More on Waxman vs. Dingell

It looks like Dingell isn’t going to go down without a huge fight [h/t Matt Y]. I realize that it may seem strange to get even more into US politics after the Presidential election, but this particular issue may well serve as a weathervane for how the next Congress and the Obama administration tackle climate change, which quite probably will be what decides the future of our planet’s climate for the next several hundred if not thousand years.

Which is not to say that Dingell retaining his chairmanship means that the fight is over- with Obama offering the US auto industry a possible lifeline contingent upon significant climate-relevant concessions, a direct unseating of Dingell may not be necessary in order to push meaningful legislation past Detroit’s lobbying influence. And of course Jason Grumet indicated that if the Congress fails to get meaningful legislation rolling, Obama views the EPA’s Clean Air Act as an alternative path to regulation.

If, however, Waxman successfully takes the chair from Dingell, it would signal that the climate issue will be a very high profile one for the upcoming administration and Congress. Keep an eye on this one, folks.