Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, the nomination of Dr. Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy is now the pending business in the Senate. I would like to discuss the nomination. I note my friend and colleague Senator Murkowski is here. Both of us will take a short amount of time to discuss Dr. Moniz's qualifications.
I urge colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the nomination of Dr. Ernest Moniz to serve as the Secretary of Energy. Dr. Moniz is smart about energy policy, he is savvy about how the Department of Energy operates, and he is solution-oriented, which is what Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee saw when he was before our committee to consider his nomination.
I am going to talk about why I believe Dr. Moniz is well qualified to spearhead our efforts to evolve our country's energy system, to increase domestic sources, emit less carbon, and to bolster our economy. First, though, I would like to talk for a few minutes about the job Dr. Moniz will be stepping into once he is confirmed.
Right now the Energy Department is at the center of issues that are hugely consequential to our economy and the environment. They are how to manage the newly accessible reserves of natural gas, combating climate change, and making our economy more efficient. Certainly front and center is how, on a bipartisan approach, we can support the development of new energy technology. I believe our country needs that kind of energy to transition to a lower carbon economy. It is built on three pillars: strong economic growth, shrinking our carbon footprint, and spurring energy innovation.
What is unique about this moment is that now, on the issue of energy, our country is truly in a position of strength. Historically, lawmakers have avoided energy issues until there was a short-term crisis. Usually that crisis is a spike in the price of gasoline. Then, as we know, there is a big hue and cry to pass a ``comprehensive energy bill,'' and it ends up being ``comprehensive'' and still lasts a relatively short period of time, maybe a year and a half or 2 years, until there is another hue and cry to pass yet one more comprehensive bill.
Right now, the Congress and the executive branch--the Energy Department--are in a rare position, a position where we can make policy at a time when our country does not face those kinds of short-term calamities. I say that in no way minimizing the extraordinary challenge of climate change. In my view that is a potential catastrophe that needs real and immediate action, and it is something that cannot be ducked or ignored.
On energy, however, the usual calculus has been flipped on its head. New technologies have located potentially huge supplies of natural gas as well as new oil reserves. At the same time, thanks to a combination of improved efficiency, increased renewable power generation, and a rise of affordable natural gas supplies, our carbon emissions actually fell recently.
A decade ago no one dreamed of either of those facts.
One of the most immediate issues that will face Dr. Moniz, if he is confirmed, is the question of how our country can maximize the benefits of unconventional shale gas. Abundant, low-cost natural gas provides our country right now with a competitive, economic advantage. The reality is all over the world others want our gas. Our competitors in Europe and Asia--where the costs are four or five times as high as our manufacturers--want what we have.
I think it is obvious that this is also a national security advantage. We will be able to rely on our own energy resources instead of sources which come from unstable parts of the world that certainly don't wish the United States well.
I was encouraged by the commitment Dr. Moniz made to me to use the best, most recent data to look at questions, such as how building natural gas export terminals is going to affect the areas adjacent to those facilities as well as the larger American economy.
From my experience of working with Dr. Moniz, I think he is more than up to the big challenges our country faces as we deal with this historic transition in our energy sector. He knows how the Department works from the inside, and he knows it because he actually has experience there.
With his background as a well-respected scientist, I am confident Dr. Moniz is going to use the best science and most current data in considering key policy issues. He has shown he will take an independent, data-driven approach as a professor of MIT and director of that university's energy initiative. They have led numerous cutting-edge studies on a range of energy issues.
In one sense the Department of Energy ought to be called the department of innovation. One of the bright lights there is the Advanced Research Projects Agency, what is called ARPA-E, which funds research with the potential to produce major breakthroughs in energy technology. It was authorized in 2005, and it was Dr. Moniz's predecessor, Secretary Steven Chu, who oversaw the first project there and, to his credit, he was an important champion for that agency in its early days.
One of the dozens of efforts that was supported by ARPA-E, for example, is a project at the University of North Dakota which aims to reduce water usage of powerplants. According to the Department of Energy, the university is testing an air-cooled absorbent liquid that retains and releases moisture to cool powerplants that could result in efficient power production with minimal water loss.
I think it would be fair to say we could put together a pretty impressive filibuster if any one of us wanted to describe the various types of research going on or the research funded by the Department. They are leading research in a number of areas our country needs to work on if we are to achieve that objective I have staked out, and that is to secure a lower carbon economy.
As far as energy efficiency, the lowest cost way to reduce energy use and cut emissions is going to be a big part of the Department's mission in the next 4 years. Our committee is moving ahead in that area, starting with yet another bipartisan bill, the Shaheen-Portman legislation that, in my view, is the standard bearer now for energy-efficient legislation. We passed it out of the committee with broad bipartisan support, and I hope it will come to the floor of the Senate very soon.
The Department is also doing important work on carbon capture, carbon sequestration, and utilization--trapping emissions from fossil fuel operations and storing them underground to reduce the impacts to our climate. The chair of our Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee--my friend Senator Manchin--has a great interest in this particular area, and Dr. Moniz, to his credit, has said this is an area which deserves a significant amount of attention.
DOE research has also helped show that natural gas and renewables are not mutually exclusive. This country does not have to choose between the two. In fact, natural gas plants, in my view, make great partners for intermittent renewables such as wind and solar because they can fire up and power down quickly. That is a very important part of our future energy agenda. We want to have more wind and solar. We know they are intermittent sources.
Some of the challenges, as the President of the Senate knows, are about how to find innovative approaches to storage, and looking at natural gas to help us get wind and solar into our baseload power structure. So this is an important issue.
Renewables can also benefit natural gas. The Energy Department's Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, WA--across the river from Oregon--is going to soon test a project to use solar energy to make natural gas plants 20 percent more efficient.
I am not going to pretend to know everything about engineering, but I think it is worth noting that the New York Times said earlier this month the idea that is being explored in Richland, WA, would use concentrated solar rays to heat natural gas and water to about 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit and break open the natural gas and water molecules. The result would create synthetic gas, which burns more efficiently than natural gas alone. This would give us more energy for every molecule of gas burned, which means lower costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This is just one of many projects the Department is backing. They are not sure which are going to ultimately pan out, but the potential for breakthroughs--such as the one I have described--is exactly why it is so important for the Energy Department to have a broad research portfolio.
Our country's competitors are not sitting back waiting for our country to do all of the world's innovation. China, Germany, and others are pouring resources into R&D to try and get an advantage. The fact that we have our Energy Department on the front lines of this fight to show the world how to innovate is a huge American asset.
A significant portion of the Energy Department's budget goes into an office that is described as Environmental Management, which essentially means cleaning up America's radioactive nuclear waste. There are 17 active sites the Department is currently cleaning up, including the Hanford site in southeastern Washington. Whistleblowers and independent watchdogs, such as the Defense
Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, have identified some troubling problems with how waste is stored in Hanford--including the potential for hydrogen to build up and explode in several waste tanks. They have also flagged ongoing design issues with the facility that will treat the site's nuclear waste--another matter the Department of Energy must solve.
People who live near Hanford and depend on the Columbia River received some welcome assurances from Dr. Moniz. At the hearing, Senator Murkowski and I brought some of these issues up where Dr. Moniz said the status quo with respect to the Department of Energy on Hanford is not acceptable. I look forward to working with them on that long-term solution.
Finally, I think it is fair to say Dr. Moniz--and it is appropriate to close with this--has a long track record of collaboration. That is why I mentioned early on he showed in his confirmation hearing--and he showed Democrats and Republicans alike--that he is solution-oriented and collaborative on the difficult questions which are ahead. He brings that scientific credibility, which I have outlined, with real-world policy experience that is so important to managing a major Federal agency.
There has been bipartisan support expressed from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for Dr. Moniz in a usually gridlocked Congress. I feel as though C-SPAN ought to put out a warning to viewers not to adjust their television because this really is how the Senate ought to be working.
One of the reasons we had the bipartisan approach on energy issues I have been discussing--and it was demonstrated again this morning in the energy committee meeting--is because my friend and colleague Senator Murkowski consistently meets me at least halfway, and often more, on these big issues. I thank the Senator from Alaska for that cooperation on the Moniz nomination and many other matters. I look forward to Senator Murkowski's comments.
I see other colleagues here who may wish to speak at this time, and I yield the floor.
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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I believe we have run out of those in the Senate who wish to speak. I would just like to state again that this is a nominee who is supported by both Senator Murkowski and myself. This is a nominee who got an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
As I said earlier, I think he is an individual who is smart about energy policy, he is savvy about how the Department of Energy operates and he is a solution-oriented person and Democrats and Republicans in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee saw that in the confirmation process.
There are huge challenges ahead of him at the Department of Energy, but I think he is very qualified for this position. I would urge all Senators--Democrats and Republicans--to support the nominee.
I yield back all remaining time on both sides.
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