Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act

Floor Speech

CRAIG THOMAS RURAL HOSPITAL AND PROVIDER EQUITY ACT -- (Senate - June 14, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise this evening to speak in support of a bipartisan amendment to provide assistance to geothermal power development. This is the National Geothermal Initiative Act of 2007.

I can really get excited about geothermal. In the State of Alaska, where about 70 percent of our State's communities could theoretically tap into hot water from inside the Earth to produce electricity, the possibilities for us as a State are truly enormous. Alaska has nearly a dozen proposed geothermal projects right now that could proceed if there were additional Federal assistance to help in the identification of specific geothermal well sites or aid in the drilling or perhaps provide assistance to develop the geothermal turbines that operate more efficiently.

We have had great discussion on the Senate floor about the price of fuel, the price of energy. It is truly near record highs. Hot water heated naturally by the Earth supports zero fuel cost. Geothermal power only provides the Nation with three-tenths of 1 percent of its electricity at present. This is because of currently high capital costs of siting and building geothermal plants. Geothermal is not yet a mature technology.

Even though we have been trying to promote geothermal technology for over two decades now, there is still a great deal of work to be done. We have not finished a national geothermal mapping assessment. This was started back in 1978. It was never actually conducted in Alaska. But to be able to identify those areas in this country that hold geothermal potential is extremely important.

MIT recently published a report that suggested that geothermal power holds the promise of providing low-cost electricity for most of the Nation. Unlike the discussion earlier today where there was debate about wind generation, and some States are blessed with more wind than others, this MIT report suggests that with geothermal there is greater potential in so many parts of the Nation. But the Federal Government--and this is according to the MIT report--the Federal Government would need to increase its research and financial assistance to help prove the new technology. This is the technology to mine the hot rocks or to inject water deeper into the Earth to heat up, rather than simply tapping the natural hot water springs or only heated subsurface water pools closer to the surface where they are known.

What this amendment, the National Geothermal Initiative Act, would do would be to create a geothermal initiative that will lead to the completion of a geothermal resource base assessment by the year 2010. It will encourage demonstration plants to show the full range of geothermal production and push new technology in the engineering of geothermal plants.

Besides restating a Federal commitment to geothermal, this amendment would fund a national exploration and research effort on the development of geothermal information centers.

We had real reason to celebrate in the State of Alaska last year. A local geothermal developer by the name of Bernie Karl--he owns a small geothermal spring resort called Chena Hot Springs. This is about 35 or 40 miles outside of the community of Fairbanks. This natural hot springs has been there for years. There is a nice natural hot springs where you can come and bathe, and in the wintertime it is a wonderful spot for viewing the northern lights, since you are in these beautiful natural hot springs.

But Mr. Karl had a vision that he could take this small resort--they have about 65 beds there--that he could take this resort and power everything by geothermal. He could have the kitchen operating, he could have the lights on in the lodge, and he could go beyond that. He was going to be a self-sustaining resort. He was going to grow his own vegetables. So he built a beautiful greenhouse where they grow, hydroponically, tomatoes and lettuce. Mr. Karl visited me in January and he brought with him some of the produce that he had just picked the day before, in Fairbanks. In January, in Fairbanks and in Chena Hot Springs, he was coming from temperatures of about 40 degrees below zero. He is able to grow this incredible produce in these temperatures with a greenhouse that is completely heated and lighted by geothermal.

Right next door to his greenhouse he has an ice museum.

It is a large museum structure that has everything from knights in shining armor on horses that are larger than life-size, to a bar, a wedding chapel, bedrooms. The whole thing is an ice palace. He is able to keep it chilled, and you say, well, of course he can keep it chilled in Fairbanks in the winter: it is 40 below zero, but he is able to keep it chilled all throughout the summer using the geothermal energy he has tapped into. This is a remarkable demonstration of what can be done.

You need to understand that the technology he has utilized is not some incredibly difficult and complex technology. He utilized a technology that is designed by United Technologies to produce electricity from relatively cool water. The water that comes from these hot springs is about 160 degrees in temperature. They told Mr. Karl: That is not hot enough to generate the power you need; it needs to be hotter. He did not believe them. He said: I know I can make it work. For just a $1.5 million Federal grant, work at Chena Hot Springs has confirmed that economic electricity can be generated from relatively low-temperature geothermal resources.

Mr. Karl has taken his initiative even further than what is happening at that small resort. He is saying: I can create more geothermal energy that we can sell down the road, sell into the system down in Fairbanks. But again demonstrating we do have enormous potential, we just need a little bit of assistance in demonstrating this technology. It truly opens the door to so many more communities in Alaska that could potentially benefit from geothermal power.

Right now, besides Chena Hot Springs, there are geothermal projects they are looking at in Akutan; this is down in the Aleutian chain. If you ever look at the Aleutian chain, that long strip of islands off the State of Alaska, it is nothing but a string of volcanos, enormous potential. There are also opportunities at Mount Spurr near Anchorage. We are looking at a situation within the south central part of the State where our natural gas resource in that area is waning. What better source to go to than Mount Spurr, just across the inlet, for that geothermal power. Near Naknek, there is great potential. At Tenakee Springs in the southeast, Pilgrim's Hot Springs in western Alaska--these are all ready to potentially produce power if there is some Federal assistance to help lower the cost of their development. This bill will also provide help to university-led geothermal research programs and set up a similar program in Alaska to help expand geothermal power.

Now, there are some who will argue that we do not need Federal aid for this, that geothermal is this mature technology, it has been around for a long while. But the new technology development, according to the MIT report, could result in geothermal power providing America with 100 gigawatts of electricity within 50 years, which is a significant portion of its future power needs, without the risk of supply disruption or fuel price fluctuation.

Then, of course, the other issue we are always very cognizant of on this floor is how we care for our environment, how we deal with emissions from our fuel and energy sources. With geothermal power, we do not produce greenhouse gas emissions, we do not release carbon into the environment. There is a significant, a hugely significant advantage given the current concerns over global warming and climate change.

I had an opportunity, not too many weeks back, to meet with the President of Iceland when he was visiting. I know he met with many Members of this body. I talked to the President of Iceland before. Coming from an Arctic environment, we share a lot in common; we like to exchange notes. We have always talked about the geothermal energy in Iceland and how that country has truly turned to that as their primary source of energy generation.

He indicated to me that just in this past year, he has had major corporations, international and national corporations from this country, looking to Iceland to locate their businesses. There used to be a time when countries would look elsewhere to find cheap sources of labor. Well, what companies are looking for now is affordable, reliable, clean energy.

Think about the potential again with geothermal. It is about as reliable as you are going to come across, just this constant bubbling source from underneath. It is absolutely clean. If we can develop the technology, it can be that affordable source.

Right now, we have researchers in the Alaska Aleutians hoping for a Federal grant to test whether new types of unmanned aerial vehicles can be used to pinpoint these geothermal hotspots, the exact spots where wells should be sunk to tap into the hot water resources. For a nominal Federal grant, this technology could be proven up and would save all geothermal projects many millions of dollars in drilling costs. This one project is an example of why and how Federal aid could be very useful.

This amendment would authorize a couple hundred million dollars in Federal funding for all forms of geothermal work over the next 5 years. That is less than what we have authorized for other forms of renewable energy in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 or have proposed for biomass, wind, solar, or hydrogen fuel development in EPAct and in this bill.

You don't hear people talk a lot about geothermal. You hear a great deal right now about wind, you hear a great deal right now about biomass. But we need to recognize the potential, the enormous potential geothermal holds for this country. As you hold it up against all of the other renewable sources, geothermal kind of sits out there all alone, by itself, along with ocean energy, which you are going to have another opportunity to hear me speak on that and the enormous potential we have with ocean energy. Geothermal and ocean received relatively little Federal assistance in the EPAct 2 years ago, but I believe geothermal is really on the verge of making great things happen in this country.

If we encourage geothermal development, I believe it will pay enormous dividends to the Nation. If we spend the money now to advance that technology, it will help the entire Nation, not just in the West but all across the country.

I urge my colleagues to take a look at the potential for geothermal and recognize that what we would do in this legislation is provide for that very necessary assessment to find out where this exists in terms of the ability to meet our growing energy needs and our desire to find those reliable, affordable, clean sources of energy. I hope my colleagues will endorse assistance to geothermal when this amendment finally comes to a vote.

I yield the floor, and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Source