“The idea that in five years or 10 years we’re not going to consume any more fossil fuels is technologically impossible,” Rep. Peter DeFazio told POLITICO. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Energy & Environment Veteran Democrats wary of climate push by Ocasio-Cortez and her allies

Veteran Democratic lawmakers are closing ranks against new members pushing the party to the left on climate change.

Incoming chairmen say they want to address climate change, but they are bristling at the tactics of Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other newly elected Democrats who say the party needs to come up with a "Green New Deal" that would decarbonize the economy within a decade.


“The idea that in five years or 10 years we’re not going to consume any more fossil fuels is technologically impossible,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), whose in line to lead the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told POLITICO. “We can have grand goals but let’s be realistic about how we get there.”

Ocasio-Cortez is working with other liberal members and youth climate activists to expand the scope of a select committee on climate change that Nancy Pelosi wants to relaunch if elected speaker. But several older members say they think even creating a new panel would be a distraction and could delay action by the existing committees with jurisdiction over the issue.

Incoming Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) slammed the creation of a new committee during a closed-door meeting of Democrats Thursday, drawing pushback from Ocasio-Cortez and Rep.-elect Joe Neguse (D-Colo.).

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Liberal environmental advocates torched Pallone for his opposition to the revival of the climate select committee.

“Frank Pallone is concerned about holding onto his power and title, not about the future of our generation or human civilization,” said the Sunrise Movement, which organized the protest at Pelosi’s office earlier this week. “If he were serious about stopping climate change, he would give back his money from fossil fuel PACs and support the Select Committee for a Green New Deal, the only policy in history that rises to the scale of this crisis.”

Pallone said he shares the goals of groups anxious for aggressive action but called for regular order to develop a bipartisan response.

“We can have a very aggressive agenda that we can get a caucus consensus on and that we can even get some Republicans on,” he said. “This select committee kind of takes us away from the goal. We want, as I said, to move very aggressively.”

Some lawmakers are looking for ways to harness the progressive energy within the existing congressional structures so everyone gets on the same page.

“I have the same energy, I have the same urgency, but I think we need to have a conversation about how we do it,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told POLITICO. “It would help to sit down with those of us that have been here and have been working on these issues and want to team up and go big on climate because I think we have to be strategic and I think we have to function as a team.”

But it’s a big team, noted Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas). He said the centrist Blue Dog caucus expects to add six to eight members. He worried a climate change committee and goals like 100 percent renewable energy could turn off voters in swing districts at a time when Democrats would be unable to do more than pass "messaging" bills.

“A lot of the Republican seats that we won — a lot of them are moderate, conservative Democrats, and we have to keep that in mind. Those are the people I’m concerned about,” Cuellar said. “We can’t go too extreme.”

Others expressed wariness at the thought of going around the traditional nexus of power within the House.

“To create a specific committee may not achieve the goal — the goal being solid legislation to address the climate problem,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said. “I’d be pretty careful going around the normal committee structure. That sets up a set of problems that I don’t think any of us want to be getting into.”

The threat of turf wars might be reason enough to abandon plans for a new climate committee, said Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.). He said lawmakers have been handcuffed for years while in the minority and have ideas they want to execute.

“Those committees are geared up and ready to introduce legislation,” he said.

Lowenthal and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who co-chair the 60-member Safe Climate Caucus, wrote a letter to Pelosi Thursday arguing that existing committees would be sufficient but agreeing to cooperate if she decides to proceed with a new panel.