costly — transition to whatever is ultimately signed into law, it will reap more benefits than many other parts of the country.
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases come from a variety of sources. Chief among them are coal-fired power plants and automobiles, both of which are big in the Great Lakes region.
Without reining in those emissions, the Earth will warm faster than it would naturally.
The lakes will evaporate faster. They’re already too low for optimal shipping. Other problems loom, from more noxious algae to more West Nile virus. A do-nothing approach would drive down property values, endanger public health, and take a bite out of fishing and hunting, the tourism-recreation backbone of our region’s economy.
Ohio and Michigan are pinning their hopes for a renaissance on jobs created in the renewable energy sector, the market for which will be driven largely by the strength of climate legislation.
Mr. Dingell stood up for American automakers and their resistance to tougher fuel-economy standards while coming on strong about climate change himself in recent months.
Apparently, it was too little too late. By a 137-122 vote, Democrats replaced him with U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, a 69-year-old Los Angeles liberal who is a darling of environmentalists.
Mr. Waxman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, are all California Democrats. California is the nation’s leader on climate legislation, as it has been with other air-pollution laws.
The significance of Mr. Dingell’s ouster was not lost on the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank that ExxonMobil funded for years to fight climate legislation. It claimed Mr. Waxman could “send us back to the Stone Age.”
“This should provide a loud wake-up call to American business leaders that the 111th Congress is not going to play nicely with them on energy rationing policies,” Myron Ebell, the group’s director of energy and global warming policy, said.
The Michigan Environmental Council was more tactful, saying Mr. Dingell joined hands with the Michigan delegation and domestic automakers “in confusing loyalty to Michigan’s automobile industry with good policy on fuel economy.”
“However, his overall record on top environmental matters is superb,” the council said.
All of which seems to underscore how important climate legislation has become.
“Few challenges facing America — and the world — are more urgent than combating climate change,” President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles. “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process.”
Mr. Dingell, 82, has been in Congress since replacing his late father in 1955 at age 29. He has been the Democratic Party’s leader on the energy and commerce committee since 1981.
He had little to say in response to his ouster, except that “this was clearly a change year.”
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