Politician to Politician: A cry for help with energy strategy
July 2, 2015 | By
Jaclyn Brandt
The United States Senate is working to create a new national energy policy, but is taking a unique tactic of seeking input from the nation's governors to help form that policy. Forty-five senators, including all of the Senate Democrats, wrote a letter to the governors.
"Senate Democrats want an energy policy that unleashes American innovation, rewards middle-class families for smart energy choices and keeps our air and water clean for generations to come," Senate Democrats said in a statement. "The senators are seeking input from the governors because of the essential partnership between federal and state governments." The letter addressed the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), and said that there are many challenges to modernizing the energy infrastructure in the United States, including that "a significant portion of the related legal, regulatory and policy development and implementation occurs at state and local levels." They explained that a partnership between state and federal governments would be important to achieve any energy reconstruction. [Webinar] Complementing Weatherization: Employing Novel Program Strategies to Lift Core Low-Income ProgramsDate: Tuesday, July 28th | 3pm ET / 12pm PTThis webinar will demonstrate that effective low-income customer engagement is critical to the success of weatherization programs. Programs that engage low-income customers lift participation in and deepen the impact of weatherization programs. Register today! "The need for clean, reliable and efficient supplies of energy is becoming closely intertwined with our economic growth and global competitiveness," said Sen. Cantwell, one of the signors of the letter. "In fact, investing in clean energy technology has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs. We need to keep investing in cleaner, lower-cost energy solutions so that America won't be left behind." The goals outlined in the letter by the senators include investing in clean energy; empowering consumers; modernizing infrastructure; cutting pollution and waste; and investing in research and development. "We believe it is time for the U.S. Senate to consider the first update to our nation's energy policies in almost a decade," the letter said. "In particular, we believe the U.S. must establish a framework that helps unleash investment in our infrastructure sufficient to ensure all American citizens and businesses have access to affordable, efficient, reliable and cleaner energy; and that we must do so in a way that cuts carbon emissions, in order to address climate change and the substantial impacts it is already having on communities across the country." The letter asks the governors for input to help guide current and future energy efforts to address challenges and opportunities for energy partnerships. In a time when Congress is regularly split along party lines, energy seems to be an issue that many can agree on. "These senators are pointing our country in the right direction," said Rhea Suh, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement. "Their guiding principles show how we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels while creating sustainable jobs here at home that can't be shipped overseas." The letter was signed by 45 senators, which includes: Sens. Maria Cantwell, Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Heidi Heitkamp, Tammy Baldwin, Tom Udall, Ron Wyden, and others. Many of the senators are on energy committees, and others have worked to pass energy legislation in the past. "Most of America's power system was built before cell phones or the Internet even existed. That is why we need an energy policy that encourages innovation, rewards Americans for choosing clean energy and levels the playing field for those who generate cleaner energy and cut waste," said Sen. Harry Reid." Climate change is the most significant challenge our world faces. Many states have acted and Congress needs to finally take it seriously. Updating our outdated energy policy is a good place to start, and we look forward to reviewing suggestions from our country's governors." For more: © 2015 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex, LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/politician-politician-cry-help-energy-strategy/2015-07-02 |