Ten Years To Tipping Point

From EEI: Rep. Gordon Outlines Climate Change, Energy Issues for Next Congress

Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., the incoming chairman of the House Science Committee, plans to focus on seeking a bipartisan consensus "for helping state and local communities protect themselves from severe weather events, and for speeding up the development of technology - such as energy-saving and emission-reducing industrial innovations - designed to mitigate global warming."

Gordon indicated, according to National Journal's Congress Daily, that he would side with the assessment advanced by NASA scientist James Hanson, who indicated that the world has a "very brief window to deal with climate change ... no longer than a decade." Gordon was quoted by the newsletter as saying: "There is a tipping point somewhere and we have got to beat it."

Wrote the newsletter: "Another important item on Gordon's agenda is the promotion of energy independence for the United States. He said he was committed to the passage of legislation that would set up a special research agency within the Energy Department to develop ideas for fostering a domestic alternative fuel industry. Gordon said his committee agenda for energy also included using the panel as a venue for an intelligent national conversation on the expanded use of nuclear power."
National Journal's Congress Daily, Dec. 4.

The best news I've heard in some time is that Gordon agrees with NASA's James Hanson that "the world has a "very brief window to deal with climate change ... no longer than a decade." One of my big concerns about the incoming Democratic majority has been that they seem to think that a few more tax credits for renewable energy is going to be "enough." It's not. We need really serious action and we need it right away.