July 17, 2011 04:43 PM UTC

Tipton's "Job Killing Energy Regs" Hearing Postponed

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Scott Tipton stayed in Washington, DC this weekend, reports the Aspen Daily News, in anticipation of a possible debt-ceiling vote on Monday. As we thought a perfectly reasonable explanation, but good netiquette would update a website with this instead of just deleting the original announcement and leaving your constituents to guess.

—–

We received a Google alert this morning about an upcoming field hearing for freshman Rep. Scott Tipton’s House Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade scheduled for Monday in Grand Junction–“Are Excessive Energy Regulations and Policies Limiting Energy Independence, Killing Jobs and Increasing Prices for Consumers?” goes the title.

Now, our first thought is that there is absolutely no way Rep. Tipton would hold a hearing with a title like that without the results of said hearing being a foregone conclusion–of course Tipton thinks that energy regulations are limiting energy independence, killing jobs, increasing prices, and probably doing something bad to adorable little kittens. So that’s not news.

What’s weird is how the press advisory was deleted from Tipton’s website sometime between its posting a couple of days ago and today’s Google Alert. We had to go digging into Google’s cache of Tipton’s congressional website to get the text of the deleted release:

On Monday, July 18th, the House Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade, chaired by Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO), will hold a hearing entitled Are Excessive Energy Regulations and Policies Limiting Energy Independence, Killing Jobs and Increasing Prices for Consumers? The hearing will be held in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The hearing will examine burdensome federal regulations and policies on the energy industry and their impact on small businesses, jobs and consumer prices. Specifically, the hearing will examine the coal combustion residuals proposed rule (75 Federal Register 35127-35264), the proposed rule to limit mercury and other air toxics from coal-burning electricity generators (76 Federal Register 24976-25147), the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and potential regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the natural gas industry. Additionally, the hearing will focus on the permitting and leasing process of the Department of the Interior.

The field hearing will include testimony from James Martin, Administer, Region 8, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Helen Hankins, Colorado State Director, U.S. Bureau of Land Management; David White, County Commissioner, Montrose, CO; David Ludlam, Director, West Slope COGA, Grand Junction, CO; James A. Kiger, Environmental Manager, Oxbow Mining, LLC, Elk Creek Mine, Somerset, CO; and Dick Welle, Manager, White River Electric, Meeker, CO.

So that’s one representative each from EPA and BLM, then four industry-friendly witnesses led by a GOP county commissioner. Is there anybody out there who can envision an outcome for this “hearing” that is not totally predisposed? Let’s put it another way: is there any chance that three energy industry executives would stand in a room together, you know, anywhere, and not declare that EPA regs are the one obstacle standing between them and glory?

Anyway, now that the expected (spelled preordained) outcome of this grandstand “hearing” has been established, maybe somebody can tell us what happened to the hearing? No doubt there are a dozen perfectly innocuous explanations, but you hope everyone who saw Tipton’s original release figures out not to show up. If, that is, the press advisory’s deletion means they shouldn’t! The delete button–it’s just not very good media relations.

And when the whole point of the grandstand “hearing” is the media, one tries to get that right.