Energy
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Boccieri, for bringing us together this evening. I can't agree more with you and the Representatives that have joined us here this evening, both Representatives ALTMIRE and MURPHY, who have indicated that there is an importance to looking at the big picture frame that should guide this debate and discussion. It is certainly about energy transformation. It's about energy security that's enhanced. It's about growing our energy independence. But it goes well beyond that. It is a factor; it is a huge argument that speaks favorably to our national security, to our economic security. I think when we look at that bigger framework, we're able to understand the ripple effect of benefits, of good, that comes from the negotiated efforts here in this House to produce a strong bill. For energy transformation, for climate change, for global warming to be addressed in positive, progressive terms.
To have listened to some of the discussion and debate on this floor that denounces some of the studies that were authored out there, where the authors of those studies have suggested to us that you're overstating, exaggerating, if not outright denouncing studies that have been put together that speak favorably to these sorts of investments have not stopped people from using misinformation and growing the arguments out there that are unfounded, unfounded and unsubstantiated by evidence and by truth and by documentation that has been established.
I think it's important for us to look at the facts. If we're willing to continue to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign treasuries, to continue to rely in a gluttonous measure on fossil-based fuels for our energy agenda, shame on us as a nation. We have an opportunity here to go forward with a green energy economy that can create jobs of various disciplines, from Ph.D.s over to those with bachelor's degrees, over to those who have associate degrees and skill sets that have been developed with apprenticeship programs, with voc ed programs. Across the board, we have an opportunity to invest in all sorts of disciplines out there that strengthen our economy and strengthen our comeback for job creation and job retention in this nation.
Just the other day we were talking to people in my district from the nanoscience arena. And in a generalization of that arena, what they see from start-up businesses is that we have about 20 percent of Ph.D.s and master's degree holders occupying jobs at those centers, at the various start-up businesses that are being established; we have perhaps 20 percent with bachelor's degrees; and then some 60 percent occupied jobs that are bringing to that table associate degrees and technical training. So I think it's very evident, very obvious, by these calculable sorts of outcomes that speak to what's happening in my district that we're growing jobs in every sphere, in every dimension, with all sorts of skill sets that are required.
It is important for us to go forward with this green energy race. And we don't have a choice whether or not to enter in. We have a choice to be as prepared in that race as possible. I liken this to the space race of four decades ago, where this country vigorously pursued with a degree of passion, a high degree of passion, the efforts to land a person on the Moon. That was more than just a race to land a person on the Moon. It was a growth of technology in all sorts of areas in our life that define our quality of life: in communications, in health care, in all sorts of technical advancements in our society. And it allowed for us to think in bold and very noble terms about the importance of science and technology.
Here today, many more nations are joining in a race, a global race, on green energy, clean energy. And we don't have the luxury to stand along the sidelines and watch other nations prosper and pass us by. That's what will happen if we don't go forward with a plan, an energy plan, that will calculate jobs, that will allow for us to invest and reach to our intellect in this nation. Our intellectual capacity is great. We can't just stop with the ideas. Many of those ideas are being commercialized and deployed into the manufacturing sector in other nations. They're using American patents, they're using American ingenuity, American ideas to make things happen in their nations. We need to invest vigorously in that sort of economy. We can do it by putting together a progressive policy like that of ACES that was voted upon in this House, where we put together the framework, the blueprint--the green print, perhaps--as to how we're going to pursue job creation and responsiveness to our energy needs and a responsible approach to the environmental stewardship that is assigned each and every one of us as American citizens to this globe.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Boccieri.
I have heard all of our colleagues talking about leadership, exercising leadership and putting a plan into action. I think what is most regrettable is that we are still having this debate as to whether or not to enter into a new energy economy, to address the climate change issues that are so much an imperative these days.
All of this discussion is coming while other nations are now investing and investing heavily in their country's economy, driven by these new technologies, these emerging technologies, an innovation economy. So our pace here needs to be sped up. But it has also got to be preceded by a sound plan that is put together. So I would implore this House and the Senate to work in a bipartisan, bicameral way with the White House to make certain that that plan is in place in very short order.
Let me just talk about some of the evidence that I have seen in my district, again with advanced battery manufacturing. I am looking at investments from GE that would allow us to address a number of dynamics that are speaking to the empowerment of the energy transformation where the battery is the linchpin.
We are talking about development at GE that will allow for multiple purposes, for heavy vehicles for their fuel needs, for those heavy vehicles to be empowered by this alternative, but a new format of battery, advanced battery manufacturing. We are talking about creating a power supply with this sort of battery.
We are also talking about their battery development, essential to the storage of intermittent renewables, supplies from the sun, from the wind, that may be intermittent in nature. The linchpin here is to develop the battery manufacturing that will transition us. All of this investment needs to be sped up.
We also need to look at what we can do with efficiency within renewables. I have recently passed in this House a wind energy-efficiency bill that allows us to take a closer look at the manufacturing and the assemblage of those given sorts of power supply. Those renewables can be done in a more efficient way. Citing the materials that are used, we can reach to nanoscience to develop lighter materials or durable materials. How we assemble the gearbox assemblage is an important bit of R&D that needs to get done, how we develop through manufacturing a better tower system for our renewable supply from wind.
All of this needs to be a huge American investment. Again, we have the energy intellect. We can emerge from this race as a winner, but the time is passing us by. And whichever nation emerges the winner in this race will be that go-to nation that will be the exporter of energy intellect, energy ideas, energy innovation for generations to come.
So, we are going to fail the next generation of job holders, we are going to fail this Nation's economy, we are going to fail the environment agenda, we are going to fail the energy transitioning if we don't move forward intelligently, thoughtfully, progressively, in a way that allows us to capture the brain power of this country that has driven invention and innovation in so many measures, in so many dynamics.
We have it within our grasp. We need to go from
research that is done at our universities and the private sector and further deploy into the commercialization zone, into the manufacturing efforts, those ideas. We have failed after that research investment. We need to have that ``valley of death,'' as it is termed, where we don't get the seed money that is necessary for a lot of this innovative spark to take its presence in our American economy. We need that sort of commitment and we need that sort of policy development.
We can do it. This House has offered a great bill. We challenge those in this process to work with us to have an outcome that has a bill on the President's desk that can sign us into a new era of energy policy.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TONKO. Representative Boccieri, I couldn't agree more. And we do embrace, we can embrace that challenge, the challenge that has been put forth by all of these individuals that you named here this evening and quoted.
I heard you express the free market system and what it can do to enable us to have a better energy and environment outcome. I heard Representative Perriello talk about not accepting the status quo. I heard there, Representative, a kind of a pioneer spirit, a challenge to be those pioneers that we have been throughout our history.
You know, gentlemen, I have the great fortune of representing the Erie Canal communities. Where that Hudson and Mohawk River meet gave birth to an industrial revolution. This whole channel of the waterway, which was seen as a folly approach, became the empowerment tool, not only in developing this Nation and prospering in the process, but changing the entire world in terms of their quality of life. For in that Erie Canal channel developed a number of mill towns, a necklace of mill towns, each mill town becoming that epicenter of invention and innovation, and they sparked their genius in a way that really transitioned not only America but the world.
We are at that same juncture. We are now at that opportunity moment that can allow us to seize this moment and make a difference. There are those in our country who are those intellects that are proposing these wonderful product lines, these wonderful inventions, but they need to transition from that hybrid, that prototype, into the commercialization and manufacturing of that idea.
And today, that new birth of an industrial revolution, a new economy, isn't about mass production, where they might have invented some wonderful object, produced a few numbers within their garage and then, as business grew, created a factory and mass produced. That is a different spot today for us. It's about precision. It's about the prototyping. It's about the testing, and it's about the evaluating. And that, my friends, is a very pricey situation.
There are not a lot of the start-ups and emerging technologies that have available cash at hand, and there is a huge risk factor, and there are ways to reduce that risk or work through it to see if it is, in fact, going to endure the process. But there are also opportunities for the government to invest in high-risk, great opportunities, situations that can take us into new opportunities with battery manufacturing, with new
product lines, emerging technologies, that will be shelf-ready for energy efficiency, alternative technologies for producing power supplies, American power needs that are addressed by the American workforce. Think of that as a great, novel idea, growing our economy.
People have said time and time again, we hear it in our districts, Why are the jobs leaving this country? We have an opportunity to create jobs in this country that respond to our social and economic needs, that respond to our environmental curiosity and our environmental responsibility, but we need to seize the moment. We need to express, in very bold measure, that we care about the energy transformation, the innovation economy.
Let's be those epicenters of invention and innovation as those mill towns I represent were in the heyday of the industrial revolution. It is within our grasp, it is within our intellect, and it needs to be within our political will. And being here this evening and expressing with you gentlemen where we can go and where we believe we are growing our way toward is an important statement to make here this evening, and it's a pleasure to have joined with you in this special hour.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source