Congressional Record, Volume 154 Issue 32 (Wednesday, February 27, 2008)

[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 27, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H1146-H1153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

ENERGY

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Wilson of Ohio). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Klein) is recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's a pleasure to be here. I'm
going to be joined by a number of the members of the freshmen class,
and I appreciate the Speaker being one of our Members from Ohio. We
have a great group of Members from all over the United States who were
elected a year ago on certainly a campaign of change and bringing some
new ideas, new energy. And energy is going to be the subject tonight
because a lot of us have a lot of it.
I know Americans are looking for some new ideas on how to solve our
problems with energy and how to move our country forward. And the
reason it's important, particularly important today is because today
this House Chamber took a bold, new step, and we passed the Renewable
Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008. And as I said, many
freshmen, and many Members, Democrat and Republican, ran on a platform
of change and new ideas. Energy is that idea. It's that platform.
And if you're old enough, you'll remember the Manhattan Project. I
know I'm speaking to people who are listening in this Chamber tonight
that are familiar with that Manhattan Project. It was that great
ingenuity that Americans came together and knew what they had to do in
order to win World War II. It was done in secret, but it produced the
results that were necessary to save lives at the end of the day.
More recently, again a number of years but more recently, we had
something called the Sputnik that Russia sent up, a little tin can that
went up into space. And for those people who were alive at that time,
they were frightened, rightfully so, that the Russians had gotten ahead
of us and had put something in space that could potentially give the
Russians the control, the Soviet Union control, of the space above our
heads and maybe they would rain down on us weapons and have other kinds
of threats against the United States.
And President John F. Kennedy, at that moment in time when Americans
looked up and saw that can, that little flash in the sky, and realized
that it wasn't the United States that put that up there but a country
that at that time was viewed as in competition and the Cold War was
just developing, what happened at that moment was John F. Kennedy said
we are going to take this moment, capitalize on the concern, and
channel that into a new program, a space program that was going to put
a man on the moon by the end of the decade. And, boy, that was
something that was incredible. It was unheard of. Could we do it? I
mean, the Moon is up there, and it would take a great amount of
technology and science, and maybe it was a dream that our philosophers
and other scientists years ago had, but to actually accomplish that in
10 years?
And lo and behold, in 1969, in July, I remember the moment. I was in
a camp at that time, and I remember watching with my friends. In July
of 1969, Americans put a man on the Moon and landed a man on the Moon.
What an incredible accomplishment. And today we are still receiving the
dividends from a space program that has just had so much impact not
only on American ingenuity in terms of the space program and all the
great things that have come out of that, but in consumer products,
microwave ovens and a whole lot of other things that we take for
granted today that came out of the science, and the math and the
science and all the great things that went on in our schools to create
the future leaders and the science program and the space program that
has continued through today.
This is that moment. This is that time when Americans need to seize
this crisis that has been developing for quite some time, and we need
to do something about it. And there are three groups of people in the
United States that are all coming together behind renewable energy and
making sure that America becomes energy self-sufficient over the next
number of years.
We have had many people in this country from the environmental
community that for years have said that the pollution caused by various
types of fossil fuels have clouded our air and damaged and polluted our
waters, and it's not only in the United States but throughout the
world. The environmental community has been very concerned about this
and has tried to build bridges and coalitions, and they've really
worked hard on that. And they are now joined by two other groups.
All Americans join in the notion that as a matter of national
security, and I certainly believe this and I know the Speaker does too,
and many of the men and women in this room and most Americans
understand this, that for too long we in America have made foreign
policy decisions based on where the next drop of oil is coming from.
And what a mistake. What a mistake. We've done it over and over and
over again, whether it's dealing with Iran in our past history, dealing
with Iraq presently, dealing with Venezuela, or any number of other
countries in the Middle East, some of whom at best, at best, may not be
our friends and, at worst, are our enemies. And yet every time you go
to the pump, you're putting money not necessarily in an American
company, but you are putting money that is eventually getting into the
pockets of some of the owners of these oil wells in these countries
that are damaging our interests and in many cases are funneling to the
terrorists and the people around the world that are really putting our
men and women at risk, whether it's in Iraq or anywhere around the
world. This is a very dangerous prospect and it's unacceptable.
The third group, of course, and I think this is one of the most
exciting things, is the new economy that is developing out of this
energy discussion. The job opportunities, the great innovators, the
scientists, the American men and women at our universities, our
business entrepreneurs that understand that not only is this good for
America in terms of our environment and our national security but we
could be very successful at it from a business point of view. We can
create new technologies. We can do lots of things that create jobs,
create revenue, create income, make our standard of living higher and
greater. And we cannot only take that and build for America, this can
be the next economic boom that exports our technology, our products,
our sciences to other countries around the world. It's pretty exciting.
And I really believe very strongly that the great notions that have
come out of today's bill recognize the fact that a few years ago when
President Bush was inaugurated as President, oil was at $26 a barrel.
Think about that. That's $26 a barrel. Today it's hovering around $100
a barrel. And I know that every American should say shame on all of us,
not only as elected officials, but also as American consumers, shame on
us for allowing that to happen. That's not just a political thing;
that's literally our responsibility. We have our own responsibility to
make a decision and make a difference here.
So what we have done today, and I am joined by other members of our
freshmen class and others and we are all going to talk about this for a
few minutes, is pass a bill that does what we were talking about. It
puts the emphasis, it puts the incentives, economic

[[Page H1147]]

and otherwise, into the science, the technology of renewable energy
sources, whether it's wave power, wind power, any combination of coal,
nuclear.
And, yes, I hear from so many people that some of these have issues,
technology issues, safety issues. And they may. And it's up to us to
solve those. Let's think big. I'm not here to advocate for any one of
these alternatives. I think all of them have possibilities, and we have
to make sure that all of them have the necessary safety and necessary
science that goes with them before we move in any direction. But this
is the time for us to focus all of our energy, our attention, and our
resources on making sure our country is energy independent. And today
is the first step where we are going to do that. And I look forward to
working with all of our colleagues in the Senate and hopefully get our
President to go along with us because I know America is ready, willing,
and able to accomplish this goal.
I am joined by a good friend, Congressman Ellison. Congressman
Ellison has been a very outspoken person on the importance of energy
independence, and I'm going to yield to him to give his thoughts on
today's action.

{time} 1845

Mr. ELLISON. Representative Klein, thank you, and your introduction
was excellent because it really does set the stage for this new energy
future that America is walking into.
Today, the House considered H.R. 5351 which would end unnecessary
subsidies to big oil companies and invest in clean, renewable energy
and energy efficiency. It is similar to the House bill passed, the
Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act passed as part of a
bipartisan energy package in August 2007.
And I just want Americans to know that when you sent this class, this
110th Congress, this freshman class here to Washington, you expected
that we would take a step in favor of our energy future. And I want you
to know that we are doing that. We are stepping into that energy
future, putting innovation, putting incentives into the hands of people
who are going to make the difference, and we are putting the best
interests of the American people forward.
As I think about our energy future, I think about it every time I
walk up to the pump, Representative Klein. Every time I go to the pump,
I am reminded of why we need a new energy future. I remember back in
2001 when I would be able to put that gas pump in the tank, and I think
I was paying somewhere around $1.50 a gallon. Well, that is not so
today. You and I both, whether you are in Florida or Minnesota, or
whether you are in California or Arizona, you are probably paying
somewhere north of $3, somewhere close to $3. And that is double what I
remember paying. And that is wrong.
And this is especially at a time when we are seeing energy prices go
up and food prices go up, because it costs money to get food from one
place to another, and we see family budgets being pinched. We are in
the middle of this subprime mortgage crisis. And it is time that we get
a handle on our energy future, get a handle on not only the issue of
global climate change, not only on the issue of pollution, but on the
issue of cost to the American consumer that we get our hands on top of
this important issue.
So as I hand it back to you, Representative Klein, let me just say
that the big five oil companies recently reported record profits in
2007. ExxonMobil earned $40.6 billion, the largest corporate profit in
American history. These profits, well, I just want to say that the
American taxpayer, we are paying a whole lot more, and it might be
going pretty good for some folks, but a lot of the rest of us are
hurting.
So let me toss it back to you, Representative Klein, and thank you
for leading the charge today on this new energy future.
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Thank you, Congressman, and I appreciate, I
know you come from the Midwest and obviously dealing at this time of
the year with the oil costs for people that have to heat their homes
and to drive cars, this is a very serious issue.
As we take a look at some of these charts that we have here, we
already talked about the fact back in January of 2001, it cost $1.47
for a tank of gas. Today, it is $3.13. Now the inflation rate hasn't
gone at that pace. The inflation rate is starting to pick up now, but
nothing like this. And I have to tell you something, where I live in
south Florida, it is not $3.13. It is higher than that. It is $3.40.
Mr. ELLISON. That is what it means at the pump. But what does it mean
in terms of food prices and prices of other things, because you have to
ship this stuff, right?
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Absolutely. And as a matter of fact, we had a
discussion in our Financial Services Committee today. I am on the
Financial Services Committee with you. And we heard Mr. Bernanke, who
is the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who is really trying to do the
best that he can under difficult circumstances, and he talked about 6
months ago, we talked about the fact that we had a subprime mortgage
crisis problem and a couple of other things, but that all the other
indicators, inflation and cost of living were pretty okay. Well, guess
what? Today, we see the things that really affect families. When we
talk about families, we are not talking about Wall Street. We are
talking about what it really costs to live day to day. Look through
your checkbook, your monthly expenses. Your mortgage or your rent, the
cost of utilities, all have gone up because oil prices have gone up.
The cost of food, extraordinarily, inflation, big inflation costs of
food, a gallon of milk, vegetables, fruits, cereals, all these kinds of
things all have gone up. Gasoline now costs $50, $60 a tank, depending
on what kind of car you have or how big the tank is. Do you know
something? For people that are earning 20, 30, $40,000 a year, it is
pretty hard to make ends meet. For people on minimum wage, it is even
worse. So I think this is a real economic issue for people at this
moment that we have to solve. And there will be short-term issues we
put in this bill and some longer term issues we started out talking
about today.
Let me just talk for a second, Congressman, about the bill itself and
talk about what it does. First of all, it extends the tax credit for
solar energy and qualified fuel cells. We start talking about some of
these renewable energy ideas. I happen to be from Florida, so I'm a big
fan of solar. But do you know something? The State of Washington, with
all the rain that Seattle gets actually does more solar than other
States and Florida does. Nationwide there are opportunities to do
solar. Solar power has been around a long time. Many countries depend
on solar. The State of Israel, the Middle East, a big portion of their
electric grid is supported by solar power. Technology just has to make
some changes in the battery capacity and storage and things like that.
But these are all solvable problems when we put our minds to it.
Again, investment tax credits, using the Federal Government to
stimulate market, which is exactly what we want to incentivize the
science and business development.
We are authorizing over $2 billion of new, clean renewable energy
bonds for public power providers and electric cooperatives, again
encouraging through market, through incentives, our utilities, to start
to convert over to clean, renewable energy products and fuels.
We create a new production tax credit for cellulitic alcohol produced
for fuel in the United States. Now we all know about corn ethanol,
corn-based ethanol. Brazil, the largest industrial country in South
America, 190 million people, they are now energy independent. This is
not an 8 million person country. This is a country that put its goal on
the line about a generation ago and said we are going to do it, and a
whole lot of different types, but they use sugar-based ethanol as one
way of doing it. We extend the biodiesel production tax credit. We
extend the tax credit for purchase of fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid
vehicles. We extend the energy-efficient commercial buildings
deduction. All these things are designed to create market. We don't
have to have the Federal Government involved in all of this, other than
to say create market. Federal buildings, let's make them energy
independent. And by doing so, as taxpayers, we are getting a better
cost for our utility, and we are also creating the products and

[[Page H1148]]

encouraging the development of products that are going to save money.
So these are the kinds of things that are in this bill. And there are
a whole lot of other things we have already done. We have increased the
CAFE standards, that is for fuel miles per gallon in automobiles, for
the first time in 36 years. Imagine Congresses over the last 10, 20
years that haven't touched that. Technology has grown, but no
commitment. So I am really proud that we have worked together in a
bipartisan way to do this.
And President Bush has gone along. One thing President Bush has not
gone along with, and I hope he does right now, is this notion of $15
billion or so of tax rebates or incentives to oil companies for more
oil drilling. God bless the oil companies. They are doing just fine. As
a matter of fact, I think there is a chart that we have here on oil
company profits. This is not a question of bashing oil companies. We
are all entrepreneurs. We are all capitalists. We understand what that
means. But at the same time, a little fairness here, this is a chart
that shows the major oil companies in the United States. In 2002, $30
billion of profit. In 2004, $109 billion of profit, 2 years later. In
2007, $123 billion of profit. That is a lot of profit. That is more
money than any other company in the history of the United States has
ever made.
Now I am not even going to knock that. But what I will say is the
American taxpayer doesn't have to put $15 billion of additional
taxpayer money on top of that. And when you hear our friends on the
other side of the aisle say, oh, well, if you take away the incentives
that the Federal Government is giving them, all you are going to do is
raise the price at the pump. Excuse me? Lots of profit here to generate
more oil wells and things like that, and they will do that because it
makes good economic sense, and let them do it. That is good. I just
don't think we have to put some frosting on the cake. I would rather
take our taxpayer money and put it toward development of energy
independence.

Mr. ELLISON. Let me just lend my voice and agree with you. I do
believe that the oil companies do not need any more help from the
American taxpayer. It's time to repeal these tax breaks and credits,
and I am glad that we have done so. I just want to say that the 110th
Congress, this Congress that you and I came in as freshmen, as majority
makers, really has been productive in the area of energy.
I am so glad that within the first 100 hours, and I know Congressman
Klein, you will remember the first 100 hours, that we passed a bill to
repeal tax breaks to the big oil companies and to incentivize
production of clean and renewable sources. And then, of course, it was
just last year that we passed the bill for CAFE standards. So many
Congresses, so many years passed where we had no CAFE standards to
speak of, no increases in the CAFE standards. Now we are at 35 miles
per gallon. I think we should look at this not as some great victory
but as a start down the road of progress.
And then again today we passed this I think historic bill and it
signals change. It signals change. It signals that the United States
Congress is serious about our renewable future. It signals a change
that we can have a future where we can have air that we can breathe,
where we can be at peace with our environment and not warm up the globe
to the degree that no life can live on it, or that the changes in the
world temperatures will be so drastically changing that we can't
sustain life as it exists now.
And I think that we can also live in a future where we can get around
and have transportation that is affordable and make some sense and
actually is something that we can all live with and all participate in.
But I think that these changes that we have seen in the 110th Congress,
the 100 hours, CAFE standards and then today, signal that we are going
in the right direction.
We need the American people to continue to fuel the movement that we
are on. And one thing we are doing here tonight is trying to let you
know what we have done and then ask for your continued participation.
Because the American people are demanding change, and I think that the
110th Congress is giving it to you.
Let me just say that those statistics that were just shown about oil
profits earned, I just think it is very important to bear in mind that
as oil profits have been skyrocketing, the average person that we have
seen increases in prices in everything from food to fuel, we have also
seen inflationary tendencies, and we have also seen increase in
unemployment. We are in a time where clean, renewable energy and a new
path towards energy is something that everyone needs, and it is
something that I think our entire society, our entire economy, oil
companies included, need to take a part in and need to look at the
tremendous bounty they have received from being able to be an American
corporation and saying that, look, we are going to do something to
participate.
I would like to see our oil companies take some of their own profits
and invest it into renewable energies. I would like to see them take
some of the great bounty they have received and make a commitment to
the American people to get into a green future. So again, what we see
today is signaling change, sending us in the right direction, and I
look forward to going much, much further.
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Thank you, Congressman, and I just want to
touch on, if I can, because this freshman class of ours along with many
others in the Congress were very frustrated, along with most Americans,
about the way that Congress had been operating for the last number of
years. The last 6 years before this past term, Congress was passing
these bloated budgets, the President was signing them going deeper and
deeper into deficit, and obviously there are a lot of very expensive
things going on right now, but no lack of discipline in terms of
control of our fiscal house. And I have kids, Congressman, you have
kids, we all have children, grandchildren, parents whatever, why would
we, as a country, want to continue to put ourselves farther and farther
in debt? And that is the direction we have been going.
I am very proud to say that this Congress in the first week, we
passed something called PAYGO. It's a simple principle, pay as you go.
It is no different from when I had a business, if I couldn't meet my
payroll, I made cuts. You can't spend more than you have coming in.
Maybe you can borrow a little bit. But you have to pay your debt
service. You can't keep on borrowing, and in the case of government,
printing money. The good news is that this Congress is showing fiscal
discipline for the first time in a long time. I am committed to it, I
am a fiscal discipline person, a hawk if you will, and I know you are,
as well, Congressman, and as we go through this process, this bill is
fully paid for. And the rule that we have, PAYGO, is that no bill can
pass unless it is fully paid for. So that means no speculation that the
budget is going to grow by 3 percent next year and we will have the
money next year, and money is going to appear out of nowhere. The money
has to be in the budget. We have to make cuts somewhere else or
prioritize something. And that is exactly what budgeting is all about.
I am proud not only as a Democrat but as an American, as a Member of
this Congress, that is the direction we are going. It is going to take
time to dig out of this hole, but it is a start. This particular piece
of legislation is paid for. The way it has been paid for is in part
taking the subsidy I mentioned a few minutes ago which is billions and
billions of dollars and saying instead of just giving it to oil
companies for more oil drilling, oil is always going to be a part
of our national energy policy. But it can't be the only. And just to
give more money and flush it in that way, let's bring it in. And so we
have taken money from one source and put it in what I believe and I
think many of us believe is a higher priority of renewable energy
sources and moving in that direction.

I will just share this with you real quickly because I thought it was
quite unique. A lot of this stuff that we pass out of Washington is
viewed in a partisan way, but there are different groups that have
different positions on it and different opinions. I am going to read,
this is a very long list, I will read just a handful of the supporters,
the organizations that are supporting this energy legislation because I
think it speaks volumes coming from different points in the country and
how important it is.

[[Page H1149]]

We have the American Institute of Architects, American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the Audubon
Society, DuPont, a big manufacturer; Friends of the Earth, an
environmental group; Greenpeace, The Home Depot, Florida Power & Light,
a big producer in my State of electricity; Macy's, Mitsubishi Electric
and Electronics U.S.A., National Association of Home Builders, National
Association of Industrial Office Properties, PG&E Corporation, Target
Corporation, Wal-Mart, Yahoo. And I can go on. There are pages and
pages of groups that are behind this, environmental all the way on one
end or wherever you want to place them, to large industrial
corporations, entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists,
scientists and universities on the other. That to me is the ideal
position you want to be in. You want to have an ownership of an idea
that we've taken into context all the various ideas and brought in a
piece of legislation that is good for everyone.
It is not perfect. We are going to continue to build on this. But it
is an excellent first step, Congressman.
Mr. ELLISON. Let me just say that I agree with you. You have to
understand that when you borrow all this money to fund the government,
you have to pay that back. And that payback accounts for a part of your
budget which squeezes out other things you might really want to do. So
pay as you go has a whole lot of merit, and I'm glad we are not adding
already to the enormous debt. As you know, when this President came
into office, he inherited a fairly significant budget surplus. But that
is yesterday.
One of the things I want to mention, Congressman Klein, about this
important bill, is that provisions are critical to creating hundreds of
thousands of good-paying, green collar American jobs. This issue of
jobs, green collar jobs, is critical. Green collar jobs are jobs
perhaps in the construction industry where people would help retrofit
old buildings in order to make them more fuel efficient. For example,
green roofs on buildings, more fuel efficiency in buildings,
construction jobs, jobs that people can earn a good wage in.
I think it is important to understand that part of the new energy
future that we are talking about takes into consideration not just the
scientists who are going to be working in labs and not just the folks
who are going to be working on the policy issues, but actually
hardworking Americans who work every single day to put food on the
table for their families. The green collar job is something I think we
have to pay close attention to. And as you may know, our farm bill
actually included a provision about green collar jobs, which is very
important. I was happy to be a part of that.
The preservation of existing jobs relies on these green collar jobs
as well. A recent study showed that allowing the renewable energy
incentives to expire would lead to about 116,000 jobs being lost in the
wind and solar industries through the end of 2009.
Now this is a big deal, because if we incentivize the production of
clean, renewable energy, of wind, of solar, of biomass, of
cogeneration, of other forms of energy production, it has the effect of
spinning off more and more employment. And, of course, as I led in
before, the first part of creating a green future for America is in
conservation. That which we save, we never have to use energy to fuel.
And so in this area of conservation, as I mentioned before, all kinds
of jobs in the area of construction, in the area of so many things that
would allow people who can make a good honest living and at the same
time preserve our energy future and make our economy cleaner and make
our economy one in which everybody can even avoid the health risks
associated with some of the burning of hydrocarbons.
So, again, green collar jobs is a big part of what we did today, a
big part of what we have been doing, and I am proud to be associated
with that.

{time} 1900

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Well, I agree with you. And if you think about
the bills that we passed, this one and the other one, the other bill we
passed, in addition to increasing the fuel efficiency for automobiles,
which I think is long overdue, also creates changes in specifications
of light bulbs, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers.
These are products all of us have in our home. Many of them, they are
inefficient. They may be older, or they may just not be efficient to
start with. What we have done is, as the products are now going to come
out of the market, they are going to have to have a greater efficiency
standard for the amount of power that they use.
That is a very important thing, because now what we are seeing is
with light bulbs or any other thing that uses electricity out there,
that over time we are going to be able to save massive amounts of
power, and the amount of power that we save directly goes into the
amount of fuel and pollution and hydrocarbons and all of the rest of
those things that are produced.
This is something that Americans are asking for. And as competition
comes into play, more and more companies will be producing these, the
prices will come down, the normal competitive forces work.
So the fact that if you hear about one company right now that
manufactures a refrigerator that uses 30 percent less power but it
costs you $1,000 more, well, you are not going to buy it. Some people
may, but it is not going to have wide market appeal. But it will when
you have 10 companies producing it, and they are all in there trying to
make it better than the other companies.
This is just like any other product that comes to market. We know
that happens with TVs, and even with the flat screen TVs. They are all
coming down in price now, and DVDs and VCRs and all those kinds of
things. It is the same concept. American people want products that are
going to be efficient because they can save money in the long run. If
you can pay for it over the next 3 years in savings, it is a wonderful
thing.
But I think it is very exciting, because we are in there to promote
the general idea of renewable energy. There is not one answer for all
of this, but there are so many different parts of this country where
there is lots of great research going on.
Right off the coast of Florida where I live is the Gulf Stream. You
may be familiar with the Gulf Stream. It is a current that developed
off the coast of the United States and goes all the way up north.
I am told by the scientists who are working on this right now that
the power of the Gulf Stream, if harnessed with various types of
turbines and things like that, and these turbines have to be generated
and have to be environmentally friendly and all the rest and all of
this is under development, that over time they believe that power can
generate enough electricity to power half of Florida's power needs.
Wow. I don't know if that is going to happen, but I like the idea that
people are thinking and creating and innovating.
We have enough coal in the ground in the continental United States to
power this country for decades to come, but there are problems with
coal. Some of it is high sulfur and it creates pollution problems. But
there may be technology that can be developed to scrub the coal. Again,
there needs to be this emphasis to say, we are not just going to accept
the fact that this is coal and that we are going to continue to
pollute. We are going to be able to find a solution here. There are
solutions to every problem.
As I said before, it is not only the United States, because we can do
all that we want to do in terms of leading the world in dealing with
these environmental issues and energy solutions, but there are other
countries, China and so many other countries, that are huge power users
and huge fossil fuel users, that if we can create something that is
cost-effective, environmentally friendly, will create a better life for
everybody, we are going to have a huge market to sell those products
to.
So, I am just very excited, and you can probably hear it in my voice
because I have been talking about this for many years, but I am so
happy to be a part of Congress with our freshman class, Democrats and
Republicans and Members who just have been hearing loud and clear from
people back home, all over America, that they want change. And this is
one of these areas that allows such opportunity for us to come together
as a country, solve a

[[Page H1150]]

problem, create jobs, fix the environment, and do things that will
increase our national security.
As we go forward with this, we have so many members of our caucus who
have been interested in this. We are joined by another member of our
freshman class, I like to call them freshmen, we are still freshmen, it
is Congressman Hall from New York. Congressman Hall has a long history
before he got to Congress of having a tremendous amount of interest in
energy, and he has some personal experiences in work in his own
community on energy issues.
I am glad you joined us for this discussion. We have been talking
about the landmark bill that we passed today and what a great thing it
is for America and how we are going to take many, many more steps
forward. But please give us your thoughts, Congressman Hall.
Mr. HALL of New York. Thank you, my colleagues. This is an important
step we took today. Simply put, our success in ending our addiction to
foreign oil and fossil fuels is going to determine whether or not
America will continue to grow and prosper in the 21st century. There is
perhaps no other issue that could have as much of a profound effect on
our economy as our ability to meet this goal of producing our own
energy and new breakthroughs in ways of developing that energy.
We have seen the terrible toll that the economic downturn has taken
on working families over the past few months. Skyrocketing energy costs
have made the burden harder to bear, and, at the same time, wages have
stagnated, growth is far from certain, oil is over $100 a barrel,
translating into homes in my district that are literally burning up
their savings every time they burn oil to heat their home.

I would remind those of you who don't know that you can call up your
local distributor of heating oil if you, as my wife and I do, burn
heating oil to heat your homes, and ask for biodiesel. Ask for a
biodiesel blend. You will be surprised at how many distributors have
it. We are currently burning in New York State, in my home in Dover
Plains, a 20 percent soy-biodiesel blend, and that is that many barrels
of oil less that have to come into the country from unstable parts of
the world.
Failure to take swift aggressive action would simply result in more
of the same. I think that the House has taken leadership, which I am
proud of, and all of the government can join us in this leadership,
toward clean energy technology.
The Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act which we passed
today will provide the kind of market incentives and financial support
needed to usher in a new era of clean energy technology and innovation
that will create jobs here, enhance our security, retrieve our balance
of payments deficit, protect our environment and create thousands of
green jobs.
I just want to point out too that some people might see this, might
read this, especially with the connotations that have been attached to
the word ``tax ,'' and think that this is something that it is not.
Actually what this bill did was to take back a tax giveaway that was
given by a previous Congress to the oil companies who are reporting,
even week-to-week now we seem to hear about new record profits being
set by companies which are breaking their own record from only a couple
of years ago. And it is hard to juxtapose that and to balance that in
my mind with the increased poverty rate, with the increased amount of
personal indebtedness and national indebtedness and the balance of
trade deficit that is being fed and exaggerated by our addiction to
oil.
I would prefer that we go in the direction of the bill we passed
today, which will support new technologies to power our homes, business
economies and vehicles, and the vital tax incentives to spur renewable
energy generation, the production of biofuels of all kinds, innovative
technologies like plug-in hybrid cars.
I am driving an American made, union-made, Detroit hybrid four-by-
four, which I hope soon I will be able to convert into a plug-in
hybrid. In fact, there is a company in Massachusetts that is already
making a plug-in conversion kit to double the gas mileage of a car like
mine, or a Prius or any hybrid. So we can help push these things
forward.
In my district, the 19th District of New York, we have had meetings
all around the five counties I represent about renewable energy. We
have a solar forum and wind forum and a geothermal forum. And one of
the most popular things, the thing that got adults on their feet, was
the students' presentation from Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, New
York, of the solar racing team.
They had a beta vehicle that ran on solar energy. It was a little bit
larger than this oval table sitting here. It looked sort of like a
flying saucer. It had a seat that a student could crouch in and just
barely get behind the steering wheel. It is covered entirely with solar
panels and has batteries to store the energy in it. And it won, or tied
for first place, in a race from Houston, Texas, to Newburgh, New York,
2,000 miles on the highway in a car powered by solar power and
electricity generated therefrom, and built by the BOCES vocational
track high school students who know how to put together machinery and
weld and so on, and working with the advanced placement math and
science kids, who know how to calculate how many square inches of solar
panels you need to produce the sufficient amount of electricity. It was
the kids who got the adults excited.

{time} 1915

I ran into constituents of mine who were leaving there saying, why
don't the big auto companies do this with the resources they have? Why
can't government incentivize this sort of thing with the resources that
government has? I am happy to say that we are taking a big step in that
direction today, and I encourage our colleagues in the Senate to follow
suit and to join us.
Just this weekend on the front page of the New York Times, a major
story about a wind boom in Texas, which is now the leading State for
installed wind technology. None other than T. Boone Pickens, the oil
tycoon, was quoted, if I could paraphrase him saying he is as excited
now about wind power as he ever was about any oil field he ever
discovered.
That warms my heart to hear a guy like Mr. Pickens recognizing the
financial value, which also translates into the jobs value and the
boost to our economy that can come from wind and solar and geothermal
and low-head hydroelectric power and all the other biofuels and all the
other things that we are trying to incentivize and give tax credits for
in this legislation.
I am just thrilled to be here to talk with my colleagues about it and
to be here today to vote on it, because I see it as moving from the
lose-lose-lose energy policy of the past or, unfortunately, still the
present, where we send billions of dollars a day to the oil potentates
in the Middle East which, either by weaponry, some of that money goes
to fund radical schools which result in young, mostly men but some
women in those parts of the world being taught, among other things, to
attack U.S. interests or Israeli interests or to be seen as, you know,
as fighting against America.
Then for the privilege of doing that, and also funding, as Tom
Friedman likes to write in his columns, we pay for our troops to try to
go and defend our interest, and at the same time we get to borrow the
money from the Chinese for the whole endeavor, because we don't have
it. So for all of this trouble and all of this expense of this lose-
lose-lose policy, we also have asthma and emphysema epidemics in our
inner cities, acid rain, oil spills, et cetera.
The win-win-win policy would put us back in control of our own
foreign policy, put us back in control of our own economic policy,
would make us, once again, leaders in the technologies that we should
have been leading in all along, like hybrid technology or wind and thin
film flexible solar technology and so on.
I am glad to see us moving toward the win-win-win.
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Well, I hope that as we are all discussing this
today, it's clear that the level of deep understanding of this issue
from my colleagues here and many on the floor of the United States
House of Representatives today really gives you the sense that we are
moving in a direction that has been well thought out, it has been
deliberated carefully.

[[Page H1151]]

As I said before, you have got a remarkable group of people from one
end of our country to the other, the business community, the
environmental community that have come to embrace this and break down
this, it's either good for the environment and bad for the economy or,
you know, bad for jobs and good for the environment. It's a fallacy.
It's a false statement, it's a misstatement, and it's just the wrong
way to approach it, but it has been that way for so many years. People
seem to position it that way in the political environment.
As you very clearly made the case today, it's a win-win-win, good for
the environment, good for our economy and people's lives and really
solves a national security problem that we should have never been in
but has now come to the point where we have to listen to OPEC. We have
to listen to these countries that are deciding our future.
As I said previously in this Chamber, all it's going to take is one
super tanker to go down the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East and we
will have a worldwide energy crisis. We can't allow that to happen. We
cannot allow that to happen. We will not solve it overnight, we will
have to take the necessary steps, but today through your efforts Mr.
Hall and Mr. Ellison and so many people in the United States House of
Representatives, so many Americans who came forward and said take these
ideas and put them in legislation and collaborate together, work with
Democrats and Republicans, people from all walks of life to come up
with something that is innovative, exciting, forward thinking,
progressive, this is what we have today.
I thank the gentleman from New York for great insight and great
thought, because you are truly one of the architects of the great piece
of legislation today.
Mr. Ellison, I know you were ready to add something to Mr. Hall's
comments as well.
Mr. ELLISON. That's right, and I do thank you. I will have to take my
leave shortly after making my remarks, but I want to thank you for
holding it down tonight. Mr. Klein, you are doing a good job as usual.
But I just want to say as I hear Mr. Hall make comments about young
people who are involved in innovation and creative use of their talents
and skills, it reminds me of the fact that this bill that we passed
today, plus the bill that we passed in the 100 hours, plus the farm
bill and the energy bill we have already passed, is a policy that all
Americans can get behind, whether you are a young person in high school
trying to figure out how much of the surface of your solar vehicle
needs to be paneled so that it can run efficiently, or whether you are
a person working in a company or whether you are a person who is just
trying to earn enough money for a family, this is a bill that meets the
needs of many people, which is why it's good legislation.
You ran off a list of supporters of the bill. I also just want to
point out that whether you are a mom and a dad or whether you are Home
Depot or even Dow Chemical or the Sierra Club, or the United
Steelworkers or the National Farmers Union, this is good legislation.
This is legislation America can get behind.
I look forward to a more renewable, greener future that we all can
participate in, and I just want to say, finally, to our oil companies
that have made such monumental profits over the last numbers of years,
I do hope that you all look within yourselves and take some of those
profits that you have been able to get based on you being an American
company and invest in America.
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Thank you, Congressman. Again, Minnesota is
well served by great leadership there. You know, it's funny, as the
gentleman was talking about our children, I look back and think when I
was growing up, and you would drive down the road, and people would
just, when they were done with a bag of food, they would just throw it
out the window; a can of soda, throw it out the window; cigarettes,
throw it out the window. On any side road, you just see garbage.
It wasn't until our kids started saying what are you doing, why are
you doing this? Then the whole notion of recycling and how that became
built in. But it wasn't from parents that came forward or grandparents.
It was children. Learning in school, learning about their environment,
learning about how important it was to preserve and to protect and
clean up and not add to pollution and things that caused environmental
problems.
Those are the things. Those are the changes. Seat belts, those are
another example. Children were taught about it. We as adults, many
people didn't do it. Obviously laws were passed later, but it was
children. I remember my kids saying to my wife early on, you got in the
car, where is your seat belt? Why don't you put your seat belt on? She
obviously was not shamed into it but learned from our kids.
I think our generation today is a generation, as I started today's
conversation, this is the calling of this generation, a calling of our
young people to call upon our adults, our grandparents, everyone in
America to say this is something that is so important to the United
States on so many levels as we have been discussing, that we are going
to have to do it.
It's the generation that's in school today, that's in college today
that are young adults that are driving and realize that they have a
lifetime to live. That lifetime needs to be on a planet that is clean,
has fresh air, has fresh water and all the things that are important,
and, at the same time, we can live in a country that produces high-
quality jobs and creates all sorts of products and services that can be
done.
Last week in West Palm Beach, I was in an office building that's a
green building, a certified building. Now some people don't know what
that is, and I am learning about this as we go, but this is a building
that is designed from top to bottom. Its energy use, the whole
construct of the building is such that it is really designed to save
energy, to create a much more productive environment. So it's not just
the energy side, but it's the whole environment, working and living and
all those kinds of things.
It was fascinating, because a lot of people say, well, I am not going
to go there. It costs a lot more. If you build it from the ground up,
it doesn't cost that much more. There are a lot of savings to be
generated out of these types of savings, savings of water in the
plumbing, savings of water in the energy, the lights, the electricity,
the heating, the ventilating and the air conditioning, all very
important, lots of opportunity.
Market is being created. The support is there. These people are
leasing up this building. Things are a little slower for it right now,
but this gentleman who has speculated on this building, he is finding
tenants because they are saying, you know something, it makes sense.
It's good for my corporate image. It's good for my employees, my
production. We're going to save money in the long run. Why not.
There are lots of ways to retrofit buildings, too, that I know the
gentleman is very familiar with. So these are the kinds of things that
I know are very important to all of us that are created and encouraged
in this bill and in other bills. Of course, as we move forward we are
going to look for ideas from our constituents, our business people, our
kids, our scientists and what other things we can do for our country,
some through legislation, some just talking about it, moving it
forward.

These are the things, and now we are joined by another Member who is
so active, and I know his campaign was heavily involved in
environmental and energy issues, the gentleman from California, the
Golden State, Mr. McNerney. If you would please join us and give us
your thoughts on today's legislation and how you feel about the issue.
Mr. McNERNEY. I have to say, I started my career developing wind
energy technology. I got started when I was in college because of a few
things that motivated me. We had the oil embargo of 1973. We had
exciting technology that was being developed, computer simulations,
actual hardware being placed in the field and then tremendous economic
promise.
What spurred that on was the tax incentives of the 1970s. They gave
us the motivation to move forward and to develop these new
technologies. I can tell you the first time we put a wind mill
together, we brought the investors in, we turned on the machine, and
the wind, the blades flew everywhere, we would have had to run for
cover, but that was the very start.

[[Page H1152]]

We kept going, the motivation was there, the economics were there. We
kept improving year by year. We improved the aerodynamics, we improved
the control system, we improved the mechanical system, the gears. Every
bit of that technology and knowledge was improved over a 20-year period
until today. We have one of the most economic forms of new energy
technology in the world. It's growing by leaps and bounds all over the
world, and I think there is a very big parallel to what's happening
today.
Right now, we have a national security issue. We have very exciting
technology taking place all over this great country. There is economic
security at stake and now we also have a new element. It's global
warming. So the motivation is there.
The problem is that the companies can't move forward without long-
term planning. Part of that long-term planning is knowing what your
rate of return is going to be, and if we don't move forward with
production tax credits and investment tax credits, then the investors
don't know what to expect, so they are not going to get into the game.
This has happened to our country repeatedly over the last 20 years,
whereas Europe has kept a very steady plan, a very steady investment
incentive, and they are way ahead of us in terms of renewable energy
technology in terms of production, in terms of employment.
Now it's our turn to catch up. A 5-year extension is just exactly
what we need, and I am so happy that the House, I am so proud of the
House for coming together and moving forward with this legislation.
It's going to keep us competitive, it's going to create jobs
throughout our great country in rural areas that have been depressed.
It's going to create jobs in cities, in manufacturing, so this is the
kind of legislation that I was sent here to produce. This is the kind
of legislation that my colleagues all agree with me that is so
important to our country, and I think the House did a wonderful job
today.
It's going to help our country long, long into the future, and it's
going to also benefit our national security, as I mentioned before,
because we are importing about 11 million barrels of oil per day into
this country. That's a tremendous amount of money going overseas.
That's a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide going into the air.
So we are motivated by national security. We are motivated by
economic security, and we are going to fight global warming, and we are
going to adapt and we are going to move forward with the new
technology, creating the kind of country that we want for our children
to live in.
My good friend from New York, you look like you are ready to talk.
Mr. HALL of New York. I am always ready to talk, my friend. I was
thinking, as you were speaking, about how institutions starting with
the United States Government and State and county and local governments
can all do their part, and we have done our part by voting today for
this legislation, by voting, actually, earlier in this session, last
year, in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, we voted out
legislation to put solar panels on the south-facing wall on the
Department of Energy building, which would be a symbolic step forward,
as well as a practical one, because the south-facing wall was designed
in the 1970s when the Department of Energy was first created to be at
the proper angle for photovoltaic cells to generate the best and most
power from the sun.

{time} 1930

It is that kind of investment that government can make. It is that
kind of investment that States can make.
I met today for probably the third time with representatives of New
York State's Energy Research and Development Authority about ideas like
putting infrastructure on the New York State thruway service stations,
the whole route that goes from Buffalo across to Albany and down to New
York City of interstate highways, which would include biofuels and
which would include at least a blend of biodiesel, and hopefully some
E85. We have hundreds of thousands of vehicles, at least, of vehicles
that have been sold as flex-fuel vehicles to American citizens by TV
commercials saying you are doing something green when you buy them.
But in New York State, the 19th Congressional District of New York
State that I represent, we got a call in our district office from a
lady saying, ``I just bought a flex-fuel vehicle. Where can I get some
fuel?'' And our staffer had to say there is one pump in Albany and
another one in Westchester somewhere.
Congressman Markey told me that in Massachusetts, he said there is
one pump for the whole State for E85 and 140,000 flex-fuel vehicles on
the roads. So we have to start pulling the string through the tube, the
string of demand through the tube, and make sure there is more supply
created by creating the demand.
I would hope that the Arlington High School Action Club which I just
met with last week, which is in the middle of a project right now of
putting solar panels on the roof of their school, a new wing of their
school, and I suggested to them that their next project, after they do
their solar panels, they should switch their school bus fleet for that
school district to biodiesel or to a biodiesel blend. It is made to
order for school bus fleets, for post office trucks, for town and
county highway trucks, any entity of government or private enterprise
like FedEx or UPS, or trucking companies that use a lot of diesel fuel,
can just as well burn. If I can burn 20 percent biodiesel at home, they
can burn it in their diesel trucks.
Some of my musician friends, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt, have
been driving for years tour buses and trucks all over this country on
biodiesel. It definitely can be done, and I think each of us as
Americans should look at this as an opportunity to lead and to do our
part to push this revolution forward and to push this new policy into
being.
Government can't do everything. It certainly can't do everything all
at the same time. But together, businesses, government, and individuals
can make the decisions on a day-to-day basis to vote with our dollars
for those new forms of energy, where available, whether it is by
flipping our electric bill over and voting for wind. In New York State,
we are allowed to do that. We are allowed to choose whether it is wind
or hydro or whatever form of electrical generation we choose, whether
it is by asking for biofuels whenever we can get them, by driving the
most fuel-efficient car, in the most fuel-efficient way, I might add.
At any rate, there is nowhere to go but up. And in the process, we
will regain our sovereignty and somewhere down the road we will not
have to worry about speaking honestly to Saudis or other nondemocratic
governments about human rights, just as we won't have to worry about
speaking honestly to the Chinese about lead-tainted toys because we are
afraid we won't get the oil from one or get the debt floated by the
other.
So it is getting ourselves back on our feet economically and
diplomatically and energywise.
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman from New York for the
encouragement to help move this in the right direction.
And to close, I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. McNERNEY. We have just seen the gentleman from New York showing
his excitement about the future of energy technology in his own
district.
I have seen this with Representatives from New York, from Alaska.
Well, a new Representative we are going to have in 2009 from Alaska,
from California where I live, from all over the country. From the Great
Plains, even from the South where they don't have wind, they are always
cloudy there, but they have biomass. So everybody can get excited,
everybody can take part. Our whole country can move together, forward
together in such a way that benefits all of us and enhances our
national security.
So I am looking forward to opening up a whole new economy. The
naysayers are saying we can't afford what is going to happen with
global warming. I can tell you we can more than afford it. We can't
afford not to. It is going to create jobs and it is going to create
security. It is going to create a great future for our country.
Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman from California.
I certainly call on those in the other body, the Senate, to also
think boldly about energy independence and help us pass this bill as
fast as possible.

[[Page H1153]]

When the Senate passes the energy bill, we as Americans urge the
President of the United States to sign it quickly and to join together
with all of us. This is the calling of our generation, and the time is
now. I thank the gentlemen and all of our Members of the House of
Representatives, those who supported the bill today, and encourage
others to join us on the ride.

____________________