Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Final Report

Rep. Ed Markey

As you may have heard, the incoming Congressional leaders of the oil and coal company Republican party have shut down the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Just not a big enough issue for them… (or maybe too big of an issue).

Anyway, the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Edward Markey, has sent out a final report from the Committee as well as a few additional notes for those concerned with these issues. One of the most important of which is that Rep. Markey is going to continue his work promoting clean energy and other solutions to catastrophic accelerated global warming, is still going to keep his eye on BP and other companies with connections to the BP oil spill, and is moving over to the Natural Resources Committee to carry on his work to protect the environment as well as the current and future generations that need it to live a healthy life. Anyway, here’s the memo he recently sent out (received via email):

SELECT COMMITTEE RELEASES FINAL REPORT

Today, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming released its final report for the 111th Congress. The Report includes information, findings and recommendations for creating more clean energy jobs that harnessing the power of innovation to help end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. It also includes recommendations following the Committee’s investigation into the BP oil spill.

The Select Committee will not continue in the next Congress. Both Chairman Ed Markey and Ranking Member James Sensenbrenner praised the bi-partisan work of the committee over the past four years (CLICK HERE to watch) during the Committee’s final hearing.

The Select Committee held 80 hearings and briefings. For a list of our accomplishments, please CLICK HERE. The archived record of the Select Committee’s hearings, reports, press releases and other materials will continue to be available to the public at globalwarming.house.gov.

MOVING FORWARD

The Markey Memo will continue, as Representative Markey will be moving over as Ranking Member for the Natural Resources committee. There he will continue to fight for  American made clean energy solutions, help consumers battle rising gas prices, and protect our National Parks, wildlife, oceans and waterways from polluters and the threat of climate change.

In the Natural Resources committee, Markey will continue his vigilant watch over BP and other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Following the worst oil spill in U.S. History, several public health, clean up and liability issues remain unresolved. Most importantly, safety laws and measures must be put in place to ensure a tragedy like we saw in the Gulf never happens again.

As Chairman Markey stated in the final Select Committee hearing: While politics in Washington may change, our energy and climate problems are not going away. For example:

Losing Clean Energy Jobs:

China continues to eat our lunch in the race for clean energy jobs and technology. Investing hundreds of billions more that the United States, and attracting trillions of dollars in private investment. Every day we delay action, we risk losing more jobs.

Foreign Oil:

US Consumers continue to spend half a billion dollars A DAY to buy gas from OPEC and dangerous foreign nations. Foreign oil represents half our trade deficit and continues to destabilize our national security.

$4 Gas:

The price of gas continues to climb, outpacing our economic recovery. Consumers should not be forced to suffer a return to $4 gas (and higher) because Congress refused to take action on a clean energy jobs plan that invests in electric vehicles and renewable energy.

A Warming Planet:

2010 is looking to be the hottest year on record, a year where we witnessed the dangerous and deadly warnings from climate scientists played out before our eyes. In the United States, flooding cost local communities billions and extreme weather events devastated towns from Massachusetts to Nashville. We saw wildfires in Russia kill hundreds. A flood the size of France covered Australia, crippling crops. Pakistan may be the most dramatic example, where flooding displaced millions this summer – threatening to derail the fight against terrorism.

As a nation, as a planet, we can no longer deny and delay action on our energy and climate problems.

THANK YOU

Finally, Chairman Markey would like to personally thank all the members of the Markey Memo email list for their comments and contributions over the years. Your ideas lead to hearing topics and in the development of questions for our witnesses. In 2010, you helped make the BP Spillcam an important tool in the fight to keep the pressure on BP to stop the oil spill and clean up the devastation.

We look forward to your thoughts and ideas in 2011!

Follow Rep. Markey

TwitterYouTubeFacebook

Photo Credit: Public Citizen

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top