Democrats serious about tackling global warming

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Post is telling us that “[d]ramatic changes in congressional oversight of environmental issues may pump new life into efforts to fight global warming”.

The good news isn’t just that Barbara Boxer (D-CA) will be taking over the chairmanship of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee but that John Warner (R-VA) intends to take over the top Republican spot on the committee from global warming denier James Inhofe (R-OK):

[Boxer] — a liberal who has called global warming a dire threat — is in line to chair the committee in the next Congress as a result of last week’s elections, which will give Democrats the Senate majority. Environmentalists have been hailing her impending replacement of Inhofe as chairman. Warner’s takeover of the ranking minority member’s slot, they said yesterday, would raise even greater hopes for advancing their agenda.

Inhofe himself has no intention of stepping down, but Warner — who supports “market-based measures and investments in new commercial technologies to slow the rate of growth in greenhouse gas emissions as we continue to gather further sound scientific evidence to guide national and international decision-making” — looks serious about challenging him for the position. Regardless:

Whoever is the top Republican on the environment committee, Boxer said in an interview yesterday that she plans aggressive hearings on environmental concerns, especially climate change. “There is a pent-up desire on the part of many people in the country to get back to making progress on the environment,” she said, adding that she plans “to roll out a pretty in-depth set of hearings on global warming.”

Beyond even Iraq and terrorism, this may be the most pressing issue of our time. (Nuclear proliferation and global poverty may be other candidates.) Have I mentioned that I’m happy the Democrats won?

(See also Political Animal, MyDD, DownWithTyranny!, and Raising Kaine.)