Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich joins several business executives from the largest corporations in the world engaged in the business of going green, in the first program of our Red, White, Blue and Green speaker series.
Guests include Francine Colaneri, Vice President of Manufacturing and Corporate Purchasing at Scholastic Inc., and Alan R. Weverstad, Executive Director, Environment, Energy and Safety Policy at the General Motors Corporation. The Wall Street Journal's Jeff Ball moderates- The National Constitution Center
Bio
Jeffrey Ball
Jeffrey Ball is the Environmental News Editor for The Wall Street Journal. Ball covers the business of the environment for The Wall Street Journal and edits and contributes to the Journal's new blog on the subject, Environmental Capital.
He joined the Journal in 1996 as a reporter for the Southeast Journal, based in Atlanta. He moved in 1998 to the paper's Detroit bureau, where he covered the auto industry, as well as environmental issues affecting it and other sectors. In 2004, Ball moved to the paper's Dallas bureau, where he covered the oil industry and has continued to write about environmental matters, with a deepening focus on the viability of various efforts to address global warming by changing the way the world consumes fossil fuels.
Francine Colaneri
Francine Colaneri is Vice President of Manufacturing and Corporate Purchasing at Scholastic Inc. As part of Scholastic's "Green Team," Colaneri has managed the manufacturing of the Harry Potter series, and was instrumental in arranging the largest ever purchase of Forest Stewardship Council certified paper in a single book.
She led the initiative to formalize Scholastic's Environmental Procurement Policy, whose five-year goal is to increase its publication paper purchase of FSC-certified paper to 30% and its use of recycled paper to 25%, of which 75% will be post-consumer waste.
Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich is former speaker of the US House of Representatives. Now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Gingrich continues to advocate for smaller government and what he terms "fundamental values." He is also the founder and General Chairman of the American Solutions for Winning the Future group. On May 11, 2011, Gingrich announced he will seek the Republican nomination to run against Barack Obama in the 2012 United States Presidential election.
Gingrich is the author of Rediscovering God in America and To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom.
Alan R Weverstad
Alan R. Weverstad is the Executive Director of Environment, Energy and Safety Policy, Public Policy Center, at the General Motors Corporation. Weverstad began his career in 1971 in the engineering area with Pontiac Motor Division, where he worked as a design release and development engineer in the chassis and engine development sections.
In 1985, he became a part of the Chevrolet-Pontiac-GM of Canada team, where he was involved in the emission certification of 77 engine families. He then joined the Marine Engine Division, and in 1991, moved to the Environmental Activities Staff and GM Research working on vehicle emissions issues.
The logic is not the same. If each state had its own laws re: fuel economy, auto manufactures would have to manufacture vehicles to suit each state's individual law. This would be unworkable.
By contrast, each state can regulate the other issues you mentioned without materially affecting interstate commerce. For example, a doctor practicing in Pennsylvania need not worry about health care laws in Ohio, whereas auto manufactures would need to comply with fuel efficiency laws in each state because they sell in every state--a big difference.
When are polarizing politicians like Newt Gingrich going to stop blatantly insulting large portions of the American population? Why is it OK for Conservatives to openly deride the political beliefs and lifestyles of the majority of Americans who live in metropolitan areas, such as New York?
I also find it interesting that Newt concedes that it doesn't make any sense for each individual state to establish their own laws with regard to fuel economy. Why then do Conservatives insist on strong state power when it comes to health care, education, gun rights, etc.? Is the logic not the same?
Take a few hours to look into the "Science" for yourself and you will discover that Anthropogenic Global Warming is so small that spending $1 is too much to waste on the threat. The IPCC and their ilk know it but would spend fortunes as well as hinder progress in poorer nations to push their agendas..... Global Warming my butt.....its all about Global Governance....and in the case of big business, money.
member. 
