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However, you are in the process of being informed about the outcome of the night, the election of the House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology will, for the first time in nearly a decade, be led by who accepts the conclusions of mainstream climate science.
With Democrats now in control of the House, Leadership of the House Science Committee is likely to fall to Texas Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson. Johnson, who became the committee's first African American and first female ranking member in 2010, is a strong advocate for funding. She's also a solidly pro-environment politician, according to her League of Conservation Voters scorecard.
It is almost hard to imagine a world in which the House Science Committee is not a member of its mockery of its name. It has been so long, so very long. The committee's death spiral began when Republicans assumed the control of the House in 2010, but it was when Texas Republican Lamar Smith became flesh in 2013 that the ship really sailed off the flat earth's edge.
Under the tenure of Smith, the committee has held hearing after hearing casting on mainstream climate science, used its subpoena power to harass and intimidate climate scientists, entertained the conspiracy theory that sea level is caused by rocks falling in the ocean, and used to Twitter account to blast links to climate change-denying Breitbart articles. Smith, who is not a scientist, has used the veil of authority that states that it does not have the ability to control the environment. (He also agreed on the contributions of the oil and gas industry.)
In short, the House Science Committee has been a dark place for rational discourse on climate change. Bill Foster, Congress' s Lone Scientistuntil last night). To be fair, the Republican-led committee has been more supportive of space exploration and astronomy, even though it favors further privatization of the sector and has criticized the James Webb Space telescope for going massively over-budget. Smith is also a big fan of energy fusion research, which, cool. And in recent months, the committee has made a mission of going after the science of serial sexual harassers.
But these bright spots do not negate the damage Smith and his ilk have done to the public understanding of climate science. In a statement released last night, Johnson Congresswoman ugly out her priorities for the committee, including "promoting effective STEM education," "defending the scientific enterprise from political and ideological attacks," and addressing climate change by "starting with acknowledging it is real. "
Last on Johnson 's to – do list? Restoring the credibility of the House Science Committee. It's a big order, I'm feeling hopeful about the possibility.
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