LIVE BLOG: the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill hearing

I am standing in line at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, hoping to get in the hearing room (update: I am in the room!) for the opening statements of committee members.

Standing here I cannot help but be reminded how much money the forces who oppose any legislation have. The status quo troops lobbyists and well heeled lawyers for coal and oil interests are here en masse. They did not need to wait in line, of course, they pay line standers for that. Another reminder of the firepower of the opposition is this article from yesterday -- look how much money the opposition has:

Exxon Mobil tops Fortune 500 list

Energy group Exxon Mobil beat discount retailer Wal-Mart to the top place on Fortune magazine’s list of the 500 biggest publicly traded companies, based on revenue, Reuters reports from New York.

The widely watched Fortune 500 list, released on Sunday, showed that the world’s largest listed oil company regained the top spot by making $442.9bn of revenue in 2008, in spite of the decline of energy prices.

Exxon was also the most profitable, earning $45.2bn last year and displacing Wal-Mart, which fell to runner-up after topping the list for six of the past seven years.

So when the oil companies whine about the Waxman-Markey draft or other initiatives just remember they have a lot to lose. And we have a lot to win by passing a comprehensive clean energy bill that transforms America to a new economy.

We can beat the fossil fuel lobby if we work together. In line with me are representatives of every green group including: the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Energy Action, the National Parks and Conservation Association and the Natural Resources Defense Council. And that's not all: there are observers from several European Embassies (or the firms that represent those countries) as a reminder that the world is watching us and waiting to see if the US government will really move to limit costly pollution.

I will report on opening statements in a bit. In the meantime, you can follow our Twitter updates about the hearing (also on our home page) or watch the live streaming video.