AUTO-FREE NEW YORK!
Home
Glossary
Light Rail
Regional Rail
Penn Station
Livable City Plan
Books
Links
Donate
|
AUTO-FREE NEW YORK!
| ||||||||
Home |
Glossary |
Light Rail |
Regional Rail |
Penn Station |
Livable City Plan |
Books |
Links |
Donate |
|
Return to: Updated: Jan 1, 2009. |
Other Voices:Planet-Hating Congressman Dingell
In a move that may finally allow some progress for America's transportation sector, on November 20, 2008, Representative John Dingell of Michigan was forced out of his chairmanship of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee, a chair he has held for 27 years. During those 27 years, Dingell proved himself a staunch enemy of the planet he lives on, blocking or stalling automobile fuel economy, emissions and safety standards that would have made our automobile fleet cleaner, more efficient and safer, and given Americans much greater transportation alternatives.
Dingell, 82, is in poor health. His much younger wife Debby is a senior executive for GM, in public affairs, and a descendant of the family that founded GM (Fisher). The NY Times, on Nov. 21, quoted Dan Becker of the Sierra Club about Dingell's wife's corporate connection: "Dingell is literally married to GM."
Dingell's supporters maintain his chief priority was to save jobs and the American auto industry. Hmm, let's see -- the industry is disintegrating, jobs are being lost, most Americans have no other choice for mobility than their car, and we have led the world in wasting energy. Nice job, there, Dingell!
The new chair of the House committee, Congressman Henry Waxman of California, has long had a respectable record on environmental issues, and has thus proven more caring of the planet he lives on. Citizen transit activists will need to keep the pressure on, since Waxman will be confronting the same corporate interests that control our government, that Dingell was a shill for.
--Wayne Fields, Dec '08
|