WASHINGTON, DC – As the price of oil continues to hover at the $100 a barrel mark, and consumers suffer from a slowing economy, today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) urged her colleagues to address the need for investments in new energy sources which can create jobs, save people and businesses money, and over time reduce energy costs along with the economic stimulus package being considered by Congress. 

 

Cantwell’s statement on investments in smart energy technologies:

 

“In helping Americans we can not be penny wise and pound foolish. We need to give consumers some financial relief immediately and we need to ensure we are helping solve the underlying causes contributing to the downturn. Energy costs have skyrocketed. They are robbing people’s ability to buy their children new clothes, to take a family vacation, to visit their grandparents, or to go see a basketball game. Businesses are seeing their profits evaporate as their energy bills swell. Only by accelerating our investment in clean sources of energy and energy-saving technologies can we get people and businesses real relief from crushing energy costs.

 

“While we must address the short-term challenges facing American families, we must also look to the long-term needs for our economy and job growth.   These tax incentives supported $20 billion in renewable energy investment last year and will expire at the end of this year without Congressional action.  Waiting a few months to extend these expiring tax incentives is almost as bad as not extending them at all.  Congress should act on these important incentives in order to avoid choking off critical investment spending in 2008 that could have tremendous long-term economic benefits.

 

“I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Finance Committee and in both houses of Congress to ensure we address the need for jobs and investment growth as we respond to the call for short-term economic stimulus.”

 

Cantwell, a member of the Senate Finance and Energy Committees, has long-championed clean energy tax incentives to promote investment in innovative new technologies that move our country away from it’s overdependence on fossil fuels and help boost our economy and create high-wage “green collar” jobs.  On May 11, 2007 Cantwell introduced the bipartisan Clean Energy Investment Assurance Act (S.1370), cosponsored by Senate Finance members Gordon Smith (R-OR), John Kerry (D-MA), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), part of which was incorporated into a $28 billion package of clean energy tax incentives approved by the Senate Finance Committee last summer. 

 

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