McNamee Win a Pyrrhic Victory for the Fossil Fuelers?

'Future Hope' Column

By Ted Glick

In the end, the fossil fuel extremist Bernard McNamee squeaked through by the narrowest of margins—50 to 49 on a totally party-line vote, on both sides. 49 Democrats voted against him; 50 Republicans voted for him.

Susan Collins, supposedly someone who is concerned about the “serious consequences” of the climate crisis, could have prevented McNamee’s confirmation by the Senate to be a commissioner of the gas-industry-rubber-stamping agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. But she didn’t. Very shameful. Just for this and the Kavanaugh votes, Collins really should be shown the Senate exit door come 2020.

McNamee has to be pretty bad, a beyond-the-pale fossil fueler, for even coal-loving Joe Manchin to change his committee vote of a week before and join his 48 fellow Democrats to do the right thing. Manchin said that the reason he did so was because he hadn’t seen the infamous McNamee video before the committee vote. Some people think it was because he’s very interested in being named Democratic leader of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee. Conspiracy theorists wonder if he coordinated with Susan Collins in advance to be sure she wasn’t going to vote her beliefs and cause his “change of heart” to be responsible for McNamee’s defeat.

So how significant is the ascension of McNamee to FERC leadership?

It could become very significant if Trump names him the new FERC chair. Mafioso Don can do that legally, without triggering a Mueller investigation or any other legal action. But given the 49 Senate votes, it sure seems unlikely that even Trump would be stupid enough to do this. Talk about revolting!

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Source: tedglick.com