Sometimes it might make sense to follow the old Sacramento Union writer’s advice about majority opinion, which this senator appears to have done, before he became part of the majority.
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." -Mark Twain
Senator lashes firms' global warming stand
BP America, PG&E Corp. chiefs are called climate change 'profiteers.'
By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, February 14, 2007
The chiefs of two major West Coast energy companies -- BP America, which provides much of the Alaska oil that is refined on the West Coast, and PG&E Corp., parent of California's largest utility -- were accused of being global warming "profiteers" Tuesday because they are backing legislation to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The accusation was delivered at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing by the panel's senior Republican, Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, who disputes widespread scientific consensus that emissions from the burning of oil and coal are causing the planet to warm.
"Some companies are coming together in an attempt to profit from government intervention where they have failed in the marketplace," Inhofe said. "They are climate profiteers. These companies will gain market share against their competitors while the economy flattens and jobs are sent to China."
Inhofe's comments came at the second in a series of hearings that California Sen. Barbara Boxer, the panel's Democratic chairwoman, is holding on global warming in advance of writing legislation to, as she has put it, "save the planet."
The intensifying political rhetoric is a clear indication that the coalition of business and environmental groups that BP and PG&E are part of is rapidly building pressure on Congress to enact legislation.
