[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9721-9722]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, I came here and said 
that each week I was going to give a talk on the floor about another 
piece of the puzzle of why it is so important to pass climate change 
legislation this year; about how we cannot wait as we see tremendous 
changes to our environment and our way of life. We need to act and we 
need to act now.
  Last summer, I took a trip to Greenland with other members of the 
Environment and Public Works Committee to see firsthand the effects of 
global climate change. One of the scientists traveling with us 
described Greenland as a canary in the coal mine when it comes to 
global warming.
  Greenland has lost an amount of ice in 1 year equal to two times all 
the ice on the Alps. People in Greenland are planting potatoes in 
places where they used to run sled dogs on the ice. What we saw on that 
trip only confirmed for us what the scientific community has now 
asserted in an overwhelming consensus. Average global temperatures are 
up 1 degree in the last century. Now, that does not sound like much, 
but to put it in perspective, they are only up 5 degrees since the 
height of the Ice Age.
  The EPA forecasts an increase of 3 to 8 degrees for the next 100 
years. It is up 1 degree in the last century, estimated 3 to 8 degrees 
in this 100 hundred years. Ice caps are melting, ocean levels are 
rising, and glaciers are shrinking.
  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded there is 
irrefutable evidence of climate change on every continent, with risks 
to several species and the danger of increasing violent weather events.
  When I arrived in the Senate a little over a year ago, people were 
still debating whether climate change was real; was it actually 
happening? The debate is over, the facts are in, and now we are finally 
debating solutions.
  I am proud to say it is science that has affected our actions and 
that this shift in our thinking is because there are people now in this 
Chamber who are willing to look at and talk about the science.
  Last year in the Energy bill, we raised fuel economy standards for 
cars and trucks and other vehicles for the first time in years and 
years, for the first time in decades. The new standard will boost fuel 
efficiency by 40 percent and cut millions of tons in carbon emissions. 
And, most importantly, as we look at how much gas costs, it is going to 
save the average family, depending on how many children they have, 
something like $1,000 a year.
  So this is not only about environmental issues, this is about 
economic pocketbook issues as well. In the farm bill agreement the 
conferees approved last week and this Senate passed, we have important 
incentives to move farmers toward the next generation of clean, 
renewable biofuels, using cellulosic crops that can be grown on 
marginal farmland with minimal chemical input.
  This is the next generation of biofuels; using other parts of the 
corn, looking at switchgrass, prairie grass, things that actually are 
consistent with conservation and can be good for our environment and 
can help to wean us off our dependency on foreign oil. Instead of 
investing in the sultans of Saudi Arabia, we can be investing in the 
farmers and the workers of this country.
  Now it is time for us to take the next crucial step in energy and 
conservation policy: enact strong, comprehensive climate change 
legislation, the Lieberman-Warner bill, that will come before the 
Senate in a few weeks.
  I referred a moment ago to our trip to Greenland last summer. But 
today I wish to discuss a second trip I took recently, that is, around 
my State, visiting many small towns in the State of Minnesota.
  I visited the campus of the University of Minnesota-Morris, where 
they are building a biomass gasification plant. It turns farm and 
forest byproducts into gas and produces electricity. Within a year or 
two, it will meet the heating, cooling, and electricity needs for the 
entire campus without burning any carbon-emitting fossil fuels. I 
visited southwestern Minnesota, where I have been many times, where 
there is a sprawling windmill farm on the rise of land called Buffalo 
Ridge. You can see towering turbines for miles, and they are now 
supplying a significant share

[[Page 9722]]

of Minnesota's power needs--in fact, with the standard enacted on a 
bipartisan basis by our State legislature, 25 percent by 2025 for 
renewable energy of all kinds for the provision of electricity. In tiny 
Starbuck, MN, 10 people left their jobs to join a solar panel factory 
manufacturing solar panels to make electricity from the Sun. These 
projects are reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and cutting our 
emissions of greenhouse gases.
  The point I wish to discuss today as part of this week's discussion 
is that they are creating good jobs. I mention these examples because 
when we discuss climate change and solutions, too many people think it 
has only to do with doing without, cutting back, and doing less. It is 
true conservation must play a central role in a comprehensive energy 
policy to clean up our planet and reduce our dependency on foreign oil. 
This isn't the days of Jimmy Carter putting on a sweater and going on 
TV and looking glum. People actually see this as an economic benefit, 
if they conserve, because they are going to save money. It is also true 
that by adopting a strong, sensible policy toward reducing greenhouse 
gas pollution, we can open the door to a world of opportunities, which 
means new jobs.
  As we prepare to discuss action on climate change, here is what we 
must remember. There is a possibility, a strong possibility, an 
opportunity that we can get more out of this. This means manufacturing 
a new generation of refrigerators, air-conditioners, and other 
household appliances that meet the needs of consumers while consuming 
less electricity. It means designing buildings with ``smart glass'' and 
rooftop gardens that conserve energy and water. Some people think these 
rooftop gardens are some kind of landscaper's lark, but they aren't. 
They keep buildings warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer and 
capture airborne pollutants that otherwise would enter the air we 
breathe. JPMorgan, a huge investment bank, recently redesigned its 
Manhattan headquarters with a rooftop garden and estimates it will save 
30 percent on its utility bills.
  Since cars and trucks are a major source of our greenhouse gas 
emissions, this next generation of looking at the world differently 
means exploiting the full potential of hybrid automotive technology. 
Hybrid cars and trucks, however, have already shown themselves to be a 
great success story, on the sales lot and in the engineering 
laboratory. The old version required you to plug in the car and carry 
around extra batteries. Because we invested in research and provided 
some limited Federal incentives, we are not only seeing a better 
product; we are also seeing an explosion in consumer demand that would 
have been unthinkable a few years ago.
  Now Chevrolet has developed another breakthrough, the Chevy Volt, a 
battery-powered car which could be on the market in less than 2 years. 
You will be able to plug the Volt into an ordinary household outlet and 
then drive up to 40 miles without using a drop of gasoline. Your car 
isn't going to stop when it finishes up 40 miles. It converts over to 
fuels and biofuels. The waiting list for hybrid vehicles shows 
consumers welcome efficient designs and are buying vehicles that will 
create good jobs for autoworkers and other people in manufacturing.
  Taken together, this sort of technology has the potential to create 
thousands, perhaps millions, of good jobs and spur millions of dollars 
in productive new investment.
  Consider the potential of biomass, burning dedicated crops to produce 
electricity. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that a concerted 
effort to develop dedicated energy crops for biomass powerplants could 
generate 120,000 new jobs over the next 15 years. Consider the 
potential of wind energy. Each large utility-scale wind turbine that 
goes on line generates over $1.5 million in economic activity. Each 
turbine provides up to $5,000 in lease payments per year for 20 years 
or more to farmers, ranchers or other landowners.
  When we start putting all the pieces of this puzzle together, a whole 
new vista for the economy opens. The Union of Concerned Scientists 
estimated last year that merely adopting a strong national renewable 
energy standard, one important step toward reducing greenhouse gas 
pollution, would create 185,000 jobs in industries such as wind and 
solar by the year 2020.
  Daniel Kammen, who runs the Renewable and Appropriate Energy 
Laboratory in California, points out that $1 invested in renewable 
energy creates three to five more jobs than $1 invested in fossil 
fuels, as we can see here. That is because renewables create jobs in 
engineering and manufacturing and because that money is invested here 
at home, instead of being shipped overseas for foreign oil producers.
  This institute estimates that if our country met 20 percent of its 
electricity needs from wind power, solar, biomass, and other 
renewables, those industries would employ more than 250,000 people 
every year, compared to fewer than 100,000 jobs if we continue to get 
all our electricity from fossil fuels.
  This week, the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that by the year 
2030, it would be feasible for wind power to supply 20 percent of our 
country's electricity needs, matching the output of nuclear 
powerplants.
  Finally, the Apollo Alliance estimates that if we made a full-bore 
national commitment to climate change through energy-conserving 
technology, building design, more efficient vehicles, and renewable 
fuels, we could create 3 million new jobs and an additional $1 trillion 
of economic output in the next decade. This is our opportunity. But it 
is only that. It is only an opportunity unless we seize it because our 
country will not mobilize the automobile engineers, the landscape 
architects, the building designers, the appliance manufacturers, the 
power companies, unless we send the right signal to the economy as a 
whole, the signal that our country is committed to technologies that 
will help us battle climate change.
  Consider this: Despite the wind farms and solar energy companies 
cropping up here and there across the country, the United States is no 
longer a leader in these clean energy technologies. We rank third in 
wind power, third in photovoltaic power installed. Ironically, our 
country has been surpassed by countries that took the technology 
developed in the United States, and it has allowed foreign competition 
to leapfrog over American businesses.
  Here is my answer: We need leaders. We need American leaders, not 
followers. The private sector has read the evidence and is waiting for 
us to show leadership. Last winter, the Environment Committee heard 
from the chief executives of 10 major corporations, including General 
Electric, DuPont and Duke Energy. They have formed the United States 
Climate Action Partnership. They seek a mandatory, market-driven 
approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, an approach they believe 
will drive development of new greener technology and become an engine 
for new economic growth and job creation. They are waiting for 
leadership from Washington. In a few weeks, we will have the 
opportunity to demonstrate that leadership. My colleagues, Senators 
Lieberman and Warner, have written climate change legislation that is 
bold but practical, forward thinking but pragmatic. They recognize that 
the time for study is over, the time for hesitation has passed. The 
time for action is upon us.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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