House climate panel to be axed

	Dec 1, 2010	Politico
	Robin Bravender House Republicans will scrap the committee set up by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to investigate global warming, the panel's top Republican announced Wednesday. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) made official what many had already expected — the GOP majority will axe the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which Pelosi created in 2007. "This hearing will be the last of the select committee," Sensenbrenner announced. Committee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called Wednesday's hearing to give witnesses a chance to warn of the perils of climate change before the GOP launches efforts next year to roll back the Obama administration's climate policies. Sensenbrenner, a vocal climate change skeptic, had pushed to keep the panel alive to probe the White House's energy policies. But it was seen as unlikely that GOP leadership would devote resources to the panel created by Democrats at the same time that they called for scaling back government spending. The Wisconsin Republican may still play a key role in leading investigations into climate science next year. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who is vying for the chairmanship of the Committee on Science and Technology, told POLITICO Tuesday he'd like to see Sensenbrenner lead the panel's climate science probes. Markey, meanwhile, assured Republicans that he and others will battle from the minority to slash global warming emissions. "We are not going away because the problems that climate change presents are too dangerous too urgent for us to disappear into the abyss of cynicism and loss," Markey said. "We are not going away because China, India, and Germany are not going away as competitors for global energy dominance. We are not going away because the national security threats from our continued dependence on foreign oil are not going away."

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