It's Official!
Thursday, January 04, 2007

Washington, DC -- As Vice-President Cheney completed the swearing in of newly elected and reelected Senators this afternoon, Senator Barbara Boxer's staff was huddling over last-minute details of Senator Boxer's first legislative initiatives as the new Chair of the Senate Environment Committee.

On the House side, HR 6 -- Speaker Pelosi's bill to repeal billions of dollars in subsidies and give-aways to Big Oil, and shift the funding to renewable energy -- was set for action as early as January 18th. Up to $16 billion could shift on that day -- a down payment on the smart energy solutions voters clearly hunger for and that many newly elected Senators and Representatives campaigned on behalf of.

But speaking to a group of our supporters this morning, I advised caution. I reminded them that the American people voted for a new way of doing business -- more openness, more honesty, more cooperation, more commitment to the public business. They are open to some new outcomes -- more emphasis on clean, modern energy, less on outmoded and dangerous fossil fuels -- but the real mandate is for the change in how business is done. "We need to remember what is says in Ecclesiastes," I said. "'To everything there is a season,' and this is a season to sow the seeds of new ideas, not the season to rush ahead to reap and harvest new policies."

The biggest risk we face is that in our understandable urgency, even panic, at how rapidly environmental problems, particularly global warming, are coming at us, we will rush our policy initiatives, and build the house of our new energy future so shoddily that it can't withstand the inevitable political storm to come. The oil industry is readying a $100-million PR campaign, one of whose thrusts will be to keep Congress committed to feeding subsidies to the past and starving the future. We need to be as careful and methodical as they are going to be, particularly since we obviously won't be as well-funded.

A new poll shows that 61% of American feel optimistic about the country's direction, a huge shift from just before the election, and 67% like the policies they expect the Democrats to support. At the same time, only 32% think Congress will be able to get much done. So, while expectations are low, the mood could sour very quickly if environmentalists or their allies in Congress don't carefully explain and methodically lay out a real agenda for the future -- one that will withstand the disappointments that will result from inevitable filibusters and Bush vetoes.

But it's official -- there is new leadership in Congress. And it is a very energizing moment here -- lots of smiles and hugs!

Carl Pope
Sierra Club
85 Second St. San Francisco, CA 94105
sierraclub.org/carlpope
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