(Hulk voice): "Boehner ORANGE... Boehner HATE GREEN Initiative Program... Boehner SMASH!"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

March 03, 2011 04:00 PM
From The "Too Petty For Words" File, Boehner Gets Rid Of Eco-Tableware In Congress Cafeteria
By Nicole Belle

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/too-petty-words-file-boehner-gets-rid



Really, there's no depths to which the GOP majority will not sink. In yet another act of thumbing his nose at Democrats, John Boehner has ended the Green Initiative program in the Congress cafeteria, replacing all the eco-tableware with regular petroleum-based plastic ware and styrofoam.

In the first move toward phasing out part of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) "Green the Capitol" program, polystyrene cups were reintroduced this week as an option for coffee drinkers in the Capitol Carry-Out, the building's mini-cafeteria.

The basement eatery had been part of Pelosi's "Greening" program since 2007, when Democrats took control of the House. The program brought climate-friendly vending machines and compact fluorescent lightbulbs to the Capitol; caused the Capitol Power Plant to switch from burning coal to natural gas; and reduced energy and water consumption in Capitol buildings by 23 percent and 32 percent, respectively, according to an April 2010 report.

But it was the $475,000 composting program in the House-side cafeterias that stirred the most controversy. Designed to cut down on waste, the program instituted the use of biodegradable utensils and trays made of cornstarch -- an idea that may have worked better in theory than in practice, as it led to take-away boxes that leaked, spoons that melted and forks that broke when stuck into so much as a chicken tender.