Republicans: Our Energy Proposal Creates “Real Jobs”

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

“Innovation, conservation and production,” were the key messages coming from the Republican Study Committee and the Western Caucus as Congressional Republicans unveiled their alternative energy proposal today.

Congressman Tom Price (R-Ga.) said, “Republican are wholly committed to finding positive solution to the challenges we face. Like with the stimulus, like with the budget and now in contrast to the Democrats national energy tax we are here to offer our vision.”

The American Energy and Innovation Act, as the proposal will be labeled, will create jobs and reduce debt according to Republicans. The main aims outlined in this bill are to, “encourage innovation” by creating renewable fuel options and environmental jobs. “Promote conservation” by “providing incentives for easing energy demand and creating a cleaner, more sustainable environment” and “increase production” by making use of all available technology and resources.

Congressman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said there were now “two roads” Americans could chose to tackle energy needs. “The Democrat road is saying it can’t work we are not even going to it, our road is saying we have the ideas now is the time to do it, said Bishop.

Adding that “The Democrats have already given us an option on energy issues that will cost individuals up to $3000...the Republican road we want to go down is one that actually grows our energy supply so that no-one is harmed and in fact we have the chance to reduce the cost of energy.”

Bishop compared the two strategies to the movie ‘Back to the Future’ saying, “Remember those sequels to ‘Back to the Future’ where there were the two worlds? Our world is the one where the McFly family is happy, the Democrat version is the one where Biff runs everything.”

Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said the bill would be a “common sense act that is going to use our natural resources and our advanced technology to meet our energy needs and most importantly help our economy grow.”

In closing, Congressman John Fleming (R-La.) added, our vision “creates a vision for jobs, more jobs, not the so called paper mache jobs the green jobs, but real jobs created by industry.”

The Budget: A "Transformative Package"

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

This afternoon, on the eve of President Obama’s 100th day in office, progressive leaders addressed the budget and how it will improve health care, clean energy and education.

The campaign to Rebuild and Renew America Now!, a coalition of 116 national and over 700 state and local progressive, labor and advocacy organizations working together to pass the President’s budget held a press conference this afternoon and said they are confident that Congress will do what is best for the American people, and that is to pass it.

Alan Charney, the Program Director for US Action said that the budget is “transformative.”

“This blueprint totally reverses the failed economic policies of the past and sets us on a road to long term recovery,” said Charney

Tom McMahon, the Acting Executive Director of Americans United for Change criticized the Conservatives and blamed them for leading our nation into one of the most deepest recession in decades.

“Their best and in fact, only prescription for this ailing economy is more and more tax breaks for big corporations that have outsourced American jobs and more tax breaks for multi-millionaires that never manage to trickle down to anyone else and more short change investments in things that will actually grow the economy, like health care and education,” said McMahon.

The coalition members said that a clean energy legislation, health care reform and education are the most pressing issues that they hope the budget will improve.

“Congress now has the choice to stand up for our students and vote for a budget that works or they can continue to play into the pockets of the student lenders,” said Carmen Berkley, the President of the United States Student Association (USSA) and the United States Student Association Foundation (USSAF).

Berkley said that student lenders are ruining credit and dreams of students who are wanting to go to college.

Berkley also said that by eliminating programs that don’t work, like the family federal education loan program, it will put $94 billion more into the Pell grant program for students.

“We know that Congress will make an investment in students this week that works for students and their families,” said Berkley.

Spending the stimulus money: energy

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama has left the U.S. Department of Energy with a difficult task: how spending $150 billion over the next decade will result in 25 percent of Americans using renewable energy sources by 2025.

At the Energy Information Administration's annual conference in Washington today, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said that government funding will drive scientific research to make renewable sources of energy more accessible and affordable.

A Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist, Chu said that with aggressive research, adequate government funding and public support, America will spark a technological and scientific revolution in the energy industry, making renewable energies more accessible and less expensive.

President Obama has committed to doubling the funding of basic science in the next ten years, and Chu believes the funds will have significant impacts.

Chu believes that economic prosperity is tied intimately to energy affordability and energy security, and cautioned against being misled into believing that there is any correlation between the amount of energy a country uses and that country’s economic prosperity. Citing numbers from the Human Development Index, Chu displayed that over the past several decades California’s energy consumption has remained consistent while its GDP per capita has nearly doubled.

President Obama has said repeatedly that his energy plan is one that will help the economy by creating green jobs which are not subject to the threat of outsourcing, but opponents criticize the costs involved.

The Energy policy laid out in January’s Stimulus Package allots over $16 billion to energy efficiency and renewable energy, which is part of the broader $32.7 billion that the Department of Energy was given overall.

Lights out: America’s energy future

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama’s massive energy overhaul may be cruising towards the edge of a cliff if the U.S. doesn’t start manufacturing more. Such was said today before Congress by Jeff Metts, President of Dowding Machining, a manufacturer of wind turbines.

Obama’s energy policy focuses on having 25 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources of energy by 2025. The Senate has introduced a bill, S.661, which sets a slightly different standard: 20 percent by 2025. Mett doesn’t believe that the U.S. can manufacture enough wind turbines quickly enough to meet either of these goals at its current pace. He said that in 2008 the United States produced approximately 4,000 wind turbines, but that it would have to produce over 10,000 turbines each year until 2025 to meet the energy goal. There are several large logistical concerns to this process, including the cost of transporting these massive components and the time taken to manufacture each one. The transportation costs make it difficult for foreign production of the necessary parts.

Mett presented a solution to the manufacturing problem, which would cut the production time of certain components down to an eighth of what it would otherwise be. His company is seeking investors for new manufacturing plants in the United States to build these turbines quickly and efficiently. Mett said that the improvements manifest in his manufacturing process would be “game changers” in making clean energy, and that they will be the new standard around the world overnight. This would place the U.S. in a competitive advantage in the energy market. David Roders, representative from the Department of Energy, said that tight capital markets have made it difficult for industries to invest in energy efficiency. On that topic, Mett said that the problem with innovations like this is finding the first investor – he is asking the Federal government to be that ice breaker.

This manufacturing investment would be included in the comprehensive energy legislation the Senate is putting together. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the Senate Bill will invest in America’s energy future. It will help industries be more productive while using less energy, create millions of new jobs, and keep America in its position as “a top innovator of clean energy technologies.” The intended byproduct of this would be lowered greenhouse gas emissions, which should slow climate change.

Power lines: What the Senate is doing to ensure Americans have electricity

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

The Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources met today to discuss the means by which Americans have access to electricity across the nation through a modernized transmission system, sometimes called the Smart Grid. Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the nation’s transmission system has not kept up technologically with both the energy potentials before us and the sheer volume of electricity flowing through it. Also concerning was the fact that regionally based renewable energies, such as solar power in the Southwest or wind energy in the Midwest, cannot efficiently be transmitted across the nation to areas that might need that energy. Ranking Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, “We can generate all the electricity from wind and other renewable sources we want, but it doesn’t do us any good if we don’t have the capacity to get it to consumers.” Murkowski said that, “by 2013, the EIA projects a 30% increase in U.S. electricity demand, but the transmission has only grown 6.5% since 1996.” Given this, she said, “It’s understandable that our transmission isn’t adequate to meet our future energy needs.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) testified before the committee, but said that in the past 10 years, the U.S. has developed over 6,000 miles of natural gas pipelines, and less than 600 miles of new electrical lines. “We’ve got a problem” Reid said. He likened the national transmission system to the railroad network across the country or the national highway system, because it would provide a uniform means of connecting the nation.

While testifying, Senator Reid said that he is introducing a bill, S. 539, which would have the president designate national areas of renewable energy and establish a structure for linking that with the nation. The proposed legislation would create a federal back-stop transmission citing authority, which would give the federal government the power to place power lines where necessary. It would also give the FERC the ability to move along siting projects which have stalled in one way or another. Reid said the bill gives states authority to move forward on their own in developing the infrastructure, but gives the federal government the power to step in if progress is not made. This bill is similar to the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which gave the Department of Energy the power to designate National Transmission Corridors across the nation in especially congested areas of electricity flow. Senator Murkowski’s office said that to date, not one transmission line has been sited pursuant to the 2005 Act, prompting the additional legislation.