End of Session Report Released, Speaker Pelosi Asks Select Committee to Continue Work

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Select Committee, 202-225-4081

Markey: Select Committee Still Has Work to Do

Thanks Speaker Pelosi for Opportunity to Continue Serving as Chairman, Releases End of Session Report

WASHINGTON (November 21, 2008) – Following an announcement by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) today that she intends to reauthorize the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement:

“I thank Speaker Pelosi for the opportunity to continue serving as Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Our committee has worked on a bipartisan basis to raise the profile of global warming and energy solutions during the last Congress and I look forward to another productive session in the next two years. With a new, climate-friendly administration, we have an historic opportunity to put the American economy on a green road to recovery and finally solve the greatest challenge the planet has ever faced.”

Executive Summary(pdf)

FULL REPORT (By Section):

PART ONE: The Climate & Energy Challenge

PART TWO: Energy & Climate "Win-Win" Solutions

PART THREE: Oversight of Bush Administration

PART FOUR: International Efforts

PART FIVE: Additional Views, Full Hearing & Witness List

COMPLETE REPORT: Please be warned, this is a large file. Slower connections should use the above links

Over the past 18 months, the Select Committee has held more than 50 hearings on a broad array of subjects ranging from the national security, economic, and environmental threats posed by climate change, to advanced vehicle and renewable energy technologies, to policy options for lowering prices at the gasoline pump.  

Many hearings were groundbreaking “firsts” for Congress, including:

--    The first Congressional hearing on the national security implications of climate change
--    The first “green jobs” hearing
--    The first hearing with the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
--    The first hearing on U.S. cities’ efforts to combat climate change
--    The first hearing with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA
--    The first hearing on the Department of the Interior’s handling of the decision whether to list the polar bear as an endangered species
--    And the first hearing on the voluntary carbon offset market

The Select Committee played a pivotal role in the passage of major energy legislation this Congress. Chairman Markey was the principal House author of the 35 mile per gallon fuel economy standard in the energy bill of December, 2007. The Select Committee held numerous hearings on the major energy proposals from this Congress, focusing on biofuels, energy efficiency, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and many others.

All told, the energy legislation passed during the Select Committee’s term will, by 2030, save twice the amount of oil we currently import from the Persian Gulf, and cut U.S. heat-trapping emissions by a quarter of what is necessary to avert catastrophic global warming. The Select Committee’s final report summarizes the legislation passed this Congress.

“This has been one of the most successful sessions of Congress on energy issues, but there is still much more to be done,” continued Chairman Markey. “We still must pass a Renewable Electricity Standard, we must improve the efficiency of our homes and other buildings, and we absolutely must pass global warming legislation. The Select Committee will work tirelessly to pass all three of these bills, and many others.”

This summer, after chairing dozens of hearings in the Select Committee, and following more than 30 years as a leader in the Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources Committees, Chairman Markey introduced new legislation called iCAP (the Investing in Climate Action and Protection Act, H.R. 6186) that will slash global warming emissions and make America the leader in clean technology solutions. The bill introduces a "Cap and Invest" system, cuts heat-trapping emissions 85 percent by the year 2050, sets up a system for 100 percent auctions and invests money generated from polluters back to consumers and clean technology solutions.

The Select Committee organized or participated in several major Congressional delegations focused on energy security and climate change issues. These include delegations led by Speaker Pelosi to Greenland and the European Union in May 2007 and to India in March 2008, as well as a Select Committee delegation to Brazil in February 2008. In addition, Select Committee staff delegations have traveled to the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia in December
2007, to China to explore cooperative steps on global warming, and to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth Systems Research Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratories in Colorado.

The Select Committee has worked to break new ground in the way Congress communicates with the American public about energy security and climate change issues— principally through its website, which has won the “Golden Dot” Award for the best e-Gov website (presented by the School of Political Management at George Washington University), an Honorable Mention from the Webby Awards, and a Pollie Award from the American Association of Political Consultants. Chairman Markey—by “avatar”—delivered the first international address on climate using virtual world (“Second Life”) technology to the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007.

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