Big Change in Senate Energy Leadership

The news out of Washington is that the leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has changed its leadership, from Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA).

Election day gave Washington D.C. a new president-elect and a clear transition in party control of the government. The combination has made for a great deal of personnel changes in major (and minor) positions throughout the government. These are the kind of moves that can be lost in the post-election glow, but that will make a real difference over the next years.

President-elect Obama has made a strong commitment to energy policy reform, possibly as his first initiative out of the gate when he takes office, and if not, next in line to health care. The result is a renewed focus in the Senate on these issues.

The push for Waxman over Dingell may not be news on par with the changes in the White House - certainly neither one of them are household names - but it represents a serious substantive shift in leadership on energy issues. Waxman is a committed advocate for climate change legislation, perhaps owing to his Californian constituency. Dingell was a leader of integrity in the committee, and will remain a strong representative, but he was far more closely aligned towards business interests, and his views on climate change reform would have been out of sync with President-elect Obama’s beliefs on the importance of the issue.

It may seem like just a procedural change, but on a practical legislative level this is the best news to come out of Washington for clean energy in some time.