Senator Maria Cantwell's Statement (as prepared) on the Introduction of a New Energy Policy for the 21st Century
Thank you, Senator Dorgan. I also want to thank my colleagues, Senator Bingaman, who continues to show outstanding leadership on energy issues as chairman of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee, and Senator Daschle, who has done an excellent job of pulling together a truly comprehensive package that crosses the jurisdictions of multiple Senate committees.
The Daschle-Bingaman bill is an energy plan for the 21st century.
This legislation moves beyond the Republican energy policy of dig, drill, and burn and harnesses the power of the environment to protect the environment.
Our 21st economy demands an energy plan that takes advantage of the new distributed technologies that will move the reliable, clean, secure production of electricity closer to our homes, businesses, and industries.
The bill supports the development of renewable fuels such as wind, solar, geothermal and even ocean resources by setting benchmarks for the year 2020.
In Washington state, we're already beginning to take advantage of our tremendous wind resource.
Washington state is home to one of the largest wind farms in the nation, which by year-end will be producing enough electricity to power 60 thousand homes.
The bill also reauthorizes the existing Renewable Energy Production incentive program, which makes certain that local, consumer owned utilities will also promote environmentally sensitive sources of energy.
In Washington state, two of our public utility districts have used this program to invest in renewable biomass projects to turn waste into energy.
Reauthorizing this program is a critical step in making sure that other states can follow Washington's lead.
In addition to promoting renewable fuels, this bill begins to take advantage of the idea of distributed generation, which uses new technologies to generate power closer to home in a cleaner fashion and gives consumers tools to monitor consumption in real time.
This will help protect consumers from the steady stream of rate hikes they have faced during the last year, as will other provisions in the bill.
In Washington state, the second worst drought on state record and our proximity to California caused many of my state's ratepayers to suffer retail rate increases approaching 50 percent, with more to come, contributing to our region's economic struggles.
This legislation protects consumers from unreasonable rate hikes by holding the energy industry accountable to both state and federal regulators.
Furthermore, for businesses and consumers alike, this bill makes sure that our production of energy is increased, not cut back.
There is no need to pit our environment against economic growth.
Senators Daschle, Bingaman, and Dorgan, I am pleased to stand with you today.
This new national energy policy will finally move us beyond the debates of the past and take advantage of emerging 21st century energy technology.
Thank you.
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