Discussing Climate Change with Mr. Dingell

This week the Green Machines Tour participated in two town hall meetings to discuss climate change with Congressman John Dingell. It’s quite interesting that Dingell, who’s been the House Representative for the Dearborn / Ann Arbor area in Michigan for over 50 years, is now Chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee and in the position to craft climate change legislation.  Sure, he has a history of helping to establish some significant environmental laws – like the Clean Air Act, among others - but what’s his history in terms of fuel economy and efficiency? He does, after all, represent thousands of auto workers and has several assembly plants and auto companies in his district.  Given this, can we trust him to draft effective climate change legislation? (Picture courtesy of Project Hotseat)

During the town hall discussions Congressman Dingell outlined some pretty good ideas for legislation that he intends to introduce this fall.  His overall goal is to reduce carbon emissions by 60-80% by 2050.  He intends to do this by:

• Putting a stiff tax on carbon
• Increasing the tax on gasoline
• Removing the mortgage interest deduction on “McMansions” – homes over 3,000 square feet.

In general, he believes the best way to reduce consumption is to make it more expensive, and seems to think that taxing carbon and gas is the best way to do that.

Certainly, his goal of 60-80% carbon emissions reductions by 2050 is commendable. It amounts to about two percent per year, the rate which scientists say is needed to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. This goal is attainable and needn’t cripple the economy or erode the nation’s quality of life either. In fact, the innovations, technology and vision necessary to achieve significant reductions in Global Warming pollution are catalysts for a modern, new American economy flush with clean energy jobs, energy-efficient industries and visionary transportation solutions.

But the devil, as they say, is in the details. The Ecology Center and other environmental groups that sponsored the town hall meetings encouraged the Congressmen to establish the following as part of his plan:

1. A carbon cap that freezes greenhouse gas emissions before they grow any more, and then cuts them by 2% every year.
2. Federal laws that encourage, rather than prohibit, state polices that are more ambitious than federal mandates.
3. Renewable energy standards that are aggressive and ensure that a percentage of our energy comes from clean, homegrown renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass.
4. New automobile mileage standards that dramatically increased vehicle mileage.

The last is particularly interesting for Dingell.  While automakers in Dingell’s district have fought to limit the fuel economy increases that will likely be enacted later this year, enviro groups contend that the future of Detroit’s auto industry – and the jobs of the many autoworkers that Dingell represents – depends on innovation, new technology, and an efficient new generation of vehicles capable of competing in a new era of emissions caps.

On that note, analyses by Environmental Defense and others, indicate that we will need increases in vehicle fuel efficiency of close to 5% per year in the near-term, along with similarly aggressive increases in the use of low-carbon fuels, in order to meet our desired mid-century carbon reduction targets.  The proposal that Dingell sponsored in the House will get us less than 2% per year.

In addition to strong fuel economy standards, we also need to ensure that our domestic industry has the tools and financial resources it needs to meet the targets.  And, we need job-protections such as UAW’s “anti-backsliding” proposal, which guards against the off-shoring of small car production under new fuel economy rules.

It’s going to be a tough battle to pass legislation that incorporates all of these ideas.  Mr. Dingell was probably correct when he stated during the discussion in Ann Arbor that “no one will be happy” with the legislation.  But, he also stated that “we will all be able to live with it”.  Let’s hope so.

Read more in the Detroit Free Press

Comments

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