Global Warming Inside the Beltway

The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing on Wednesday on Big Oil's big profits and record-high gasoline prices.  Senior executives from the five largest publicly-owned oil companies testified.  Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) criticized them for making record profits as a result of record gas prices.  I note that Mr. Markey is one of the House's most enthusiastic promoters of cap-and-trade legislation, which will raise energy prices for consumers far above current levels. 

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee also held a hearing  on Wednesday to discover why the Secretary of the Interior has not yet decided whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.  Since Secretary Dirk Kempthorne declined to testify, Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and the other members of the committee didn't discover why.  But the hearing did provide an opportunity for newspapers around the country to run photos of polar bears looking threatened by melting ice.  I couldn't find any photos of polar bears eating seals, but here's a link to a video on You Tube