Alternative Energy Research and Development Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6203) to provide for Federal energy research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 6203, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6203, the Alternative Energy and Research Development Act.

As its title suggests, this bill is designed to advance development of a number of alternative energy technologies by establishing policy goals and focusing research on key technical challenges.

Building on the excellent R&D provisions the Science Committee included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, or EPACT, H.R. 6203 supports the development of biofuels from cellulose, meaning feedstocks other than corn; biodegradable natural plastics from biomass; technologies for hydrogen storage onboard vehicles; advanced solar technologies that are economical and make solar power cost competitive in a decade; technologies that minimize the cost and environmental impact and maximize the efficiency of harnessing the power of the wind; and advanced battery technologies specifically for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

In addition to requiring the DOE to continue carrying out the geothermal energy, hydropower distributor and cogeneration research authorized in EPACT, H.R. 6203 supports research to convert coal into pipeline quality gaseous fuels.

The bill also promotes energy conservation in three important ways. First, it provides incentives for the construction of energy efficient buildings. Today's buildings consume 50 percent of the Nation's supply of natural gas and 70 percent of its electricity, more energy than any other sector of the economy, including industry and transportation.

Second, the bill offers grants to States who deploy solar cells and purchase plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Finally, it establishes a cooperative extension program to encourage the use of advanced energy technologies patterned after the successful agricultural extension programs that aided farmers in incorporating advanced technologies and food production.

H.R. 6203 is a modified version of H.R. 5656, which was approved by the Science Committee in July. Like most bills that emerge from the Science Committee, H.R. 6203 represents a compilation of great ideas from a number of members of the committee, including my colleagues from Texas, Lamar Smith and Mike McCaul. And I would especially like to thank the ranking member, Mr. Gordon, for his leadership and his additions to the bill. The bill was further perfected in committee by Representatives Ralph Hall, Doris Matsui, Lynn Woolsey, Sheila Jackson- Lee, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ken Calvert, Al Green, Brian Baird, and Brad Miller. I want to thank my colleagues on the committee for their contributions. H.R. 6203 is the product of a truly bipartisan effort.

Mr. Speaker, high natural gas prices and the summer spike in gasoline prices serve as a stark reminder that the path to energy independence is a long and arduous one.

To make significant progress down this path requires a steadfast commitment from Congress and the Federal Government to support the development of advanced energy technologies and alternative fuels that will help end our addiction to oil and gasoline.

The bill we are considering today would do just that in a fiscally responsible way. In some cases, it gives new direction to research funding authorized in EPACT. In others, the House already has appropriated funds for the programs.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6203.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize a valuable member of the Science Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) for 3 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize another member of the Science Committee who has worked hard in this area, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCall), for 2 minutes.

Mr. McCALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to first thank Congresswoman Biggert for her leadership on this bill. We have worked very hard to get to this point to get this bill on the floor. I was very proud to be a part of it. I thank you again for your leadership. And I thank Congressman Kirk for helping us in this effort and my colleague from Texas, Mr. Smith, for his hard work.

This alternative energy legislation is crucial for America. But it isn't just an alternative energy issue. It is also very much a national security issue. For some time now, we in the Congress have been pushing towards reducing America's addiction to foreign sources of oil. This is a giant step in the right direction. This bill will provide research and development for energy independence, for clean energy technologies, for plug-in hybrid vehicles, solar power, wind, biofuels, clean coal technologies, and hydrogen.

If passed, this visionary legislation will put us on the track to provide cheaper and more reliable alternatives to fossil fuels and will work to provide a cleaner environment for our children and our grandchildren.

I want to thank our colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their strong support of this legislation as well. It is an important bill for America's energy future.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), who is not a member of the Science Committee but has been so helpful as a member of the Policy Committee and of the Appropriations Committee, and I yield 3 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk). He has been the chairman of the Suburban Caucus, and this bill has been on the Suburban Caucus list for those bills that are important to not only suburban areas but all over the country, and I yield 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett), a long-time member of the Science Committee, for 3 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to Mr. Bartlett from Maryland.

Before I close, Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert in the Record an exchange of letters between the Committees on Science and Education and the Workforce.

Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of

Representatives, 2181 Rayburn House Office Building,

Washington, DC, September 29, 2006.

Hon. Sherwood Boehlert,

Chairman, Committee on Science, 2320 Rayburn HOB, Washington,

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Biggert and Mr. Gordon for their leadership.

For 6 years, I have had the privilege of serving as the co-Chair in the House of the Renewable Energy Efficiency Caucus with Mark Udall of Colorado, which is over half of the House. They have a similar caucus in the Senate. There is widespread bipartisan support for these programs. I think it is so important that we do this.

I want to say that one of the under-reported stories of the last 2 years is the impact of last year's energy bill, the final agreement. I didn't support the House bill, but I supported the final bill because the Senate made it so much better, advanced especially the production of ethanol. There are at least 41 new ethanol plants under construction across America today because alternative fuels is what we need to advance.

Leadership cries out for us to do what we need to do for the next generation with respect to energy, regardless of what energy costs today. Some people think if it is $4 a gallon you have to make changes, but if it is $2 a gallon you don't need to. No, we need to. And leadership cries out for us to be aggressive.

And I am a conservative. Sometimes conservatives forget we are supposed to conserve, to save, to be efficient. Plus our dependence on other sources of energy is causing our country to not be independent and to really be vulnerable. So this is a security issue.

I think, frankly, if we don't do things like this we are being penny- wise and pound-foolish. These initiatives are real. They are substantive. This is a great first step.

It is really a second step. I think EPACT was the first step. This is the second step. I would even argue next year we need to do a third step and continue to advance this cause.

We didn't balance the budget for 3 years by cutting spending. We did slow the rate of growth of spending, but we balanced the budget because the economy grew because we led the world in information. Earl Blumenauer, from out on your side of this country. The Microsoft explosion was a robust, U.S. manufacturing export-driven economy where revenues surpassed expenses and we balanced the budget.

We can do that again, solving the world's energy problems because we are the smartest people in the world. A dynamic, export-driven economy if we will invest in energy solutions for the world, and you can't just expect it to happen. The government plays a role. We have to lead on this issue.

This is a double negative, but I with close with this: We cannot afford not to do this. That is what the House needs to understand. We cannot afford not to do this. Please support this bill, move it forward, and then let's go further in the 110th Congress.

I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Reclaiming my time, thank you for your leadership, and thank you, Mrs. Biggert.

Mr. Speaker, there have been in the last couple of years two major government-sponsored studies on energy. One was a big SAIC report, commonly called the Hirsch Report. The other was a more recent report by the Corps of Engineers, and both of them reached essentially the same conclusion.

The world has either peaked in oil production, conventional oil production, or it will shortly peak in oil production with potentially devastating consequences. The Hirsch report said that the world has never faced a problem like this, that mitigation consequences will be unprecedented.

Today I got across my desk a flyer from a group here on the Hill that said that we ought to be cautious about this suspension vote because some new programs were suggested here. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that some new programs are suggested here because the reality is the Hirsch report said if you didn't anticipate the peaking of oil, in 20 years there were going to be economic consequences.

We knew 25 years ago that this was a reality. By 1980, 1981, we absolutely knew that M. King Huppert was right. The United States had peaked in 1970. We are well down that slope now. He predicted the world would be peaking about now.

I hope, Mr. Speaker, that there are a lot of new programs in here because we don't have 10 years. We don't have 20 years. I think we have essentially run out of time. We have run out of energy.

And don't be lulled into complacency by this find of oil in the gulf. Instead of our responding, saying here is some energy and we can invest in alternatives, what we have said is, I don't need to buy that hybrid now; I can now buy an SUV. We have exactly the wrong response to this.

Please, this is a great bill. I hope there are new programs in it. My only complaint with the bill is it doesn't have enough new programs in it.

Thank you very much for a great bill. Everybody should vote ``yes'' on this.

Mr. Speaker, we have 2 percent of the nonreserves of oil. We use 25 percent of the world's oil. We import almost two-thirds of what we use. Ten years from now when we look back, our regret is going to be that there wasn't ten times as much money in this bill for these programs.

This is desperately needed. The market is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. It will not solve this problem. If this government does not solve it, it won't be solved because the private sector cannot do it. We need real leadership in this area, and that is a major responsibility of government.

And again I say mark it down. Ten years from now you will look back and say why wasn't there ten times as much money in that bill because we really needed it?

This falls far short of what we ought to be doing, but at least it is something. Please vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6203. This bill is very similar to Mrs. Biggert's H.R. 5656 which the Science Committee passed favorably in June. We support the changes that were made and believe they express some of the concerns our Members had with H.R. 5656.

The original bill contained a number of important provisions from Democratic Members, and I want to thank Chairwoman Biggert for working with us to include them in this most recent version. I am especially pleased to see my bill, H.R. 5658, included as section 15 of this bill.

If our country is serious about reducing our dependency on foreign oil, we need to get serious about mobilizing the infrastructure necessary to distribute and dispense the next generation of fuels.

The bill instructs the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to research fuel additives and other technologies that would make biodiesel fuels more compatible with the country's petroleum-based infrastructure.

My bill, contained in section 15, also addresses potential challenges as fuel suppliers transition to ultra-low sulfur diesel, a fuel significantly cleaner than traditional diesel.

This section instructs the Department of Energy and NIST to develop portable, low-cost, and accurate methods suppliers can use to test sulfur content in fuels. It should be noted that in

no way is this meant to interfere with the authority or activities of the EPA to continue the successful transition to ultra-low sulfur diesel or other fuels programs. It is intended to assist companies that are complying with EPA's programs, and I encourage DOE and NIST to coordinate these activities with EPA.

While I support Mrs. Biggert's bill, I personally believe the committee should be sending a stronger message regarding the future of high-risk, high-payoff energy R&D.

Specifically, we should move towards the establishment of an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, or ARPA-E, as directed in my bill,

Mr. Speaker, we have no other requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Let me just add my voice to my friend and colleague from Tennessee to say he has been a strong, consistent leader in this area, and I want to thank you for that. It has made this Congress better for your efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake).

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6203, which is very similar to a bill we marked up earlier this year in the Science Committee, with some of the more expensive and contentious elements taken out.

I'm pleased that this bill, which enjoys bipartisan support, contains amendments offered by a number of my colleagues in committee, including Mr. Baird, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Mr. Brad Miller, Ranking Member Gordon, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Al Green, Ms. Woolsey, Ms. Jackson-Lee.

The bill addresses research on a wide range of important energy technologies, including advanced biofuels, hydrogen storage, wind energy, plug in hybrid vehicles, energy efficient buildings, and alternative biobased fuels and ultra low sulfur diesel.

The bill also establishes programs for energy technology transfer and green energy education, and calls for a study of an advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy.

I'm particularly pleased that the bill includes research on advanced solar photovoltaic technologies and a photovoltaic demonstration program. In August, Chairwoman Biggert and I held a field hearing in my district that focused on photovoltaics.

At the hearing, the witnesses, and let me just note there were 2 Nobel Prize winners on the panel, described how the relatively high cost current supply constraints associated with currently available solar technologies are limiting adoption. But they also outlined several research directions that will help reduce costs and ease manufacturing, which will expand availability.

So I'm glad that this bill will help move that research along and establish a demonstration program to speed adoption, with the goal of making electricity generated by solar photovoltaic power cost- competitive by 2015.

I have some concerns about the ramifications of the coal methanation section in the area of greenhouse gas emissions. While I want to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil as much as anyone, in doing so we need to be mindful of the harmful effects of global climate change.

Converting coal to liquid or gaseous fuels results in much greater carbon dioxide emissions than for conventional crude oil derived hydrocarbon fuels. I hope that any plants built using such an approach will incorporate carbon capture and storage, in order to keep those gases out of our atmosphere.

The rapid development of alternative energy sources is essential to our nation's security, and while I wish we could do more, I'm happy to support the efforts included in H.R. 6203 and ask my colleagues to vote for it.