If it wasn’t so sad, it just might be funny. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) was able to chair a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing yesterday. He’s been a member of this committee for most of the time he’s been in Washington. Yesterday, the regular committee chair, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calf.), gave the gavel to Baucus to run a committee hearing about the asbestos problem in Libby, Montana.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency.

So Baucus and the committee invited a couple of EPA officials to testify. The EPA sent two different people and his committee staff kicked them out.

According to the Associated Press:

Baucus, a Montana Democrat, arrived after the exchange. He said at the hearing that he had hoped two officials who worked at length in Libby – Paul Peronard, former on-scene coordinator, and Christopher Weis, an EPA toxicologist – would testify.

Normally a powerful chairman does not have to “hope” people will testify – the chairman just tells them he wants them there and they show up – especially when the chairman’s committee has jurisdiction over the agency these invited people represent.

This happens a lot when showmanship gets ahead of actually helping people. Baucus, once again, received tons of media coverage leading up to and after the hearing. Realistically nothing was accomplished, except for Baucus manipulating the media into covering his hearing – a hearing in which he was unable to get two key members of the EPA to show up.

Meanwhile, the good folks in Libby are no closer to having their problems solved because of it. That’s the sad part of the whole story.