Innovative Mitigation Partnerships for Asphalt and Concrete Technologies Act
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, I enthusiastically rise in support of the Innovation Mitigation Partnerships for Asphalt and Concrete Technologies Act, or the IMPACT Act, H.R. 1534.
A good gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Miller) and a fantastic gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Foushee) have reintroduced this bipartisan bill, and I salute them.
Mrs. Foushee is very much a leader on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, a cutting-edge voice in artificial intelligence, a ranking member on the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, and we are very grateful for her leadership and acumen here.
As our chair just extrapolated, the United States produces approximately 95 million metric tons of cement each year, representing nearly 400 million cubic yards of concrete, with another 454 million metric tons of asphalt pavement materials produced per year.
Now, as a Member of Congress, I am not fully in the composites business, but we must understand where our materials come from and how they are procured and produced. We must look it squarely in the face as to how we do not remain overly reliant on competitive countries for access.
A byproduct of these industrial processes are certainly greenhouse gas emissions. There is a State representative from Michigan, State Representative Kelly Breen of Novi, who has, on occasion, spoken to me at length about the materials used in our roads. We know right now that the byproduct of the industrial processes for these cement applications accounts for 8 percent of human-induced carbon dioxide emissions.
Now, I come from the Motor City. We like our paved roads. We like access to cement. Demand is not decreasing. It is going up. Demand is expected to increase by 12 percent when we hit the mid-21st century mark.
We here in the United States of America are building roads, bridges, factories, schools, so many things. It is really quite exciting, and the IMPACT Act can play a role. The bill will improve cost- effectiveness, durability, and material demand efficiency of widely used cement, and similar materials while achieving measurable greenhouse gas emissions reductions in their production processes. We like to call this a win-win.
H.R. 1534 would also accomplish this goal by directing the Secretary of Energy to support research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that could become commercially viable.
Again, the State representative from Michigan, Kelly Breen, has talked to me about her desire to see this in Oakland County, Michigan. We have been working on this in the Motor City.
My colleagues from North Carolina and Ohio have put forward national legislation that will benefit us all, and we have got next-generation technologies that are a significant improvement over the processes used by these industries today, ensuring that we can continue to build while reducing negative environmental impacts that come about from producing building materials.
We have a good, practical bill to maximize our production capabilities while minimizing any negative impacts, and we have research and development and demonstration of novel cement, concrete, and asphalt processes.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on a bill I am very excited about, H.R.
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Ms. STEVENS. 1534.
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Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I also have no further requests for time to speak on this bill, and I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Mr. Speaker, I again thank my colleagues from the committee, Mr. Miller and Mrs. Foushee, for their work on this bill. I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 1534.
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