Dingellsaurus

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DOCUMENTATION:

Father: Hey Billy, you got your dinosaur book? Billy: Yes. Father: Okay. What’s this here? Billy: Pterodactyl. Father: Good. How about this?  Billy: That’s easy. T-Rex.  Father: And this one? Billy: I don’t know.  Father: It’s a Dingell-saurus. Billy:  A what?

Father: A Dingellsaurus.  Someone who’s been in Congress so long, he forgets about the people who sent him there.  Billy: Are there any around today? Father: Our own Congressman John Dingell.

John Dingell has been a member of Congress from Michigan since 1955. Since 1989, he has accepted $840,865 in campaign contributions from the automotive industry. [www.opensecrets.org]

 He’s standing in the way of the first energy bill ever that would really combat global warming. 

Dingell has for years fought off any substantive increases in the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard. [Energy Washington Week, 6/27/07]

The Senate on June 21, by a 65-27 vote, approved energy legislation that includes an increase in fleetwide vehicle fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. [Carbon Control News, 6/25/07]

When the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee marked up the energy bill,  Energy and Commerce Chairman Dingell and Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher dropped several provisions of the bill including language requiring the Transportation Department to set fuel efficiency standards for vehicles at the "maximum feasible level" starting in model year 2012, with the standard for passenger automobiles reaching at least 36 miles per gallon after model year 2021 and 30 miles per gallon after model year 2024 for non-passenger automobiles. Dingell and Boucher have asserted that federal fuel efficiency standards already reduce greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes and that separate federal and state tailpipe standards would make it unnecessarily difficult for manufacturers to comply. [National Journal, 6/19/07]

In a memo announcing their decision to cut CAFE from their energy bill, Dingell and Boucher stated: "This procedure for considering energy legislation at this time was discussed with the Speaker, and she understands the rationale for proceeding this way so that we can rapidly complete work on a bipartisan bill that can be signed into law. As we see in Senate consideration of energy legislation, many of these issues are complex and difficult, and it is our desire to avoid unnecessary delays in passing legislation that can accomplish much good." [Energy Washington Week, 6/27/07]
Last week, Dingell said his committee would postpone taking up fuel economy until September. [Detroit Free Press, 6/25/07]

It would also help the auto companies in the long run and that means more jobs.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, investments in technology to make cars and trucks more fuel-efficient provide will pay off in the form of new jobs for the U.S. automotive sector and other industries throughout the country.  In addition, consumers will save billions of dollars on gasoline, U.S. dependency on oil will be reduced, and emissions of global warming pollution will be cut significantly. [www.www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/fuel_economy/jobs-energy-fuel-economy.html]

The Union of Concerned Scientists released an analysis that calculated that a fuel efficiency standard of 40 miles per gallon by 2015 would lead to 161,000 more jobs, including 40,800 in the auto industry. The higher standard would also save consumers $23 billion a year by 2015.
 [Boston Globe, 7/30/04; CQ Congressional Testimony, 11/15/05]

Billy: Is a Dingellsaurus dangerous? Father: Very.  Because if the Dingellsaurus gets his way, we could all be extinct.