“Congressman Dingell needs to put the brakes on his misguided
approach to global warming legislation,” said Aliya Haq, Global
Warming Campaigner for Greenpeace. “As chairman of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, he should lead the charge for real
emissions reductions of global warming pollution and higher fuel
efficiency standards for new vehicles. But instead Dingell is
acting as the representative of auto industry executives, not the
representative of the people of Michigan.”
This past summer, Dingell voted against a national renewable
energy standard of 15 percent and stymied any significant increase
to auto fuel efficiency standards, a concession to the auto
industry from which he enjoys overwhelming support. Dingell now
says he wants a carbon tax and a cap-and-trade system to reduce
emissions, but his public comments suggest he may try to derail
meaningful progress in Congress on global warming.
In a July interview on C-SPAN, Dingell announced he would
propose the carbon tax but warned that voters might not be willing
to pay it to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He said he would
introduce the idea “just to sort of see how people really feel
about this.” Then last week Dingell added, “a carbon tax is going
to carry with it a lot of pain.”
“Greenpeace wants no more rhetoric, no more stalling, and no
more blind loyalty to the auto industry from Rep. Dingell,” Haq
said. “Dingell is the gatekeeper in the House to comprehensive
solutions to global warming. If he’s serious about action on
climate change, then we’re with him. But if he’s stalling, it’s our
job to tell the world.”
Greenpeace will air TV commercials in Michigan and Washington DC
advertising the “Dingell Destroyer” and intends to increase the
pressure on Dingell until he takes action on global warming.
###
Other contacts: CONTACT:
Daniel Kessler, Media Officer, 970-690-2728
Jane Kochersperger, Media Officer 202-319-2493; 202-680-3798 cell
VVPR info: NOTE: Pictures of today’s event can be found at: usaphoto.greenpeace.org/dingell_destroyer_photos
Video can be found at:
usaphoto.greenpeace.org/dingell_destroyer_video
