Emerging victorious is his battle to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee, staunch environmentalist Henry Waxman has taken on U.S. uranium, coal and hardrock mining.
Author: Dorothy KosichPosted: Monday , 24 Nov 2008
RENO, NV -
Current House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Dingell, D-Michigan, was not a political soul mate of the U.S. mining industry. Nevertheless, the long-time Michigan representative often received campaign contributions from coal mining companies.
But as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, takes the helm after victoriously ousting Dingell from the chairmanship, it will feel like the difference between George Bush and Barack Obama, an environmental lawyer recently told Bloomberg.
The National Mining Association's Luke Popovich warned Waxman would likely be "a very slower learner on the importance of coal for affordable energy. ...It would have been problematic in the best of times to have Mr. Waxman's views prevail."
Waxman, who represents Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and the wealthy areas of West Los Angeles, won 137-122 in a secret ballot vote of the U.S. House to challenge the 82-year-old Dingell for the chairmanship of the committee that will be involved in all energy legislation. Waxman will take the gavel when the 111thth. Congress convenes on January 6
The 69-year-old Waxman is part of a powerful California liberal Democrat team whose ranks include Speaker Nancy Pelosi and George Miller. The chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, Miller has also tangled a few times with the domestic mining industry, most recently over mine safety and miner fatalities.
Longtime Waxman aide Phil Schiliro is director of congressional relations for President-Elect Barack Obama's transition team, which might give Waxman increased access to the new administration.
He is expected to aggressively pursue to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Ethan Siegel of the Washington Exchange told Reuters, "We see Dingell as a more pragmatic, deal-making liberal with whom the business community can negotiate; and we see Waxman as more of a class take-no-prisoners liberal for goes for the jugular."
Among those jugulars Waxman is likely to sink his teeth into are the domestic uranium industry, particularly those exploring on Navajo Nation lands. A year ago, Waxman, the chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, held hearings on what he called "a modern American tragedy," the consequences of radioactive pollution from uranium mining and milling on Navajo Nation lands, which lie within the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
At the commencement of the hearings, Waxman said, "Even as we hold this hearing, there is new interest in resuming mining on and near the Navajo Nation. ...As a general rule, however, I think that we ought to correct the wrongs of the past before inflicting new damage and we ought to ensure that mistakes of the past aren't repeated."
Waxman has also has argued that new coal-fired power plants should not be permitted unless they capture and bury their green house gases.
He is also a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 2169, which would ban mountaintop removal coal mining.
Waxman has also been a staunch, longtime supporter of efforts to reform the 1872 Mining Law, which governs hardrock mining on public lands.
http://www.mineweb.co.za/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=73654&sn=Detail
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