Yesterday I took some potshots at the Greenpeace protestors following Rep. John Dingell around. Chris Miller, director of Greenpeace US’s global warming campaign, contacted me to ask if he could post a response. Of course I said yes.
Again, for those who seem to miss this: this post is not by me, David Roberts. It is by Chris Miller of Greenpeace. Got it?
Here it is:
—–
Greenpeace — or “costumed twits” as you call us — has been on the front lines in the fight to stop global warming for two decades, and Rep. Dingell is proving to be a significant obstacle to this effort. That’s why we were vocal at his town hall meetings, and why we’ll be keeping the pressure up until he stops talking and starts acting.
Of course, our focus is not just on Dingell. Project Hot Seat, Greenpeace’s global warming campaign, is working from coast to coast to make sure Congress wakes up to the reality that time is running out to act. However, it’s Dingell, in his role as Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who is the gatekeeper to climate legislation.
Here’s Dingell’s recent history. In May he proposed legislation to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act authority to regulate global-warming pollution and open the door to liquid-coal fuels and other nonrenewable alternatives. He then stymied strong CAFE legislation, supporting instead a bill that caps fuel efficiency at 35mpg. The icing on the cake was his “no” vote this past Saturday on the successful amendment to the energy bill of a national renewable energy standard, and his work to get others to vote against it. Dingell’s vote went against the majority of the House and his own party’s leadership.
Strangely, Rep. Dingell’s dubious record is absent from this piece, which plays up his support of a cap-and-trade system and carbon tax (which Greenpeace supports) but downplays his record on the issue. Rep. Dingell says we need a 60 to 80 percent reduction in global warming emissions, but as you can see he either can’t or won’t deliver the polices required to achieve that goal. Dingell should either lead on comprehensive global warming solutions or get out of the way so others can.
Until he does, Greenpeace isn’t going away.
