Statement of Congressman John D. Dingell, Chairman
Committee on Energy and Commerce

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND AIR QUALITY
HEARING ENTITLED
“ADMINISTRATION PERSPECTIVES ON
UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
IN BALI”

January 17, 2008

Chairman Boucher, thank you for holding this hearing. I want to begin by welcoming my colleagues to this new session of Congress. We have a new Ranking Member on this Subcommittee, my good friend from Michigan, Mr. Upton, who I know will provide exceptional leadership. We look forward to working with him as we continue to grapple with energy issues and climate change.

Today we embark on what I believe is the third phase of this Committee’s work on climate change in this Congress. The first phase was the intensive set of hearings convened by Chairman Boucher last year that served as a foundation for all Members to become familiar with the difficult terrain of this issue. Those hearings were very instructive and I commend Chairman Boucher for his leadership – and his stamina.

The second phase was the legislation produced by this Committee that was ultimately enacted into law and contained landmark provisions on CAFE, biofuels, and energy efficiency. The energy efficiency provisions alone will remove 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2030, the equivalent of taking all cars, trucks, and planes off the road and out of the skies for 5 years. That’s a remarkable achievement, but it’s only the beginning.

Now we begin the third phase of our work: crafting climate change legislation that will protect our environment without putting the American economy at a disadvantage. This undertaking will require us to work through an enormous amount of information in order to arrive at the best public policy for our Nation.
In doing this work, we must be mindful of the need to coordinate U.S. domestic policy with ongoing international negotiations pursuant to the recently adopted “Bali Action Plan.”

This will require bipartisan cooperation and I hope that my friends on the other side will come to this task with an open mind. It will require as well the active engagement of the Administration, which remains to be seen. Judging from the rather thin testimony presented to the Subcommittee by our witness today, however, I am less than optimistic. I hope his remarks before the Subcommittee and answers to our questions will be more forthcoming.

Again, Mr. Chairman, I commend you for holding this hearing today and initiating the next phase of this important undertaking.