Solar Technology Roadmap Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, first let me thank the distinguished gentlewoman from Arizona, Congresswoman Giffords, for her leadership in developing this legislation, and the Democratic and Republican leadership of the Science and Technology Committee, Chairman Bart Gordon of Tennessee and Ranking Member Mr. Ralph Hall of Texas.

Truly, for my region, which is one of the three leading solar centers in the hemisphere, Toledo, Ohio, and an area enduring great economic transition, solar energy is so much a part of our future.

My amendment is very straightforward. It directs the committee charged with outlining the needs of the solar industry to consider the outcomes for domestic solar manufacturing and commercialization in the United States. The amendment also asks the committee to consider the policies of other Federal agencies for encouraging solar commercialization.

We know that while the United States has long been the leader in research and development of solar technologies--and let me hold one of them up, one of the newest solar inventions from my region which is actually going to be on all our roofs someday. It doesn't have glass in it, but it's seven layers, and it is part of the future of solar building technologies in this country. Our children and grandchildren will come to know it very well.

We have had a lot of creative geniuses out there developing solar patents and new technologies, but our country seems to have lost the lead in solar deployment and manufacturing. With dramatic advances in Germany, Spain, and China, our country needs a unified strategy for developing a competitive domestic solar industry.

For the last 100 years, our community, which has been known as the glass center of the world, has been devoting our best minds to the exploration of traditional energy resources. We are now converting and building on what we've known in the past to something new and innovative.

Regressive research and development practices and our reliance as a country on foreign oil helped precipitate our economic decline and strategic vulnerability. I have always believed that our dependence on imported petroleum is America's chief strategic vulnerability. In fact, in 2006 alone, $270 billion, or one-third of the total $836 billion U.S. trade deficit, resulted from imported petroleum. That's right, one-third of our trade imbalance is the result of imported oil and our oil addiction.

The economic, political and environmental future of our country lies in our ability to transition our economy from traditional energy sources and to ensure we produce and manufacture the clean power sources here at home. That, coupled with conservation and our building technologies, can make tremendous strides.

Between 1943 and 1999, the nuclear industry of our country received over $145 billion in Federal subsidies. But the solar industry, by contrast, which is our future, only got about $4.4 billion for solar energy development; that's less than 3 percent of what was received by the nuclear industry. If we are going to invest the billions needed in solar, and which we have no choice but doing, there needs to be a road map that guides our policies and promotes not just research and development, but leads to the creation of a domestic industry without outsourcing. We should be exporting, not outsourcing.

We must ensure that Federal policy takes these technologies from the drawing board to the manufacturing line as we've done in so many other industries; otherwise, we will find that offshoring will occur as it has in other industries and that global trade practices will allow foreign imported solar production here, and our domestic manufacturers will not be able to keep pace.

As my colleagues join me on the floor and wonder why an amendment like this is necessary, let me provide you with an example from my hometown of Toledo; and as I mentioned, it is now one of the leading three solar centers in the hemisphere. Toledo, Ohio is a city in transition. Throughout the 20th century we were known as the glass capital of the world. With the world's glass giants--Libby-Owens-Ford, Owens-Illinois, Owens-Corning and Libby--all headquartered in our district, the city provided reliable transportation, cheap natural gas, and silicate and limestone building materials. As the glass industry advanced, the titans of glass spun off glass technologies into some of the early solar technologies that local talent created. In fact, the hottest stock on Wall Street in the last couple of years has been First Solar that is headquartered in our district. It was spun off from research at our University of Toledo hand in hand with our glass industry leaders.

Leaders coming from the glass and automotive industry in our region, such as Dr. Harold McMaster and Norman Nitschke, who were the founders of First Solar, and other entrepreneurs--Norm Johnson, Xunming Deng and his wife, Liwein Xu, Al Campaan--all of these wonderful Americans are helping to build our future in places like Toledo.

The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman from Ohio has expired.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment although I am not opposed to it.

The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes.

There was no objection.

Mr. HALL of Texas. I yield the gentlelady 1 additional minute.

Ms. KAPTUR. These private sector researchers at the University of Toledo have continued investing in these designs and have birthed new solar companies that will be the Fortune 500 of the next generation. Companies like Xunlight, Innovative Greenfields, Solar Fields, Calyxo, Willard & Kelsey--these were born because of an innovative incubation strategy that helped our researchers make the leap from science to manufacturing.

Mr. Chairman, the base bill and this amendment provide the direction to transform our solar industry and breathe life into our idle industrial economy to produce the advanced energy products of tomorrow and to restore America's energy independence.

I again compliment the gentlelady from Arizona for her leadership, and I thank both Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall so very much for their time today.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on the amendment and the base bill.

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