Pelosi, Markey defend House climate panel

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday defended the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming in response to Rep. Fred Upton’s (R-Mich.) claim that it’s “wasteful” and pointless.

“Under Chairman [Ed] Markey’s leadership, the Select Committee has led in-depth examination of key energy and climate issues being debated in Congress. Since the committee’s creation, Congress increased vehicle fuel efficiency for the first time in 30 years, made the largest investment in clean energy in the nation’s history, and the House passed sweeping climate change legislation,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in a statement.

“The Select Committee held dozens of hearings and briefings to educate members and the public on the efforts of the Congress. In addition, the Committee played an important role in holding BP accountable after the Gulf oil rig explosion and ensuring that the public had access to all pertinent information about the resulting spill and cleanup,” Hammill added.

Pelosi created the climate panel in 2007 following the 2006 elections that gave Democrats the House majority. Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has used the Select Committee gavel to bash opponents of climate legislation and rally support for steep emissions cuts.

The panel has held more than 50 hearings, which have included attacks on oil and coal companies, robust defenses of climate science and the risks of global warming and promotion of “clean” energy as a major economic engine.

But Upton takes aim at the panel in a new Washington Times op-ed.

“By law, this select committee has no legislative role; its sole purpose is to write reports. The only jobs created by this committee are within the confines of Capitol Hill. The American people do not need Congress to spend millions of dollars to write reports and fly around the world. We must terminate this wasteful committee,” Upton writes.

He is a senior GOP voice on energy policy and is considered a front-runner to chair the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee if Republicans regain the House in the midterm elections.

Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for Markey, called Upton’s comments off base.

“Since the Select Committee was established, it has raised the bar for our nation’s energy policy and drawn attention to issues that the Republicans had ignored for too long,” he said in a statement Tuesday. He said the panel has helped to hold BP “accountable” for the Gulf oil spill and “held dozens upon dozens of hearings on energy issues the Republicans just won’t touch, like clean energy.”

Upton, in attacking the climate panel, is going after a colleague — albeit one across the aisle — on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Markey chairs the Environment and Energy Subcommittee, while Upton is the ranking member.

Democratic leaders have not yet said whether they will continue the Select Committee if they keep the House.