Farm-to-Cafeteria Projects Act of 2003

Mr. President, today I am introducing comprehensive legislation to ensure the reliable delivery of electric power in the United States. I am pleased have the Senior Senator from Massachusetts and the Senator from Washington join me as original cosponsors of this bill.

This past August, nearly 50 million people in the Northeast and Midwest were affected by a massive power outage. Hurricane Isabel and other weather systems left millions more without power. These events emphasize the vulnerability of the U.S. electricity grid to human error, mechanical failure, and weather-related outages.

Unfortunately, the electricity provisions now being considered in the on-going energy bill conference were written well before these recent events. The pending energy bill fails to do all that is necessary to protect the grid from devastating interruptions in the future. That is why I am introducing this bill today to ensure greater reliability in our electricity delivery system.

My bill, the Electric Reliability Security Act of 2003, will help achieve reliability and security of the electricity grid in an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sound manner. It does so by creating mandatory, nationwide electric reliability standards.

The bill also mandates regional coordination in the siting of transmission facilities, and provides $10 billion in loan guarantees to finance ``smart grid'' technologies that improve the way the grid transmits power.

While a $10 billion investment may seem to be a large investment, it is significantly less than the transmission cost estimates that have circulated following the Northeast blackout. In response to the events this past August, industry experts estimated that it would cost consumers as much as $100 billion to upgrade transmission systems and site new lines to meet future reliability needs.

However, even this hefty price tag does not factor in the costs of additional generation, does not consider the rising cost of natural gas due to increasing electricity consumption, and does not include the environmental and other social costs of continued expansion of our presently centralized power system. Power lines are expensive and are rarely welcomed by the nearby public. The loan guarantees in the bill will help balance the need for new transmission lines by providing Federal resources to help improve existing ones.

In addition to addressing system operation and transmission needs, the bill also promotes sound system management. It establishes a Federal system benefits fund as a match for State programs.

Historically, regulated electric utility companies have provided a number of energy-related public services beyond simply supplying electricity that benefit the system as a whole. Such services have included bill payment assistance and energy conservation measures for low-income households, energy efficiency programs for residential and business customers, and pilot programs to promote renewable energy resources. More than 20 States, including my home State of Vermont, have public benefits programs. This bill will provide needed Federal matching money to States for these programs.

The Alliance to Save Energy estimates that a Federal program to match existing State public benefits programs would save 1.24 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity over 20 years, and cut consumer energy bills by about $100 billion. My bill, which has the potential to save consumers $100 billion is far preferable to raising consumer electricity bills by the $100 billion to raise money for grid expansion.

The bill also establishes energy efficiency performance standards for utilities. The United States has experienced tremendous growth in electricity consumption over the past decade. Current estimates are that electricity consumption is increasing at roughly two percent per year.

Between 1993 and 1999, U.S. summer peak electricity use alone increased by 95,000 megawatts. This is the equivalent of adding a new, six-State New England to the Nation's electricity demand every fourteen months.

Energy experts estimate that as much as 50 percent of expected new demand over the next 20 years can be met through consumer efficiency and load management programs. Over the past two decades, utility demand-side efficiency programs have avoided the need for more than 100 300-megawatt power plants. However, with the advent of electricity deregulation, utility spending on these efficiency programs has dropped by almost half.

The Federal Government should seek to correct this trend, and this bill takes a strong first step in that direction by phasing in a requirement that utilities reduce their peak demand for power and their customers' power use between 2004 and 2013.

Finally, the bill enacts standards that enable increased on-site, or distributed, generation to reduce pressure on the grid and lessen the impact of a blackout should one occur. We have an obligation to ensure that the electricity grid is secure. We currently have a giant system consisting of almost 200,000 miles of interconnecting lines that constantly shift huge amounts of electricity throughout the country.

Such a giant and complex system, traversing miles of city and countryside, is inevitably subject to unforeseen problems. Simply making it bigger will never take away all uncertainty, nor can it eliminate the vulnerability of the grid to sabotage or terrorist attack. We should do all we can to make certain such vulnerabilities are reduced.

In summary, I am introducing this legislation because I feel that we should be cautious in our assumptions that the answer to our nation's reliability woes lies primarily in building a bigger, more expansive grid. Simply building more transmission lines is not the answer.

Investments in energy efficiency and on-site generation can significantly improve the reliability of the nation's electricity grid and in most cases will be cheaper, faster to implement and more environmentally friendly than large-scale grid expansion. We also must fill the regulatory gaps in the system, which my bill does. Congress should establish mandatory reliability standards and close other regulatory gaps left by state deregulation of the electricity sector. In addition, no national reliability program will be effective or complete without strong incentives for demand-side management programs, for efficiency and for on-site generation.

We cannot solve today's energy problems with yesterday's solutions. My bill is an innovative approach to ensuring electric reliability by maximizing energy efficiency, regulatory efficiency, and efficient investment. Given the high costs of power outages to our country, we cannot afford to do otherwise.

I invite my colleagues to join me in my efforts to advance energy security and reliability in the United States.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce today, with my respected colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, the Farm-to- Cafeteria Projects Act of 2003. This important bipartisan proposal will support grassroots efforts all across our Nation to bring school cafeterias and local farms together.

It is amazing how many kids do not know where the food that they eat comes from. It is also amazing how far some farm products travel to get to the cafeteria table. The Farm-to-Cafeteria Projects Act of 2003 will establish a U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, grant program to help schools connect children with local farms by bringing fresh local foods to their cafeterias and by implementing hands-on nutrition education programs.

Communities all across our Nation are beginning to explore the concept of linking farms and cafeterias. In my home State of Vermont, from rural towns like Jay and Westfield to the city of Burlington, schools have experimented with how they can integrate the daily service of school meals with classroom learning and local agriculture. And as more schools create these connections, more and more want to learn how they too can start a program. Oftentimes these are very small schools, which do not have the staff or money to kick off a project on their own. With just a little money and some technical assistance, these schools can create a program that teaches kids about good nutrition, shows them the importance of agriculture, and supports local farms by keeping food dollars within the community. In introducing The Farm-to- Cafeteria Projects Act of 2003, Senator Specter and I seek to provide these communities with the assistance they need to get such school and farm partnerships off the ground. I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this exciting initiative, and I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce today, with my respected colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, the Farm-to- Cafeteria Projects Act of 2003. This important bipartisan proposal will support grassroots efforts all across our Nation to bring school cafeterias and local farms together.

It is amazing how many kids do not know where the food that they eat comes from. It is also amazing how far some farm products travel to get to the cafeteria table. The Farm-to-Cafeteria Projects Act of 2003 will establish a U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, grant program to help schools connect children with local farms by bringing fresh local foods to their cafeterias and by implementing hands-on nutrition education programs.

Communities all across our Nation are beginning to explore the concept of linking farms and cafeterias. In my home State of Vermont, from rural towns like Jay and Westfield to the city of Burlington, schools have experimented with how they can integrate the daily service of school meals with classroom learning and local agriculture. And as more schools create these connections, more and more want to learn how they too can start a program. Oftentimes these are very small schools, which do not have the staff or money to kick off a project on their own. With just a little money and some technical assistance, these schools can create a program that teaches kids about good nutrition, shows them the importance of agriculture, and supports local farms by keeping food dollars within the community. In introducing The Farm-to- Cafeteria Projects Act of 2003, Senator Specter and I seek to provide these communities with the assistance they need to get such school and farm partnerships off the ground. I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this exciting initiative, and I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.