I would like to note here that only one Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee voted for the Waxman-Markey bill. Mary Bono Mack from California deserves, in my opinion, a pat on the back. Here is an article from the “Press-Enterprise” about her vote and the political pressures on her. The article notes: “Describing herself as a ‘progressive Republican,’ Bono Mack pointed to her past support for stricter fuel economy standards and her work on environmental issues as evidence that her independent streak isn’t a recent reaction to political trends.”
It is a little bit – okay hugely – infuriating that Republican members of the House seem to be so dug in on this issue. I’ve heard one member of that Committee, Greg Walden, go on at some length regarding his concerns about forest debris in his district caused by the pine beetle infestation that is devastating the forests of the Northwest US and Western Canada. Walden even offered an amendment in Waxman-Markey to help address this. He is fully cognizant of the reason that the beetles are able to thrive so: climate-induced changes in the forest ecosystem. Why then won’t he vote for something that will begin to address this problem?
So Representative Mack gets my vote. I hope there are more of her kind, as there certainly used to be in the Republican Party, at least when it came to conservation.