Dem control of Congress does not equal action on climate change

From today's Grist:

Meet the man who may determine the fate of climate policy in the next two years: Rep. John Dingell.

The formidable Democrat from Michigan, now 80, has served 51 years in the House of Representatives -- the second-longest of any congressional career in history. During that time, he played a key role in pushing through many of America's cornerstone environmental laws, including the Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the original Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) system that has defined America's automotive energy-efficiency strategy since 1975. "I've been a busy little boy," Dingell says in describing his own environmental record.

The powerful Michigan Democrat, who will head the House Energy and Commerce Committee, isn't convinced that the scientific consensus on climate change is on the mark, nor is he yet impressed by any proposed solutions. Dingell, who represents a Detroit-area district, also isn't keen to make any dramatic increases to auto fuel-economy standards. And as he told Grist's Amanda Griscom Little in an interview, any changes to the nation's energy policy need to "be done without destituting American industry." Read what Dingell has to say about climate, fuel economy, "kiddie cars," and more.

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/20/dingell/index.html?source=daily

That's our John Dingell. His name is on some of the most monumental environmental laws ever passed but he's complicated. No one disagrees that climate change action should not "destitute" American industry, but the domestic auto industry's already destituted in part because it has not anticipated the need for more fuel-efficient, less carbon-belching vehicles.