[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 154 (Thursday, October 31, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7730-S7731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MARKEY:
  S. 1627. A bill to amend title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory 
Policies Act of 1978 to establish a Federal renewable electricity 
standard for retail electricity suppliers and a Federal energy 
efficiency resource standard for electricity and natural gas suppliers, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, as for the other win for Massachusetts, 
today I am introducing my first major piece of legislation as a 
Senator. My bill, the American Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act, 
will allow every single American to have access to clean energy and 
money-saving efficiency.
  In our slow economic recovery, there has been one very bright spot in 
Massachusetts and the national economy, the incredible growth of clean 
energy, energy efficiency, and the jobs that come with these 
industries.
  According to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, our State alone 
has gained 20,000 jobs in these sectors since 2010, with another 10,000 
new jobs expected in the next year alone. Massachusetts has become the 
Nation's most energy-efficient State. Boston is ranked as the Nation's 
most energy-efficient city. Our shores will host the first offshore 
wind farm, with a new construction terminal built in New Bedford, 
allowing our fishermen to work alongside our wind energy workers. 
Massachusetts is No. 7 in the Nation in deploying solar energy, even 
though we are more well known for the ``Perfect Storm'' than perfectly 
sunny days.
  These advances, these jobs, these technologies have flourished in 
Massachusetts because we have set the right policies and encouraged our 
companies to lead.
  Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick set high goals for clean energy 
deployment in our State, and we have already surpassed them. Boston 
Mayor Tom Menino wanted Boston to be known as green for just more than 
the Green Monster in Fenway Park, and he has delivered. Boston is now 
the greenest city in the United States. That is why I am introducing my 
first bill as a Senator to take our Massachusetts leadership and make 
it national.
  My bill would require that electricity sold to American consumers 
increasingly be generated using renewable sources such as wind, solar, 
hydro, geothermal, and biomass. By 2025, the bill would require 25 
percent of our electricity to come from the free fuel of the Sun, the 
wind, and the Earth.
  Since the cheapest and the cleanest powerplant is the one we never 
have to build, my bill would also require utilities to put people to 
work on large-scale energy efficiency programs.
  My bill would build on the efforts of Massachusetts and the 30 other 
States that already require utilities to provide customers with minimal 
amounts of renewable electricity and ensure that America joins the 118 
other nations that have already established renewable energy goals.
  My bill would quadruple renewable energy production in the United 
States. It would create more than 400,000 new jobs. We can put 
steelworkers and ironworkers and electricians back to work building the 
new energy backbone for America, from Massachusetts to Montana.
  The energy efficiency measures in my bill would save the average 
household $39 per year on utility bills, and it would reduce carbon 
dioxide pollution by the equivalent output of 120 coal-fired 
powerplants, helping our efforts to battle the advancing tide of 
dangerous climate change.
  A renewable electricity standard passed the House of Representatives 
twice while I was a Member of the body--as recently as 2009--and it has 
passed the Senate three times since 2002. Before it was held hostage 
over the Affordable Care Act, the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency 
bill showed there is real bipartisan support for energy efficiency in 
the Senate. These are policies that should be embraced and not blocked.
  If we do not take these steps, we will lose the international race to 
dominate the multitrillion-dollar clean energy sector. Right now, China 
has already overtaken the United States as the No. 1 most attractive 
place to invest in renewable energy. Sixty percent of all new companies 
going public in the clean energy sector are doing so in China. More 
than 100,000 clean energy jobs are being created there annually. China 
now has more wind capacity installed than any other country, and they 
produce two-thirds of the world's solar panels.
  It is time for our country to scale up our clean energy deployment 
and innovation. It is also time to take a look at revolutionary 
approaches to driving that innovation. All too often we are unable to 
move clean energy-related discoveries and breakthroughs out of the labs 
and into the marketplace.
  That is the problem my clean tech consortia legislation addresses. I 
have included this bill as part of the Manufacturing Jobs for America 
Initiative, launched this week by Senator Coons and some of my 
Democratic colleagues. My bill would fertilize America's innovation 
ecosystems so that scientific breakthroughs can more effectively 
navigate the so-called valley of death between the lab and the factory 
and reach their commercial potential.
  America's universities and research institutions are truly national 
treasures, and our venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are the 
sharpest in the world. When we sprinkle the right mix of scientific 
brainpower and capitalist drive, we get something uniquely American and 
extremely potent in terms of its economic impact.
  My clean tech consortia bill, which I will soon be introducing, will 
link inventors with investors, professors with producers and get clean 
energy out of the laboratories and into the factories. That is the type 
of partnership we need with the private sector right now in our 
country.
  The other bill I have included in this package, the Manufacturing 
Jobs for America Initiative, and which I will also be introducing soon, 
is called the Build America Bonds Initiative. Here is how it works and 
here is what it does.
  When a State or local government wants to build and renovate schools, 
bridges, roads, and hospitals, they need financing, and they issue a 
bond. Investors buy those bonds, giving the State capital to hire 
workers and update infrastructure, and investors get a return in the 
form of interest. Build America Bonds say to State and local 
governments: We will help with the interest payments and help put more 
Americans back to work.
  From the inception of this program in April 2009 to when it expired 
at the end of 2010, there were 2,275 separate

[[Page S7731]]

bonds issued nationwide, which supported more than $181 billion of 
financing for new public capital infrastructure projects, such as 
bridges, schools, and hospitals.
  Build America Bonds were a huge success in Massachusetts. My State 
issued close to $5 billion in bonds. Build America Bonds helped finance 
Massachusetts' Accelerated Bridge Program, which repaired and rebuilt 
hundreds of structurally deficient bridges.
  Other examples of projects include a new laboratory at UMass Amherst, 
a new courthouse in Salem, and a new building at the Worcester State 
Hospital--improving energy efficiency and reducing costs.
  I plan to work with my good friends Senator Wyden and Congressman 
Neal--both leaders on this issue--to ensure we continue to invest in 
both our infrastructure and our future.
  These are the kinds of programs that will put America back to work. I 
want American workers to build and export wind turbines and solar 
panels that say ``Made in America,'' instead of the American economy 
importing millions of barrels of oil a day that say ``Made by OPEC.''
  I want American inventors dreaming up the newest energy technologies 
that convert patent applications for a prototype into job applications 
on the factory floor. I want American workers repairing our crumbling 
bridges, roads, and schools.
  We are in a terrestrial technology and manufacturing race as 
important as the celestial race President Kennedy began 50 years ago. 
These are three of the programs that will put America into a new 
economic orbit, looking down on our competitors. We should pass all 
three and put America back to work.
                                 ______