Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
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By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. Begich):
S. 628. A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey a railroad right of way between North Pole, Alaska, and Delta Junction, Alaska, to the Alaska Railroad Corporation; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that really has been 97 years in the making, legislation to authorize the land conveyances needed to permit the Alaska Railroad to be extended another 80 miles southeastward.
On March 12, 1914, Congress originally approved the Alaska Railroad Organic Act that authorized the construction of up to 1,000 miles of mainline track in Alaska, an effort to tie coastal Alaska with the Interior of my State. During the past century 470 miles of mainline track has been built tying Seward, Whittier and Anchorage located on either Prince William Sound or Cook Inlet with Fairbanks and Eielson Air Force base that is located just south of Fairbanks in the Interior of Alaska. Since 1923 when the current mainline track was finished being installed, there has been a dream by many to extend the railroad further, perhaps all the way to the Canadian border 270 miles away so the railroad could eventually be tied into North America's trans-continental rail network.
Today, joined by my colleague, Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, I introduce legislation to only authorize the land conveyances from the Federal Government to permit the railroad to reach Delta Junction, Alaska.
The reasons for the extension are many.
One reason is that the Department of Defense has large military training areas south of the Tanana River between Fairbanks and Delta Junction--some of the best areas for joint Army and Air Force training in the nation. Access to the Joint Pacific Area Range Complex, JPARC, is currently limited to ice roads in winter, but a railroad extension would permit vehicles to travel by low-cost rail to a staging area for joint military exercises that could be built immediately south of the river, reducing the time and cost of military exercises and permitting year-round training to occur more readily.
Delta Junction, the home of Ft. Greely, is also the site of an anti-missile defense installation that could also benefit from access to rail transportation.
Rail service to the area also would permit existing agricultural, mining and petrochemical industries to obtain supplies, reducing wear and tear on the Richardson Highway, currently the only means of access to the region. It would improve the economics for several mining deposits located along the 80-mile rail extension right of way, and should the railroad ever be extended further toward the border, it would open more than a dozen other known mineralized areas to potential economic development. A railroad would provide safer all-weather transportation than highways given Alaska's severe winter weather driving conditions.
Planning for such a rail extension has been underway for a number of years. In January 2010 the Surface Transportation Board approved the Environmental Impact Statement for the rail extension. That means that a route already has been identified. This means that the estimate that this extension will require only roughly 950 acres of land to be purchased/conveyed to the railroad is a firm requirement based on an approved rail route and corridor.
The bill I introduce requires the railroad to pay the full appraised value for the land--an appraisal performed by an appraiser mutually acceptable to the Secretary of the Interior and the railroad--unless the government accepts railroad replacement property in lieu of cash payment. It requires the railroad to pay all surveying costs of the land transfer--surveying the largest likely cost of any land conveyance by the Federal Government. The bill models the transfer on the 1982 legislation that conveyed the railroad from Federal ownership to the State-based Alaska Railroad Corp., since there are now nearly 30 years of precedent and practice that should make the land conveyance issues involved in a rail extension clearer and easier to resolve.
This bill since it allows the secretary only to clear a right of way corridor does not impact the lone controversy that I am aware of involving the extension. That is the exact location of a bridge needed for the rail line to cross the Tanana River near Salcha. It is certainly my hope that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers early this spring will follow the route approved in January 2010 and locate the bridge near Salcha, where it was cleared to go by the Surface Transportation Board after a four-year environmental review of the project. But whether the Corps approves the route, or whether EPA presses its concerns about the bridge, the bill will still be needed to authorize the right-of-way corridor over whatever final route wins approval.
For a host of reasons, it makes sense for the Alaska Railroad to be permitted to advance this extension, the first major extension of the railroad's track bed in Alaska since lines were run to Whittier during World War II in 1943. My hope is that this bill will receive a thoughtful review by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and be approved by Congress during the 112th Congress.
By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. BINGAMAN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. RISCH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN):
S. 629. A bill to improve hydropower, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce three pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the production of our hardest working renewable resource, one that often gets overlooked in the clean energy debate--hydropower. The first bill I would like to introduce today is the Hydropower Improvement Act of 2011, cosponsored by my colleagues Senators BINGAMAN, RISCH, CANTWELL, CRAPO, WYDEN, MURRAY, BEGICH, and WHITEHOUSE, true hydropower advocates. The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2011 seeks to substantially increase the capacity and generation of our clean, renewable hydropower resources that will improve environmental quality and support local job creation and economic investment across the Nation.
There is no question that hydropower is, and must continue to be, part of our energy solution. It is the largest source of renewable electricity in the United States. The 100,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity we now have today provide about seven percent of the Nation's electricity needs. Hydro-electric generation is carbon-free baseload power that allows us to avoid approximately 200 million metric ton of carbon emissions each year. Hydropower is clean, efficient, and inexpensive. Yet, despite its tremendous benefits I am constantly amazed at how some undervalue this important resource.
Perhaps it is because conventional wisdom dismisses our Nation's hydropower capacity as tapped out. That is simply not the case. If anything, hydropower is really an under-developed resource--something we certainly understand in my home State of Alaska where hydro already supplies 24 percent of the State's electricity needs and over 200 promising sites for further hydropower development have been identified. There is great potential for additional hydropower development in every state, not just Alaska.
According to the Obama administration, conventional hydropower facilities have the capacity to generate an additional 75,000 megawatts of power--a staggering amount of clean, inexpensive power. Now that doesn't seem possible until you realize that only three percent of the country's 80,000 existing dams are even electrified. Significant amounts of new capacity--anywhere between 20,000 and 60,000 megawatts--can be derived from simple efficiency improvements or capacity additions at existing facilities. Additional hydropower can be captured in existing man-made conduits and hydroelectric pumped storage projects can help reliably integrate other renewable resources that are intermittent, such as wind, onto our grid.
The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2011 seeks to substantially increase our Nation's hydropower capacity in an effort to expand clean power generation and create domestic jobs. The legislation establishes a competitive grants program and directs the Energy Department to produce and implement a plan for the research, development and demonstration of increased hydropower capacity. The bill provides the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with the authority to extend preliminary permit terms; to work with federal resource agencies and stakeholders to make the review process for conduit and small hydropower projects more efficient; and to explore a possible two-year licensing process for hydropower development at non-powered dams and closed loop pumped storage projects. The act also calls for studies on the resource development at Bureau of Reclamation facilities and in conduit projects, as well as on suitable pumped storage locations. Importantly, by utilizing existing authorizations, the bill does not represent new funding.
It is my hope that as the Senate considers our Nation's long-term energy policy, we can finally recognize the important contribution the renewable resource of hydropower makes, and will continue to make, to our clean energy goals. This legislation is supported by the National Hydropower Association, the American Public Power Association, the Family Farm Alliance, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the Edison Electric Institute, and the National Water Resources Association. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the Hydropower Improvement Act of 2011 to promote the further development of our most cost-effective, clean energy option.
By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. BEGICH):
S. 630. A bill to promote marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy research and development, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation that is designed to speed up the development of renewable ocean energy--wave, current and tidal energy--across the nation and also in my home State of Alaska. The Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2011 is cosponsored by my colleague from Alaska, Senator Begich.
Since 2004 I have had a strong interest in working to promote the research and development of marine hydrokinetic energy--the effort to produce electricity from waves, current and tidal energy--all of which is indirectly driven by the sun. With 70 percent of our planet covered with water, marine hydrokinetic energy has the potential to be a major source of the world's clean, non-carbon emitting power in the future.
The Electric Power Research Institute has estimated that our Nation's ocean resources could generate 252 million megawatt hours of electricity--63 percent of our entire electricity generation--if ocean energy gained the same financial and research incentives currently enjoyed by other forms of renewable energy.
In the 2005 Energy Policy Act, we started the process of leveling the playing field. In that bill, Congress authorized Federal research and included ocean energy in both the federal renewable energy purchase requirements and the federal production incentives. In the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, we authorized ocean energy research and demonstration centers. In 2008, we finally qualified ocean energy to receive a renewable energy Production Tax Credit, although unfortunately at a lower rate than some other renewable energy resources receive.
The Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2011, along with a related tax measure that I will discuss next, seeks to increase the industry's growth through additional federal aid. Specifically, the bill authorizes the Department of Energy to expand its research and development efforts on marine hydrokinetic energy via advanced engineering and integration systems. It further authorizes the Department to transfer environmental data throughout the industry in order to expedite environmental assessments and demonstration project approvals. The legislation calls for the creation of three testing facilities to be developed by states, universities, or non-profit entities to test marine hydrokinetic technology.
Importantly, the legislation directs the development of a Federal Marine-Based Energy Device Verification program. Through this program, the government will be able to certify the performance of new marine technologies in order to reduce market risks for utilities purchasing power from new devices. The bill also authorizes the Federal government to set up an adaptive management program and a fund to help pay for the regulatory permitting and development of new marine technologies. This program should help demonstration projects to win permitting approvals.
This bill further amends Section 803 from the Energy Independence and Security Act. This was a provision I had authored in that 2007 energy bill to create a renewable energy deployment grants program for all forms of renewable energy. That program has never been funded because it has been inaccurately perceived as an Alaska-only program. The amendments make clear that the renewable energy grants program is national in scope and is available to assist projects in high-cost areas, where power costs exceed 125 percent of the national average.
The Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2011 is very similar to marine and hydrokinetic provisions that won the approval of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last Congress and were included in S. 1462, the American Clean Energy Leadership Act. This bill, however, is far less expensive, authorizing up to $225 million in aid over 3 years to jump start marine hydrokinetic power--substantially less than the $3.25 billion authorized by the original legislation. Moreover, the spending authorized in this legislation is offset via the reprogramming of previously un-utilized Congressional authorizations.
Coming from Alaska where there are more than 80 large communities located along the State's 34,000 miles of coastline and major river systems, it is clear that perfecting marine energy could be of immense benefit to the Nation. It simply makes good sense to harness the power of the sun, wind, waves, and river and ocean currents to make electricity. When the fuel is free, it's obviously economic to harness its power.
This legislation is designed to aid development nationally, but also in Alaska where several companies already have proposed test projects in the Yukon and Tanana Rivers and in Cook Inlet, along with Kachemak Bay and Inside Passage waters. Projects are under consideration at Eagle, Galena, Ruby, Tanana, in addition to near Anchorage, with others being considered near Homer and in Southeast.
This bill would allow the marine industry to be on a level playing field with other renewables such as wind, solar and geothermal power, all of which have received large budget increases in the President's fiscal year 2012 budget proposal. It would truly help the industry prove whether the technology can achieve the technical success and the economies of scale needed for it to become a major component of the nation's energy mix. I hope that Congress will give real consideration to the Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2011, as well as the other bills that I am introducing today to aid hydroelectric development throughout the country.
By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. BEGICH):
S. 631. A bill to extend certain Federal benefits and income tax provisions to energy generated by hydropower resources; to the Committee on Finance.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2011, legislation to extend certain benefits and income tax provisions to energy generated by hydropower resources. This legislation is co-sponsored by my colleague from Alaska, Senator BEGICH.
We have an incredible amount of hydropower potential in my home State of Alaska. To date, we have almost 50 hydropower projects--in a range of sizes from the 126 megawatt Bradley Lake project to the 7 kilowatt Walsh Creek project--that produce about 24 percent of the State's electricity needs. Alaska is proof that the hydropower resource is not tapped out--not even close. Currently, there are 32 additional hydropower projects, just in Southeast, that are either under construction or on the drawing boards. Statewide there are another 200 areas that have been identified as promising sites for lake taps, run of river, pumped storage and even new hydroelectric reservoirs. With the proper financing, we could keep a dozen hydro construction companies fully employed in the State for a decade or even longer. That is just in Alaska. There are tremendous opportunities in each and every State to further develop this clean energy alternative.
Hydropower, by definition, is a renewable resource. It produces no carbon emissions and through rainfall and melting snowpacks it is able to be replenished. Yet there are some who would deny this important classification to the hydropower resource. The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2011 directs that the generation of hydroelectric power be treated as a ``renewable'' resource for purposes of any Federal program or standard. This reclassification of hydroelectric generation should help to incent the further production of this important and often undervalued resource.
Next, the bill provides parity treatment for hydropower resources in the Production Tax Credit, PTC. Currently, companies that generate wind, solar, geothermal, and closed-loop biomass systems are eligible for the PTC which provides a 2.1 cent per kilowatt-hour, kWh, benefit for the first 10 years of a renewable energy facility's operation. Other technologies, such as incremental hydropower, certain generation at non-powered facilities, and wave and tidal receive a lesser value tax credit of 1.1 cent per kWh. The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2011 eliminates the distinction between the two categories so that all qualified hydropower resources receive the full PTC credit. The bill further expands upon the types of hydropower resources that can qualify for the PTC, allowing new hydro generation, small hydropower under 50 megawatts, lake taps, and pumped storage facilities to qualify as well.
The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2011 also carries this expanded qualification of hydropower to the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, CREBS, program.
Because non-profits like rural electric cooperatives and public power providers are not eligible for the PTC due to their tax-exempt status, CREBS was created to encourage these entities to undertake renewable energy development as well. This program has been wildly popular and has been oversubscribed since its inception. There are endless possibilities for increased hydropower production by electric cooperatives and public power providers and they should be given the proper financial incentive to do so.
Finally, the bill provides for a 5-year accelerated depreciation period for equipment which produces electricity from marine and hydrokinetic energy, as well as conventional hydropower resources.
I ask my colleagues to support this hydropower tax legislation. The further development of this untapped renewable resource will help us meet our clean energy goals through the generation of carbon-free, baseload power. At a time of record unemployment, the addition of hydropower capacity throughout the nation will lead to hundreds of thousands of good paying, domestic jobs.
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