Maybe you’re looking for yet another reason to roll your eyes at the House of Representatives, or maybe you’re just looking for more logic behind living in Seattle and not in West Virginia. Either way, it might be time to pay attention to the House subcommittee hearing on U.S. Energy Abundance where our fearless Mayor was testifying on Tuesday.
Mayor McGinn took a jaunt over to the other Washington to discuss the proposed coal ports in and around Washington State. He testified before the committee that “over 40 elected officials, including tribal leaders, have joined [McGinn] in a leadership alliance against coal because of the serious negative impact on their communities” citing pollution, quality of life, and negative transportation impacts.
“In fact we should be exporting our green building technology, and not coal,” said McGinn in his testimony where he bragged about how rad Seattle is. “[Seattle has] grown by being more efficient, cleaner, and enhancing our quality of life. That’s the pathway to good jobs.”
But things really got crazy when Rep. David McKinley, a Republican from West Virginia, started his questioning of McGinn by asking him about his re-election and continuing “so this makes a good photo op here, doesn’t it?”
Before you go thinking that maybe McKinley is making a valid point, let him finish. He began to comb through his testimony, discussing how “as one of the two engineers in congress,” he has serious questions about “whether climate change was caused by man, or is it natural and cyclical.”
And then just when you thought tension in the hearing could get no higher, McKinley brought out the big guns:
“With all due respect, you coming here and trying to lecture us about climate change, I would strongly recommend you take a look at the crime rate in Seattle.”
Apparently, according to McKinley, 94 percent of the cities have a lower crime rate than us, and McGinn needs to make us a little less like Gotham before he can go spouting his anti-coal agenda in D.C.
Thankfully, it’s all uploaded toYoutube, so everyone can proudly watch their tax dollars at work.
