Executive Session
EXECUTIVE SESSION -- (Senate - January 31, 2005)
NOMINATION OF DR. SAMUEL BODMAN
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, today, the Senate is considering the nomination of Dr. Samuel Bodman to be the next Secretary of Energy. I understand that Dr. Bodman is likely to be confirmed. Though I will support his nomination, I want to review my understanding of Dr. Bodman's commitment to several issues that are critical to our Nation and specifically to my State of Washington, so that he can begin his tenure with a clear understanding of this Senator's expectations.
During his confirmation process, I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Bodman personally and to engage him and seek his views on the policies of the Department of Energy. Among the issues I raised were several of critical importance to the State of Washington, such as maintaining the Federal Government's commitment to clean up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, considering carefully any changes to Federal policies regarding the Bonneville Power Administration, BPA, and advancing the Federal role in research and development at institutions such as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. On some of these issues, Dr. Bodman stated he needs time to review them early in his tenure at DOE, and has committed to me to do so. In other cases, he was able to make a more explicit commitment on the issue's merits, such as the enforcement of the Triparty Agreement on cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear reservation.
From our interactions, Dr. Bodman has begun to develop an appreciation for just how large DOE's ``footprint'' is in the State of Washington and how much is at stake for our economy and environment when it comes to the many policy decisions he will make when confirmed as Secretary of Energy. It is a job that comes with a considerable number of challenges--but also incredible opportunity. Putting in place a real, forward-looking energy policy for the 21st century is not only essential for this Nation's economic security, it is my belief that it will fuel the next wave of innovation. It is critical for this country to take the technology lead in the energy sector. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in 10 to 20 years in exactly the same position we do today as it relates to our dependence on foreign oil--we will be importing the next generation of energy technology. Instead, we need to seize the opportunity before us and recognize that it is the key to securing our Nation's long-term energy independence.
As I have expressed to Dr. Bodman, the Western electricity market meltdown of 2000-2001 has had a profound impact on my State's economy, the pocketbooks and economic well-being of my constituents. Moreover, the Western crisis has brought to the forefront a number of very important policy questions about the kind of behavior that will be tolerated in our Nation's electricity markets, as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC has continued to pursue its ``restructuring'' agenda.
As the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Bodman will have a very important, leading role--defined in the 1977 Department of Energy Organization Act--in guiding overall electric regulatory policy.
The incoming DOE Secretary will need to provide strong leadership and condemn the types of schemes used by Enron traders--manipulation tactics with infamous nicknames like Get Shorty, Death Star, and Ricochet.
These are more than just ``theoretical'' concerns for me and my constituents. Not only are Western ratepayers trying to recover some small fraction of the money they lost to Enron as a result of its unscrupulous trading practices, they are trying to avoid paying even more. Right now, Enron is claiming utilities in Washington State and Nevada alone owe about a half billion dollars more--for power Enron never even delivered. You can understand just how outrageous this seems to my constituents, who are already struggling to pay their power bills.
I am pleased that Dr. Bodman provided assurances that market manipulation cannot be tolerated and pledged to enforce applicable Federal statutes. We need to send a strong and unanimous message that these practices will not be tolerated in our Nation's electricity markets.
Unfortunately, justice delayed is justice denied for Enron's victims. It has literally been years now, in which the ratepayers of my State--who have already suffered enough--have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I look forward to working with Dr. Bodman in righting past wrongs done to consumers--including those in the State of Washington--and putting in place safeguards to prevent future victimization of electric ratepayers.
As I referenced earlier in my remarks, I have emphasized to Dr. Bodman the importance of Hanford cleanup to the residents of Washington and the Pacific Northwest as a whole. It has been my experience that achieving our mutual goal of an effective and efficient Hanford cleanup suffers when relationships between the States and DOE, the congressional delegations and other stakeholders are damaged by the bad faith actions of one of the parties. Again, I applaud Dr. Bodman for publicly committing that the continued cleanup at Hanford will be done under the framework of the Triparty Agreement, TPA.
I have also asked Dr. Bodman, and he has agreed, to consult with me and other members of the Washington congressional delegation on any administration or legislative proposals regarding tank waste stored at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. We will not tolerate the same situation that happened last year--when DOE-authored language related to the reclassification of high-level nuclear waste was inserted into the fiscal year 2005 Defense authorization bill. This negotiation that was done behind closed doors, in a committee that is not the rightful forum for debate on the issue of high-level nuclear waste and how it should be treated and disposed of. This legislative end run was viewed by me and the senior Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray, as well as the State of Washington and many of our constituents, as an ill-considered attempt to take short cuts at Hanford. I hope Dr. Bodman's commitment to consult with me will further his understanding of this issue and ultimately lead to an agreement that these bad faith maneuvers will not be continued by the Department of Energy under his leadership.
Washington is blessed with an incredible system of clean, renewable, and cost-effective hydropower. The pitfalls of being 80-percent dependent on one particular source for electric generation--subject to the whims of Mother Nature--have been made all too apparent in the past few years.
I look forward to ensuring that the Department of Energy and the policies that the incoming Secretary supports will ensure economic stability and growth for Washington residents specifically and throughout the Pacific Northwest. In order to meet these goals, the Department of Energy should be engaged in four broad activities. They include providing some regulatory certainty to the electric industry, at the same time we set some forward-thinking, yet achievable, goals for diversifying our energy sources; rationalizing our energy tax policy, and, in tight budgetary times, target it to support emerging technologies; we need to promote a vigorous research and development effort; and finally we need to make sure we are investing in the workforce, the human infrastructure, which is critical if we are going to lead in the global energy economy.
I believe that we are using unique Federal resources towards contributing greatly to addressing some of these important challenges. Among its diverse missions within the Department of Energy, the Pacific Northwest National Lab has been a national leader in the development of ``smart-grid'' R&D. This ``smart-grid'' technology, due to be deployed throughout the Pacific Northwest, will allow a reliable response to energy demand and the propagation of a more distributive energy infrastructure. These types of programs allow us to make our energy grid more reliable, help train and grow our energy workforce for the 21st century, and sustain and grow our economy. These programs should serve as examples of progressive investment of Federal resources yielding incredible results. I look forward to working with Dr. Bodman to ensuring the future growth of these programs.
Dr. Bodman also will be responsible for furthering the investments that incentivize the long-term production of alternative energy resources, including wind and biomass. I know that many of these have strong bipartisan support in the Congress and can play a critical role in sustainable economic development, especially in rural parts of our Nation, like most of the Eastern part of Washington State. Again, it is investments like these that can ensure a more reliable and distributive grid that will ultimately lessen our long term reliance on fossil fuels.
Finally, I look forward to educating Dr. Bodman on the importance of the long-term stability of the Bonneville Power Administration. The incoming Secretary should note that decisions about the future operation of the BPA system, including any decision to join a regional transmission organization, or RTO, should be left to stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest.
It is critical that Bonneville be allowed to continue making important investments in upgrading its transmission infrastructure. Last year's budget called for legislation that would have effectively ended critical transmission upgrades already underway in the Pacific Northwest by effectively exhausting BPA's borrowing authority in 2008. I hope that Dr. Bodman's further education on these matters will yield his commitment to ensure that these transmission upgrades can be completed--a key piece in making our energy system more reliable.
Again, I am supporting Dr. Bodman's nomination. As the next Secretary of Energy, he will be our Nation's chief energy policymaker. I look forward to further educating Dr. Bodman on these issues that are so important to my State and working with him to address these important challenges. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of Dr. Bodman's responses to my questions be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
http://thomas.loc.gov