Markey, a leading environmentalist, set to take over key Energy and Commerce Subcommittee

By GottaLaff

This country is starved for enforcement of sound environmental policy. Let the lunacy end, stat!

Massachusetts Democrat Edward J. Markey was expected Thursday to take the gavel of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, putting a leading environmentalist in a position to shape climate legislation Democrats want to pass this year.

Markey was expected to swap gavels with Virginia Democrat Rick Boucher , who will take over the Telecommunications Subcommittee, on which Markey has long been the top Democrat.

Boucher, who hails from a coal-rich corner of Virginia, worked with recently ousted Energy and Commerce Chairman John D. Dingell , D-Mich., a champion of his state’s ailing auto industry, to produce a draft global warming bill that some environmentalists criticized as too soft on industry.

Markey, however, is a leading liberal in his caucus and is closely aligned with environmentalists. He also is strongly allied with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., who named him chairman of a Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming in the 110th Congress, and with the new Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman , D-Calif.

As head of the Energy subcommittee, Markey will also have broader jurisdiction than his predecessors. Waxman has eliminated the larger panel’s Environment and Hazardous Waste subcommittee, dividing its issues between the other subcommittees. The Energy and Air Quality subcommittee will take over jurisdiction of contaminated superfund sites and drinking water functions.

Democratic leadership aides said Markey and Pelosi are already conferring on crafting a strong climate measure.

Eradicate the ugly Bush stains. Now.