Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1129, I call up the bill (H.R. 4447) to establish an energy storage and microgrid grant and technical assistance program.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. 4447, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act. This bill is a comprehensive package that will spur clean energy innovation, electrify our transportation sector, make homes and businesses more energy efficient, and modernize our electric grid.
The Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act presents practical and achievable clean energy policies that are possible for us to achieve this year. This legislation lays the groundwork for important and comprehensive future climate policy.
The main goal of this energy package is to move provisions we believe have a chance at becoming law this Congress after negotiations with the Senate. Senators Murkowski and Manchin, who lead the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, have been working on their own energy package in the Senate.
H.R. 4447 sets new energy efficiency standards for buildings and funds grants to local communities for more efficient schools, homes, and municipal buildings. This is an inexpensive way to save energy and reduce electricity bills for homeowners and businesses, and it has broad support.
This legislation also supports the development and deployment of clean, renewable, and distributed resources, like solar and wind energy, which are crucial to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels. It also supports the transmission projects needed to move clean energy around the country.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the clean energy sector was booming. Last year, clean energy jobs grew at twice the rate of overall jobs, and as of January, more than 3 million Americans were employed in these jobs. It is critical that the clean energy industry recover this same momentum to secure America's clean energy leadership.
These investments will result in new, good-paying American jobs all across the country. Every million dollars invested in clean energy and energy efficiency produces seven to eight jobs. That is roughly three times as many as investment in fossil fuels.
The transition to a clean energy future also depends upon upgrading our transportation infrastructure to support and encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, or EVs. This legislation invests more than $36 billion to help speed up the electrification of our transportation sector and make EVs an option for more communities. It also authorizes funding for clean school buses, electric vehicle charging equipment, and other zero-emission vehicle programs.
Madam Speaker, this legislation also addresses environmental justice by establishing and reauthorizing grant programs for impacted communities to better participate in the environmental decisions in their backyards. It also increases information sharing so communities can be better informed about the risks in their neighborhoods. And it updates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to increase opportunities for legal relief. This is a critical start to addressing the disproportionate burden faced by environmental justice communities around the Nation.
Finally, Madam Speaker, this legislation includes a critical bipartisan provision that phases out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, a super pollutant.
It has strong support on both sides of the aisle, including environmental and public health groups, the entire heating and cooling industry, the Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers. It is one of the most important steps we can take now to create manufacturing jobs and boost our competitiveness while protecting our environment.
I close by thanking the Energy Subcommittee Chairman Rush for his leadership in moving many of the bills included in this package through the Energy and Commerce Committee, many with strong bipartisan support. I also thank Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Chairman Grijalva for their critical contributions to this package and also Representative Tom O'Halleran for being the bill's lead sponsor.
Madam Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation that will modernize our energy system, create jobs, and take positive steps toward addressing the climate crisis.
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, Washington, DC, September 15, 2020. Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr., Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Pallone: I am writing you concerning H.R. 4447, the ``Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019,'' which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and then to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (``Science Committee'') on September 20, 2019.
As a result of our consultation, I agree to work cooperatively on H.R. 4447 and in order to expedite consideration of the bill the Science Committee will waive formal consideration of this legislation. However, this is not a waiver of any future jurisdictional claims by the Science Committee over the subject matter contained in H.R. 4447 or similar legislation. I also request that you support my request to name members of the Science Committee to any conference committee to consider this legislation.
Additionally, thank you for your assurances to include a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter in the committee report for H.R. 4447 and in the Congressional Record during floor consideration thereof. Sincerely, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. ____ Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Washington, DC, September 15, 2020. Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairwoman Johnson: Thank you for consulting with the Committee on Energy and Commerce and agreeing to discharge H.R. 4447, the Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019, from further consideration, so that the bill may proceed expeditiously to the House floor.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of your committee or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives on this measure or similar legislation in the future. I would support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate number of conferees from your committee to any House-Senate conference on this legislation.
I will ensure our letters on H.R. 4447 are entered into the Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill. I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward to continuing to work together as this measure moves through the legislative process. Sincerely, Frank Pallone, Jr., Chairman.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), who is the chairman of the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo), the chair of our Health Subcommittee.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our majority leader, who has prioritized this bill and shepherded it to the floor.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), who chairs the Select Committee on Climate Crisis and is also a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, may I ask how much time remains on each side?
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ruiz), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney), also a member of our committee.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stanton).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, you know the ordinary people that this legislation helps in my district are young African-American men unemployed, young African-American women unemployed, LatinX men and women, young African-American men, young LatinX men and women, and as well high school graduates and beyond. That is the ordinary Americans in H.R. 4447, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act.
So I thank Mr. Pallone and Ms. Johnson for their leadership.
Let me tell you, Madam Speaker, the journey that I have taken. I have been an energy lawyer. I have worked in the arena where we have had fossil fuel. But do you know what, Madam Speaker? The Greater Houston Partnership, our chamber, has just designated a clean energy director to work on low carbon in our community.
The transition to a low-carbon society by investing in clean energy this bill provides, distributing energy resources, an energy storage system, and a microgrid, all of which builds resiliency and are crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
I introduced legislation dealing with wetlands to be able to ensure that the wetlands would be recaptured when they are being utilized for energy production, and we use that for the environment and for jobs.
But here we have a response to the issue of low carbon. My district was devastated by Hurricane Harvey. That is climate change. So it is important to recognize that climate change disproportionately impacts low-income communities of color. H.R. 4447 prioritizes clean energy projects located in low-income, marginalized communities. My constituents are waiting in line for these jobs. It advances the development of technologies and practices that expand access to clean energy.
I represent a community where contamination by creosote came, and Superfund, trying to clean that up. In the meantime, people are suffering from cancer clusters. So when we talk about cleaning the environment and creating jobs, we are long overdue for the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I want to answer the gentleman's question about ordinary Americans. These are ordinary Americans, some of whom, because of the climate change or the inequity in environmental injustice, have faced the wrong side of energy. I want them to face the good side.
So not only does the bill establish a clean energy workforce development program to educate and train the next generation of clean energy researchers, scientists, and professionals, but it also protects domestic manufacturing by requiring that any project funded under the act to construct, alter, maintain, or repair a public building or public work only use iron, steel, and manufactured goods produced in the United States.
Madam Speaker, this is a new start, but it brings old friends to the table. It brings Houston with the Greater Houston Partnership with a clean energy director who wants to move toward low carbon. It brings energy companies that I questioned during the BP spill that indicated to me they have a huge environmental section in their corporations. We can all work together.
I am a strong supporter of the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act because it is going to bring jobs and re-envision America.
Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the House Judiciary and Homeland Committees, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4447, the ``Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act,'' which makes long-overdue reforms to U.S. energy policy and authorizes major investments in the transition to a low-carbon future.
This robust legislation promises to usher in a new era in American innovation, serving as a down-payment on comprehensive climate action.
It includes:
Programs to develop and deploy renewable and distributed energy resources; improve the efficiency of our homes and businesses; electrify our transportation sector; modernize the grid and enhance its resiliency; prioritize the needs of environmental justice communities; and reduce carbon pollution from industrial and traditional sources.
Taken together, these measures provide a path towards modernizing our energy system while also taking an important forward in addressing the current the climate crisis in addition to growing our economy.
Specifically, this bill supports the transition to a low-carbon economy by investing in clean energy, distributed energy resources, energy storage systems, and microgrid, all of which build resiliency and are crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, H.R. 4447 sets new energy efficiency standards for buildings, which roughly count towards 30 percent of greenhouse gas pollution, and provides funding for schools, homes, municipal buildings, and manufacturing facilities to improve efficiency and deploy energy-efficient technologies.
Reducing our carbon output is crucial in the fight against this current climate crisis, and we are in a crisis.
With wildfires raging on the west coast and multiple ``500-year'' floods on the Gulf Coast every few years, there is no room for denials or protestations against the existence of climate change.
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey devastated my district.
Rainfall from the storm was calculated to be between 50 and 60 inches in some areas, causing roughly $125 billion in damage, displacing over 100,000 people, and leaving approximately 103 people dead.
For years, climate scientists have warned that global warming is creating conditions that allow these storms to become more powerful, and perhaps even more frequent.
According to the 2014 Climate Assessment, produced by the federal government, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere has increased due to human-caused warming, causing extra moisture to be available to storm systems and resulting in heavier rainfalls.
Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have been a staunch advocate for innovation and increased funding for research and development, and I am proud that this bill prioritizes this too.
H.R. 4447 authorizes over $4 billion for research, development demonstration, and commercial application to advance cutting-edge renewable energy technologies, including solar, wind, geothermal, and waterpower.
It also drives investment in clean energy innovation by increasing funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, including a path to double its funding by fiscal year 2025.
Madam Speaker, it is no secret that climate change disproportionately impacts low-income, communities of color.
H.R. 4447 prioritizes clean energy projects located in low-income and marginalized communities and advances the development of technologies and practices that expand access to clean energy, including $25 million for grants to deploy energy storage and microgrids in rural communities and $1 billion for solar installations in low-income communities.
In addition, the bill restores private rights of action against recipients of federal funding based on discriminatory disparate impacts.
I have seen first-hand the reality of environmental injustice in my own district.
The Fifth Ward and the northeast neighborhoods in Houston, Texas, are predominantly comprised of African American residents.
They are some of the oldest and poorest communities in Houston.
The median income in the area is $26,644, compared to $49,399 for all of Houston.
About 35 percent of families here live in poverty, more than double Harris County's 14 percent poverty rate, according to the Census.
It is also the location of a cancer cluster due to creosote contamination from the neighboring railroad yard.
For decades, a railroad company operated a wood treatment facility, dipping railroad ties in the preservative creosote, a cancer-causing chemical listed as a hazardous substance by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The creosote emitted fumes, leached into the soil and ran through ditches when it rained or flooded.
At my urging, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), conducted a major study on the incidences of cancer clusters in the Houston and found that ``the numbers of esophagus, lung and bronchus and larynx cancers were statistically significantly greater than is expected based on cancer rates in Texas [writ large].''
This is not a unique occurrence.
The prevalence of cancer clusters and other health disparities in low-income, communities of color happens far too often across the nation.
This clean energy bill can help many neighborhoods like these.
The Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act also includes provisions to improve workforce development and provide labor protections.
Not only does the bill establish a clean energy workforce development program to educate and train the next generation of clean energy researchers, scientists, and professionals, but it also protects domestic manufacturing by requiring that any project funded under the Act to construct, alter, maintain, or repair a public building or public work only use iron, steel, and manufactured goods produced in the United States.
As we seek to rebuild our economy from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, we must look to invest in sectors of the economy that are ripe for growth.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, clean energy was one of the biggest and fastest-growing employers across the country.
In 2019, clean energy's share of the entire energy workforce was 40 percent.
In fact, Texas boasted the second-highest number of clean energy jobs with over 233,000 clean energy workers.
Furthermore, Texas served as the nation's largest contributor of wind-generated jobs in the nation, with over 25,000 Texas working on wind energy and an additional 192,000 jobs in energy efficient heating and cooling systems, solar power, and electric vehicles.
Madam Speaker, investing in clean energy and properly training the workforce for this new economic sector is the key to creating more high-paying jobs in the United States.
According to the Brookings Institute, jobs in green energy sectors often pay better.
Even for hourly workers in jobs like electricians and carpenters, which require a lower threshold of formal education, around 50 percent of workers have completed only high school or less, and yet they earn higher wages than their counterparts in other industries.
I applaud the forethought of this bill and appreciate its dual focus of addressing the factors that contribute to the current climate crisis as well as seizing the economic opportunities that this challenge presents.
I urge my colleagues from both parties to join me in voting to pass H.R. 4447.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for the Energy and Commerce portion of this debate.
I find it strange, Madam Speaker, that the Republicans pose as the defenders of fiscal responsibility and lowering the deficit when they have what I consider a dismal track record on that issue.
In 2017, they rushed through a tax bill that only rewarded the wealthiest while drowning our children's future in a sea of debt.
What do Republicans do when they create deficits by cutting taxes without paying for it? They propose cuts to existing programs and reject funding for initiatives that benefit everyday Americans.
To be clear, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that this bill would add a whopping zero dollars to the deficit. I stress that again: zero dollars to the deficit.
But if the Republicans are so intent on talking about costs, they ought to look at the cost of climate inaction and the economic harm of letting our competitors lead the global clean energy technology race. By the end of the century, lost wages from climate-related damages will reach $155 billion; mortality from extreme temperatures will surpass $140 billion; and coastal property damage will approach $120 billion. All told, the U.S. economy could lose more than 10 percent of its GDP.
The economic benefits of action, in contrast, are significant: limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will yield more than $20 trillion in global economic benefits annually in the same timeframe.
The bill before us lays a strong foundation for reaching these scientifically set climate targets. Meanwhile, House Republicans are using tired gimmicks to argue about a deficit they created, a claim the CBO has thoroughly debunked. If we continue to entertain these tried and true delay tactics, we are going to lose the global clean energy race and ensure the worst effects of climate change. We will saddle our economy and generations to come with the cost of extreme weather and reduce economic productivity. This is already happening, Madam Speaker.
But if we reduce our carbon pollution and invest in clean energy technologies, then we can both protect our environment and grow our economy. We can lead the world in energy innovation and lead our allies in addressing the climate crisis.
Now, it has been 13 years since Congress last passed major energy legislation. Since then, the world has changed. Our energy needs have evolved. Technologies have matured, and the need for climate action has become urgent. The policies that govern how we produce, transport, store, and use energy are outdated. Our energy infrastructure is in desperate need of modernization, and Federal investments in energy- related research, development and deployment aren't meeting the needs of the 21st century. We need to transition to a clean, low-carbon economy, and that requires major investments and reforms to U.S. energy policy.
Madam Speaker, this bill, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act, includes a broad suite of measures to enable that transition in a way that creates jobs, reduces pollution and unleashes American innovation.
The scope of the legislation--I know there have been comments about the size of the bill--the scope of this bill reflects our commitment to delivering ambitious and long overdue upgrades to our Nation's energy system.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues, given what we are faced with today, please, this is why both sides of the aisle should support the underlying bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source