Harlan Watson Moves to House 1

Posted by Brad Johnson Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:53:00 GMT

E&E News reports that Harlan Watson, Bush’s Special Envoy to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the U.S. Department of State, will join the minority staff of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. As the lead negotiator for the United States, Watson opposed U.S. involvement in emissions reductions. Watson will become a “distinguished professional staff member” for Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the ranking minority member of Rep. Ed Markey’s (D-MA) non-legislative committee.

In other staff moves: Sources tell Hill Heat that Andrew Wheeler, the Republican staff director for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is leaving Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-OK) employ.

EPW Delegation to Greenland

Posted by Brad Johnson Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:43:00 GMT

Last weekend, Sen. Barbara Boxer led a delegation from the Environment and Public Works Committee to Greenland:
  • Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
  • Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
  • Bill Nelson (D-Fl.)
  • Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
  • Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
  • Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
  • Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
  • Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)
  • Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Inhofe sent staffer Mark Morano, a former writer for the rightwing Cybercast News Service. Richard Alley of Penn State University, the lead author on the United States Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was the scientific advisor on the trip. They met with Arkalo Abelsen, Greeland’s environmental minister.

News coverage

* Associated Press: Georgia senator views effects of climate change in Greenland
Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia traveled to Greenland over the weekend to get a firsthand glimpse at the effects of global warming.

The first-term Republican from Marietta said the trip reinforced his belief that the United States should gradually move away from fossil fuels like oil and coal. But it didn’t convince him that more urgent steps are needed, and he remains unconvinced that the current warming is a departure from long-term natural cycles.

“There is no question that carbon (dioxide) is contributing to the warming but there’s also no question that warming is cyclical and has happened in the past,” he said in a phone interview Monday.