Henry Waxman beat out Rep. John Dingell today to become chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Waxman, a California liberal and avid environmentalist and booster of health care programs, toppled Dingell Thursday on a vote of 137-122 in the Democratic Party caucus, capping a bitter fight within party ranks.

Dingell has been the top Democrat on the panel for 28 years and is an old-school supporter of the auto industry. Waxman has complained that the committee has been too slow to address environmental issues like global warming.

“Seniority is important,” Waxman told reporters. “But it should not grant the priority rights to hold a chairmanship for three decades.”

Waxman introduced the Safe Climate Act, which “sets targets and requires the actions that will be necessary to avoid dangerous, irreversible warming of our planet.”

You wanted change, America. You got it. The new energy czar is a global warming alarmist and no friend of industry. What we need right now is a reversal of everything this guy believes.
Ugh.