Senators pledge to reinvent energy in America

Saying "this country is tired of waiting for action by the White House on energy security and global warming," U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other newly-empowered Democratic Senators today announced their intention to make sweeping changes to America's energy policy.

"Americans are ready to confront the enormous challenge of energy independence, and we in Washington need to make sure they have the tools, fuels and technologies they need. For our economy, for our security, for our environment, we must deal with the energy crisis now," said Reid.

The new Committee Chairs who will be key in transforming the nation's energy policies gathered today in Washington, where they said they would begin working right away on new legislation to begin to deliver results for the American people.

"From now on, energy legislation will not be a means to prolong the failed policies of the past. Instead, Congress will direct its attention to investing new strategies and new alternative energy technologies to bring about the change the American people expect and demand," the group said in a statement.

The group quoted a recent study by the nonpartisan Apollo Alliance suggesting a major investment in alternative energy technologies could add more than 3.3 million new jobs to America's economy, stimulate $1.4 trillion dollars in new Gross Domestic Product and pay for itself within 10 years.

"In my home state of Montana we have abundant natural resources: wind, sunshine, biomass, and coal. I intend to aggressively push production incentives for renewable resources through the Senate Finance Committee," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. "The Finance Committee will hold a hearing soon to examine the best options to encourage investment in renewable energy. I also will propose again the creation of an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, or ARPA - E."

Committee spokesperson Carol Guthrie told the Cleantech Group the hearing had not yet been scheduled, but "you can expect it in this work period – the date has simply not been announced yet.  Committee staff on both sides of the aisle will be inviting witnesses to the hearing in the coming days," she said.

"Efficiency will be a major focus. So will efforts to further advance renewable technologies and alternative fuels like biofuels," Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman said of the 110th Congress. "We will look to reduce the burdens of rising energy prices on consumers, and we will work hard to reduce our exposure to the risks of global warming."

Some members of Congress have been talking in recent weeks about aggressively ramping up production of biofuels and other forms of clean, homegrown, renewable energy.

Tomorrow, lawmakers in Congress are to introduce legislation to begin to redirect oil industry subsidies and other incentives towards renewable energy.

"For the past six years, despite mounting evidence of the threat of global warming, growing evidence of the threat posed by our dependence on foreign oil, and massive profit growth by OPEC and Big Oil on the backs of American consumers, little has been accomplished in Washington to address our nation's energy security. The new Democratic Congress is committed to changing course, delivering results and taking America in a new direction," the group said in its statement.

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