[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 102 (Thursday, July 9, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H7922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CLEAN ENERGY AND THE GREAT LAKES REGION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, hundreds and hundreds of Americans 
will gather in Massena, New York, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of 
the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the fourth seacoast 
of our country, stretching all the way from Duluth, Minnesota, all the 
way out to the Atlantic Ocean, and for communities such as Toledo and 
Port Clinton and Sandusky in my own congressional district, the Saint 
Lawrence Seaway waterborne corridor is our gateway to the Atlantic and 
the world beyond.
  The seaway is the linchpin in our efforts to create sophisticated, 
modern, multimodal distribution hubs that can skirt the congestion in 
coastal ports in our country. The seaway, our corridor that we share 
with the Canadians, is the vital link of commerce between our Nation's 
heartland and world markets. Therefore, investments in the seaway are 
not only investments in our economic future for the Great Lakes States 
but for the Nation.
  As the United States Congress considers clean energy legislation and 
a national power generation policy, it is important that that policy 
remediate a major national energy inequity that must be included in any 
reform bill.
  Power costs are just horrendous in the Great Lakes States, in fact, 
double and triple the rates of our western and southern brethren and 
southeastern brethren in our country. And when you think about those 
regions having had the luxury of Federal power support for nearly 75 
years--and they have enjoyed those power supports--they were really a 
product of a Nation that believed in growing to the west and the south. 
And we made it happen.
  But our Great Lakes region, along with some northeastern States, are 
the only parts of our country without equal access to Federal benefit 
for electric power generation and transmission, thus denying 
competitive rates to our residential, commercial, and industrial 
consumers.
  The high costs of power just in my district here in northern Ohio--at 
14 to 18 cents a kilowatt hour--is a serious factor contributing to job 
loss. In fact, the Midwest is put at a competitive disadvantage with 
the entire rest of the country, not because we have fewer resources or 
less skilled workers, but because Federal subsidies encourage 
development in western and southern areas, but not in ours.
  The House version of the energy bill includes a provision members of 
the Great Lakes States worked very hard to incorporate. It begins the 
process of leveling the energy playing field for these Great Lakes 
States and creating the startup of Federal energy parity.
  The Great Lakes region is home to 116 million people that account for 
well over a third of our Nation's gross domestic product, and we've 
long endured these serious competitive disadvantages because of the 
absence of Federal power parity.
  This provision aims to level the playing field with all other regions 
of the country--the South, the West, the Southeast, the Tennessee 
Valley Authority--that have benefited for over 75 years from Federal 
power assistance to develop their economies.
  These regions borrow at very favorable Federal funds rates and also 
receive significant energy infrastructure investments annually, with 
the Western Power Authority alone receiving over $228 million just in 
the last year.
  In the recovery bill passed earlier this year, there was an 
additional $6.5 billion just for Bonneville Power Authority and the 
Western Area Power Authority, along with $10 million for added 
infrastructure and administration.
  For infrastructure, for renewable power generation, really, these 
Federal supports provide a huge strategic advantage. The language we're 
offering would propose a similar $3.5 billion borrowing authority to 
create jobs through the development of clean energy platforms, and if 
we don't do this in our region, those green energy jobs are going to 
flow to the other parts of the country.
  This provision would allow a Federal instrumentality such as the 
Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation to undertake these green 
energy development activities across Great Lakes communities. And as 
the energy bill moves to the Senate, Members of this body must continue 
to demand equal treatment from the Federal Government for all regions 
of our Nation.
  Our region's track record is commendable. It speaks for itself. We're 
among the three top solar centers in the hemisphere. We have massive 
biofuels industries, the first solar plant at a U.S. National Guard 
base, establishment of clean energy incubators at many of our advanced 
universities, and an expanding roster of startup green companies that 
are pursuing exciting opportunities in solar, wind, and other green 
power sectors.
  The Great Lakes deserve to be a part of the solution to clean energy 
in our country, but in order to do this, we need to have that Federal 
energy power parity with the other regions of the country that have now 
developed as a result of what the Midwest and Northeast did for them 
over three-quarters of a century ago.
  A true revolution in green energy can only be ushered in in a 
balanced way when the Great Lakes have the same instrumentalities that 
ushered in generations of western and southern growth.

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