Let's Green Beverly Hills Too Chairman Waxman

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman was recently on the Tavis Smiley Show and Tavis asked him about greening the ghetto first. Chairman Waxman responded:

"Well, there are a lot of different levels of activity that we're going to generate for jobs. In order to become more efficient in our use of energy we're going to have to do a lot of remodeling of houses and ... and provide greater insulation. A lot of construction work. So we're going to get jobs for moving toward a more efficient use of energy, we're going to get more jobs in terms of the new technologies that we're going to have."

Excellent. While we are greening inner city and other low-income areas, we think that Hollywood and Beverly Hills should be greened too. When it comes to big residential energy and carbon dioxide savings, the super deluxe and luxurious mcmansions in Chairman Waxman's district should be prime targets.

Maybe there could be a cooperative program whereby residents of Beverly Hills and Compton could help each other. The stimulus money for weatherization and efficiency could be used in Compton. Although the Beverly Hills residents make too much money to qualify for weatherization assistance, they can just pay for the retrofits needed to make their homes more efficient. If they want to, they can also take advantage of some of the tax credits for efficiency retrofits too. We can see Congresswoman Maxine Waters, right, who represents Compton, and Chairman Waxman, left, who was born and raised in Watts, leading their respective constituents to achieve the energy and CO2 reductions that President Obama has so eloquently described. We will work with both members of Congress to assure that their districts are as efficient as possible.