Isra-Mart srl:GOP to nix global warming committee

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The Republican party has announced it will kill off the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming created by the Democrats in 2007, effectively ending a centralised forum for Congressional debate on climate change.

Politico carried a statement from Michael Steel, spokesman for incoming Republican Speaker John Boehner, confirming the party will step up efforts to block much of President Obama's energy and environment agenda. "The Select Committee on Global Warming - which was created to provide a political forum to promote Washington Democrats' job-killing national energy tax - was a clear example, and it will not continue in the 112th Congress."

The Committee, which was formed by Democrat speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2007, had held over 75 hearings, addressing issues from fossil fuel dependency through to clean jobs creation. It held a final hearing on Wednesday, which effectively ended its life not with a bang, but with a plaintive whimper. Several people included retired Vice Admiral Dennis V. McGinn testified at the hearing, titled "Not Going Away: America's Energy Security, Jobs and Climate Challenges".

"As military leaders, we base our decisions on trends, indicators and warnings, because waiting for 100 per cent certainty during a crisis can be disastrous. And as we carefully consider the threat of climate change and energy to global security, these trends and warnings are clear; we need to take appropriate action," he said, highlighting what he identified as dangers to national security of ignoring climate change science.

The Committee is chaired by Edward Markey, who developed cap-and-trade legislation that failed to make it through Congress, leaving Democrat plans for a federal cap-and-trade programme in tatters.

"While some in Congress may question the science of global warming, the rest of the world does not," Markey said as he drew the curtain on the final hearing. "2010 is on track to be the hottest year on record, following the warmest decade on record. We have heard the warnings from scientists. We have seen the damage with our own eyes."

The GOP's focus is now likely to shift to tackling EPA regulations, introduced this month, which require new industrial plants to use the best available technologies to regulate greenhouse gases.

This week, California asked the EPA to officially consider states' cap-and-trade programmes as part of its regulations. California and New Mexico are also said to be working with the ten states participating in the northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to create a cap and trade programme spanning North America.