The news came over this afternoon from Rep. Peter Welch's office: "Welch joins Pelosi, congressional leaders to announce carbon neutral U.S. Capitol."
The release from Welch's office touts Welch's role in bringing his leaderhip on global warming to Congress and quotes Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying, "Peter Welch has been a leader on the issue." He was the only non-chairman, non-leader listed as joining Pelosi in the announcement.
There he is, standing behind the speaker in the photo at right.
The speaker mentioned Welch a couple times during the news conference, Welch spokesman Andrew Savage said. Pelosi's own news release on the same event, however, doesn't mention Welch. Not even when she refers to plans for the House to purchase carbon offsets, as Welch did for his office earlier this year.
He gets a little recognition, but not quite that much.
At the news conference, House and Senate leaders announced the completion of the "Greening the Capitol" initiative, which includes operating the House in a carbon-neutral manner by the end of the 110th Congress and reducing the House's carbon footprint by cutting energy consumption by 50% in 10 years.
- Terri Hallenbeck
