House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. CREDIT: AP/ Evan Vucci In 2011, the Los Angeles Times called Fred Upton, the Republican Congressman from Michigan and chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, “one of the biggest threats to planet Earth on planet Earth.” In the intervening three years not much has changed — although in the next three days a lot could.