[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20794-20795]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      YANKEE FRUGALITY: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY WORKS--AND SAVES MONEY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 20, 2005

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to bring to your 
attention, to the attention of the House, and to the attention of the 
Nation, the remarkable step forward made by the Washington Electric Co-
operative in Vermont. This week they opened a new facility which 
produces electricity from methane, a gas formerly burned as a useless 
byproduct of the landfill in Coventry, VT. It is a wonderful example of 
Yankee inventiveness--and Yankee frugality.
  The new facility, which costs a relatively modest $8.5 million, will 
produce enough electricity for one-third of the Washington co-op's 
customers, a percentage expected to rise to half when the plant is 
fully operational and tuned to take advantage of all the methane 
produced by decomposition in the landfill.
  In a time of soaring energy and electricity prices, the co-op has not 
raised electricity prices for 5 years. Rates are not expected to rise 
in the next 5 years either, because the new powerplant operates 
economically and the electric utility makes good use of renewable 
energy certificates.
  This is a wonderful lesson for the Nation, which is increasingly 
pressed by both shortages of fossil fuel and by soaring prices for 
energy of all sorts.
  We need to find sources of alternative energy which can meet our 
needs for power. Contrary to what the large oil companies tell us, not 
only are such alternatives available now, those alternatives are often 
far more economical than using fossil fuels.
  Whether it is methane power, wind power, solar power, geothermal 
power, or the use of hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative to gasoline 
in cars, we must cut out dependence on foreign oil now. We will be 
better off environmentally, our national security will be enhanced, 
and--as the Washington co-op has so boldly demonstrated--we may well be 
better off economically as well.
  In short, we need an energy revolution by breaking our dependence on 
fossil fuels. I am very, very confident our small State of Vermont will 
lead this. We will be noticed by not only the country but the world.
  My congratulations to the Washington Electric Co-Op for showing 
America, with its new facility in Coventry, what can and should be done 
to make our energy sources secure and sustainable.

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