Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I submit the following article, which is authored by my friend Jason Hartke, and discusses the important role of our nation's Roadless Areas. Roadless Areas protect 58.5 million acres of pristine wild forests and provide clean drinking water to over 60 million Americans.

Our Heritage Forests: An American Legacy

(By Jason Hartke)

``If there is one thing that should unite us as a country

across generations, parties, an time, it is love of the

land.'' President Clinton made this remark at the National

Arboretum on January 5, 2001, where he announced the Roadless

Area Conservation Rule which protected the last, best wild

lands in the nation. This initiative encompassed 58.5 million

acres of forests in 39 states. Combining this accomplishment

with the 22 National Monuments that he designated and

protected, President Clinton left office having saved more

land in the contiguous United States than any administration

since Theodore Roosevelt.

Yet, like liberty, the price of environmental protection is

eternal vigilance. The individuals and organizations who are

fighting to protect these magnificent forests have embraced

the dream of President Clinton and millions of people across

this country. They will not stand aside while the fight for

America the Beautiful is in the balance. From the time of

Teddy Roosevelt, leaders have stepped forward to ensure that

future generations will inherit an epic legacy of timeless

beauty.

In this initiative, as in others, President Clinton

operated on the principle that economic progress and

environmental protection can and must go hand in hand. He

made this point clearly in a speech at Reddish Knob in the

George Washington National Forest where he called on the

Forest Service to formulate a policy to preserve the roadless

areas: ``It is no longer necessary to grow a modern economy

by destroying natural resources and putting more greenhouse

gases into the atmosphere. In fact, we can create more jobs

by following a path of sustainable development.''

President Clinton realized that the country was changing.

People were attracted to pristine environments where they saw

opportunities for outdoor recreation. Whether it be hiking,

camping, fishing, hunting, wildlife photography, or other

forms of outdoor activities, people are increasingly seeking

out places where they can find solitude, enjoy the wonder and

contentment found in nature, and in their own individual way,

experience a renewal of the human spirit. To accommodate

these popular activities, companies are finding an ever

growing and powerful market, giving a helpful hand to local

economic interests.

While standing up for the public good is always the right

thing to do, it is rarely the easy thing to do. Despite the

fact that President Clinton's executive action was steeped in

precedent, pioneered by Theodore Roosevelt and other

presidents throughout the 20th century, his action was

immediately challenged in lawsuits that have spanned the last

decade. Some of the opposition may have arisen from the

mistaken belief that the Roadless Rule was a last minute

action in the final days of the Clinton Administration. In

truth, the final adoption of the Rule was the culmination of

an exhaustive rule- making procedure, including a thorough

and well reasoned environmental impact statement.

As early as December of 1997, one hundred and sixty nine

scientists wrote to President Clinton urging him to develop a

science based policy for roadless area protection. The public

response was enormous. The forest protection idea sparked the

largest grassroots environmental campaign in US history,

eliciting an unprecedented one million six hundred thousand

comments from the public. More than 1.2 million Americans

provided comments over a 60 day period alone. Of those

comments, an amazing 96% of the citizens voiced support for

protecting these irreplaceable natural treasures.

Other opposition wrongly assumed that these forests were

crucial to the viability of the logging industry. Yet here

again, the truth was that these roadless regions accounted

for a very small percentage of the logging industry, while

the cost of extraction meant that any effort to log in these

areas would have to subsidized.

These old forests are important to people who do not

directly use the forests. Scientists have accelerated their

documentation of the massive value of free ecological

services that are derived from forests. These services help

to clean our drinking water, prevent soil erosion, clear the

air of pollution, and sequester carbon that otherwise would

contribute to climate change.

The old dichotomy between preservationists and utilitarians

is increasingly becoming blurred due to the ubiquitous use of

these free ecological services. It turns out that everybody

has a stake in these ancient forests, because the magnificent

landscapes are essential to the integrity of the great life

support systems of the planet.

Although forests are under the control of sovereign

nations, they also represent a trust responsibility to the

world. Deforestation, for example, is one of the biggest

contributors to adverse climate change. Forests soak up

prodigious amounts of carbon dioxide. Therefore, every person

on the earth and all future generations are affected by every

forest on earth, regardless of which country they call home.

The eminent historian, Dr. Douglas Brinkley, observed in

his book, The Wilderness Warrior, that Theodore Roosevelt's

conservation record became ``the template future presidents

followed.'' His historical perspective rings true.

President Clinton, shortly before he left office, reflected

on the environmental policies of his Administration: ``We had

done our best to be faithful to Roosevelt's conservation

ethic and to his admonition that we should always be taking

what he called ``the long view . . . Working together, we can

ensure that not only our generation, but each generation to

come, will have the resources to leave an even better land

for those who follow.''

President Clinton's leadership by example, practicing at

home what he advocates abroad, adds to our credibility in the

international community and gives hope to people everywhere

that living up to our global responsibilities does not

impede, but rather sustains economic opportunity and

vitality.

Saving the beauty, diversity, and life of the planet is not

bad economics; rather, it is fundamental to human survival

and the advance of civilization.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the United States Navy, who, under the leadership of Secretary Ray Mabus, is doing a fantastic job developing clean, green sources of energy for the United States Navy and, eventually, the world. The Navy is already flying the Blue Angels on biofuels, it is charging our communication equipment in Afghanistan with solar energy, and it is on a path to half of its energy coming from clean sources by 2020 and the Great Green Fleet by 2016.

In my State, we're building whole industries around this: Imperium Renewables, Targeted Growth, General Biofuels, Boeing, and Alaska Airlines.

We can power the future with clean energy. The Navy is leading the way. Washington State University is doing great work, and I know there's one great former Washington State student who's helping on this effort, and her name is Trudi.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor General Peter W. Chiarelli, who is retiring today as Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S Army, a position he has held with distinction since 2008. General Chiarelli's retirement is hard-earned and well-deserved, coming after 40 years of brave service to his country. He enlisted in 1972 as a 2nd lieutenant of armor, served two combat tours in Iraq, and eventually became the second-highest-ranking general at the Pentagon. We are indebted to the service of General Chiarelli, and I am proud to say that he is a native Washingtonian.

General Chiarelli was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from Seattle University, where he was a Distinguished Military Graduate of Seattle University's Army ROTC program. He received his masters from the University of Washington, and also led several different units at Fort Lewis, in Washington state. In addition to his service at Fort Lewis, General Chiarelli served as commander of the First Calvary Division at Fort Hood, Texas, as Director of Operations, Readiness and Mobilization at U.S. Army Headquarters, and led the Multi-National Corps in Iraq.

Beyond simply acknowledging his service and expressing the gratitude of myself and my constituents, I would also like to acknowledge the General's longstanding advocacy on behalf of behavioral health issues in the Army. At a time when many of our young men and women are returning from service abroad suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other issues related to their service, General Chiarelli has called attention to the obligation we have to provide these heroes with the care they need and deserve.

General Chiarelli, even in your retirement, myself, my colleagues, and my constituents remain inspired by your unwavering commitment to this nation, which will long serve as a shining example of the spirit of service and sacrifice that future generations will aspire to equal.

Mr. Speaker, today I introduced the FUTURE STEM Act. This legislation will give undergraduate students opportunities to expand both the breadth and depth of their education in multidisciplinary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields in real world research settings from National Labs to businesses. An American workforce that is highly skilled in STEM fields is necessary for the United States' economic competitiveness and job creation in innovative industries.

Industries that drive Washington state and our nation's economy, such as health care, biotechnology, information technology, manufacturing, aerospace, transportation, construction, and energy efficiency and clean technology, all need career-ready STEM-trained graduates to remain competitive and cutting-edge. In fact, workforce projections for 2014 by the U.S. Department of Labor show that 15 of the 20 fastest growing occupations require significant science or mathematics training to successfully compete for a job. Yet, despite our high unemployment rate, the U.S. is falling behind in STEM graduates and many of these job openings are not being filled by American workers. The U.S. Department of Education reports that America now ranks 20th internationally in our share of graduate degrees awarded in engineering, computer science, and mathematics.

We need focused programs to ensure that the next generation of high- tech workers is prepared to enter the strongest STEM-related industries in Washington state and across the nation. The FUTURE STEM Act seeks to address these problems by exposing students to STEM fields as undergraduates, getting young people early experience in professional settings.

The FUTURE STEM Act establishes a pilot undergraduate student fellowship program to award competitive grants to partner institutions to provide student work experience that will overall improve education and training in support of STEM fields. Under the grants, students will engage in a 10-week fellowship and be placed in real research settings at community colleges, universities, businesses, National Laboratories, and other research settings. The fellowships will pay $4,500 to the student for a ten-week project, plus up to $2,000 reimbursement for housing and travel expenses. An additional $3,500 per project is reserved for equipment, instrumentation, and other educational and training materials needed for the project; supporting outreach efforts to recruit students; encouraging collaboration between government, industry, and academic partners; and assessing the activities funded under the Act. These allowances are on par with existing fellowship programs.

Industries such as aerospace, solar power, and advanced biofuels would be eligible to compete to host STEM students in the pilot program. In Washington state, students could be employed at Boeing, Washington State University, Everett Community College, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), or at countless other locations. PNNL's Energy and Environment Division currently employs some undergraduate and community college students as interns and I am told that they would be eager to employ more under the program created by this Act.

All of America's students deserve the opportunity to pursue a STEM career. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, STEM fields are expected to add 2.7 million new jobs by 2018, yet women and minorities are vastly underrepresented in those fields. In a survey of female and minority chemists and chemical engineers, 77 percent said significant numbers of women and minorities are missing from the U.S. STEM workforce because ``they were not identified, encouraged or nurtured to pursue STEM studies early on.'' For that reason, this legislation will give preference to students from groups that have been historically underrepresented in STEM fields.

It is crucial that we support, promote, and encourage students to pursue pathways toward careers in STEM fields. The FUTURE STEM Act will facilitate an overall improvement in STEM education and help prepare our nation's students for a high-tech future, while helping to maintain and improve our global excellence in science and technology. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, which will help to ensure America has the high-skilled STEM workforce that is necessary to increase our global competitiveness.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize National Native American Heritage Month and to celebrate the rich heritage of Native Americans in Washington state, which is home to 29 federally recognized tribes. These tribes have emphasized the importance of further empowering tribal governments to be able to serve their members in a variety of areas, including: housing, social programs, courts, natural resource management, education, and health care. Over the years I have worked hard to address these issues by supporting tribal governments and the positive work they do for their communities, and I will continue to do so in my capacity as the Vice-Chair of the Native American Caucus.

Northwest Coast tribes have a rich history and continue to share that with their surrounding community. Earlier this fall, a carver from the Lummi Indian Reservation traveled across the country with his 20 foot cedar healing pole bound for the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. This summer I stopped by the Tulalip Tribe's new Hibulb Museum. The museum--one of ten tribal museums throughout Washington state--teaches visitors about the traditions and history of the Tulalip tribe through art that is emblematic of the region's tribal history and coastal environment, such as cedar totem poles and ceremonial masks.

In Washington state, education offered by the tribes and other related institutions plays an integral role in maintaining traditions, fighting unemployment, and raising awareness about tribal issues. Educational programs include ten tribal primary and secondary schools, a number of Northwest Indian Colleges and other tribal colleges, as well as American Indian Studies and native language programs offered at the Evergreen State College, Washington State University, and the University of Washington's Department of American Indian Studies.

Despite achievements in education and other fields, Native American communities still suffer from greater health disparities, including high rates of diabetes, tuberculosis, and alcoholism. To improve the quality of the health care system for tribes, I supported the Indian Health Care Improvement Act that was passed into law as a part of the Affordable Care Act, and I will continue to work to protect that law. With 23 tribal clinics in Washington state alone, there is already an existing health care infrastructure in Native American communities, and as we work to improve the quality of our own health care system we should continue advocating for better, and self-governed, health care for tribes.

As we look to improve health care, education, and the economy in Indian Country, I will strongly support self-governance as a way to achieve these goals. To that end, I have cosponsored H.R. 2444, the Department of the

Interior Tribal Self-Governance Act, as well as related legislation to restore the integrity of government-to-government relationships and promote opportunities for tribal self-determination. I believe that we should support tribal governments to find ways to best serve their communities and protect their heritage.

Mr. Speaker, a fundamental principle of our nation's education system is that all schools should provide students with a safe environment that allows them to learn without fear of harassment or discrimination. Unfortunately, we are not doing nearly a good enough job to provide this type of environment for our children, as far too many students go to school every day facing anti-LGBT bullying and discrimination. Allowing this sort of atmosphere to exist anywhere is unconscionable and wrong.

Over the last fifty years, the federal government has taken action to require that all schools receiving federal funds prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, disability, and age. These laws are now in desperate need of updating, in order to expressly protect students from discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. This gap has left students and guardians with limited legal recourse in case of discrimination and harassment, and the federal government currently faces a dearth of information on how deep the problem runs. As a result, I am adding my name as a cosponsor to H.R. 998 and H.R. 1648 to help address these issues. While this law would place additional reporting requirements on cash-strapped school districts, I hope the federal government can work with states to share in this burden.

Studies have shown just how detrimental an impact this type of treatment can have on LGBT youth. Among the many potential consequences of anti-LGBT bullying are increased absenteeism, academic underachievement, and serious health consequences. The need for this legislative change has only been made more acute recently, as we have seen far too many tragic deaths arise from the terrors of bullying in schools. I refuse to stand by and let any more suicides occur among students who were not sufficiently protected from harassment at school.

While these bills address discriminatory activities occurring on school grounds, we must also encourage parents in every state to provide safe, healthy environments at home. This

is particularly important as we continue to see a steep rise in cyber bullying, which can further isolate youth in desperate need of an open and honest environment. I look forward to working with my colleagues to modernize our federal laws to recognize this serious and growing problem as well.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to acknowledge the importance of worker retraining efforts in my state led by the workforce development councils that are helping Washingtonians get back to work. I would also like to recognize the opening of a new facility in Monroe, Washington that will help more of our neighbors who have been hit hard by this economic downturn get the training they need to successfully re-enter the job market.

Often, employers lack a workforce with appropriate skills and displaced workers lack the means to acquire these skills. That is why worker retraining programs are so important. Reversing the effects of the economic downturn is not an individual mission, but a community challenge, and an important partner helping in this effort are the Washington workforce development councils. Our workforce development councils operate 64 WorkSource centers statewide, where low-income youth and adults, displaced workers, and returning servicemembers access job training, employment counseling, and other services that help put people back to work and provide our employers with the skilled workforce they need to thrive.

Last year alone, more than 364,000 Washington residents sought help through the State's WorkSource centers. The Workforce Development Council of Snohomish County provided 39,156 people with a total of 528,005 services in 2010. Currently, the main access points for these services are the WorkSource Centers in Everett and Lynnwood, Washington. However, thanks to the generosity of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul--who offered to rent out space in their facility for only one dollar per year--on Tuesday, November 15th a new WorkSource center will open in Monroe, Washington.

This expansion of services to Monroe is important because, currently, displaced workers in the cities and towns to the east of Everett and Lynnwood face yet another barrier to employment: travelling to a WorkSource Center. Now, yet another hard-hit community can begin to rebuild and move forward because the community will now have a headquarters for worker retraining and job market resources.

That's why I am proud to stand up here today and recognize the significance of the WorkSource opening in Monroe, Washington today. I wish all the best to the dedicated staff at the Snohomish County Workforce Development Council, the kind people at St. Vincent de Paul, and the Washingtonians who are persevering through this downturn and now have a strong partner to help them get back on their feet.

Mr. Speaker, this week, I reintroduced the Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act (H.R. 2994), a bipartisan bill that will improve the research and development program for marine renewable energy. Marine energy is an emerging technology that presents great opportunities. Developing the ability to harness energy from our ocean and tidal currents to power our homes and businesses will create U.S. jobs by building a new manufacturing industry and will improve our energy security. I would like to recognize the leadership of Senator Lisa Murkowski who has introduced a Senate companion, which she has successfully moved through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Further, I appreciate the support of my House colleagues Representatives Don Young and Theodore Deutch in working with me on this bill.

In the Puget Sound area of Washington, research and demonstration on tidal energy are underway, requiring collaboration from the private sector, universities, research institutions and public utilities. However, national leadership is needed to truly realize the benefits of commercial-scale marine hydrokinetic projects in the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy established the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, run by the University of Washington and Oregon State University, to develop tidal and wave research projects. They are working with the private sector to demonstrate new technologies. Additionally, the Department of Energy's Marine Sciences Laboratory on the Olympic Peninsula assesses waterpower resource potential to address and remove environmental roadblocks to deployment, testing to accelerate the integration of large-scale waterpower electricity generation into the Northwest power grid, and is essential to establishing a robust basis for industrial investment based on verifiable technology performance, assured cost basis, and environmental performance.

The Marine Renewable Energy Promotion Act will accelerate these efforts by establishing a competitive research, development and demonstration program at the Department of Energy that is specifically devoted to marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy. This office will help to develop new marine renewable energy technologies, increase reliability and durability of facilities, reduce manufacturing and operating costs of the devices, help identify and address environmental impacts of marine renewable energy and make sure that such power can be integrated into the national electricity grid. Additionally, the bill will ensure that the Department of Energy works with research institutions to set up marine and hydrokinetic energy test facilities in the United States, supporting efforts underway nationwide and at the University of Washington, which are critical in our efforts to demonstrate a wide range of technologies, and evaluate the technical viability of each new and emerging type of technology at different scales.

The Electric Power Research Institute has estimated that ocean resources in the United States could generate 252 million megawatt hours of electricity, which given as much support as other types of renewable energy, could be equivalent to 6.5 percent of America's entire electricity generation. With such great potential to spur American innovation and job creation, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize September as National Childhood Obesity Month. Childhood obesity is one of the biggest health challenges facing our country; driving up medical costs, hurting our economy, and shortening lives. For the first time our children and grandchildren are projected to live shorter and less healthy lives than we do. Medical costs associated with obesity total more than a billion dollars a year. The price tag will continue to increase as our youth face more and more diseases normally only found in adult populations, like hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol. This growing epidemic is driven by environmental, economic, and social factors that make fats, salt and sugars cheaper and more available than fresh fruits and vegetables and limit the opportunities for sports and recreation.

The good news is that prevention works and by working together we can buck this trend. Together, we can improve access to healthier foods, increase availability of active transportation for our youth, and ensure our communities are walkable.

We face an uphill battle--according to Washington State's Healthy Youth Survey, 24% of 10th graders are either obese or overweight, and less than half of children surveyed were getting enough fruits and vegetables. Yet already, many leaders and communities in Washington are stepping to the plate and are committed to taking on this fight by making healthy, important changes. From Moses Lake to Mount Vernon, communities are successfully incorporating policies to increase access to healthy foods and physical activity. Seattle's Odessa Brown Children's Clinic, located in a community where nearly 40% of children are overweight or obese, is on the front lines of combating childhood obesity. The clinic has successfully integrated childhood obesity prevention and treatment program into their primary care to address the challenge.

Childhood obesity prevention should be a top priority. In Congress, I worked to pass the Affordable Care Act because I believe an increased focus on preventative medicine and increasing access to care will improve our nation's health. I also support the Fit Kids Act, to ensure that children get enough physical activity. We know what we need to do to reverse this alarming national epidemic. It will not be easy, but together we can fight the childhood obesity trend.

Mr. Speaker, I want to note that the sun indeed came up in America today even after we've allowed people who are gay and lesbian to serve in our military.

We had a discussion for about 18 years, and now we have finally taken a step forward to liberty and freedom and equality again as we have so many times in American history.

Now we need to make sure that those new families that are serving in the military get their benefits like everyone else, and that's the next thing we need to work on.

Then we have to realize that the day will come when we recognize full marriage equality in this great country as another step forward just like we had yesterday. And when that great day comes, the sun will come up in the morning in America because we were continuing our quest to be a more just, more equal society.

Mr. Speaker, in the 1930s, as Americans slowly walked the road to recovery and rebuilt a country ravaged by the Great Depression, workers sought security and stability and unified representation. The National Labor Relations Act outlined the rights of both workers and employers and put forward rules to bring fairness to the union election process. Project labor agreements were established, and the Davis-Bacon Act created prevailing wage requirements. All this in a country still living in the shadow of the largest economic collapse the world had ever known. Our economy rebounded, and the middle class flourished. American manufacturing set the global standard, and much of the work was done by workers who enjoyed the right to collectively bargain with their employer. Our country respected the dignity of all work, and all workers.

Now, in the wake of the worst recession of our lifetime, some leaders appear to be trying to pull the rug from underneath working families who are already on the floor. We have witnessed attacks on collective bargaining rights in the state legislatures of Wisconsin and Ohio, and the repeated attempts of Congress to erode workers' rights. From repealing Davis-Bacon wage requirements to ending the power of regulators to enforce existing labor law, the same workers who made this the wealthiest country on the planet are now at times disparaged and denigrated by some rather than being protected and praised. Workers exercising their right to bargain collectively did not bring us to the brink of another Great Depression. Project labor agreements didn't cause our housing market to collapse. Prevailing wage requirements aren't causing our community banks to fail.

Rather, the protection of workers' rights, such as collective bargaining, has helped to create a strong American middle class, which has in turn spurred the growth of the U.S. economy. Collective bargaining is just that, bargaining. Protecting the rights of employees does not mean handicapping employers, it means respecting the dignity of all work, and all workers. As our country continues to walk the road to recovery, we should be mindful of this example, and we should respect the dignity of the workers who will take us there.

Mr. Speaker, during our discussion of the Federal debt, we heard a lot of discussion about threats to our children's and our grandchildren's future. What we have not heard enough discussion about is another threat to our children's and our grandchildren's future, and that is the threat of climate change.

We have seen the first bitter taste of this oncoming tsunami of change with 7 inches of rain in 3 hours in Virginia, with wildfires in Texas that have been unprecedented in our Nation's history. And now our current job crisis does not give us the luxury of ignoring this long- term threat to our children's and our grandchildren's future.

I want to alert Members to a thing they can check on right now, the Climate Reality Project, which is something going on until 7 o'clock tonight--climaterealityproject.org. If people are interested in what is happening to our country today, around the country and the world, check out climaterealityproject.org. It is a bitter taste. Let's keep our eye on that ball as well.

Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned about this outsourcing bill and its tenor.

If you want to change what's legal or illegal, then this body should address those issues. But this bill won't change what's legal or illegal; it will simply stop current law from being enforced.

The NLRB is a law enforcement body. It follows an independent, adjudicative process.

If we want to change the laws it enforces, that's subject to debate, but this bill won't do that, and that's why I'm opposing it.

I haven't taken a position on the case that brings us here today, and I don't intend to here, but I can say this firmly: Elected officials should not be politicizing an ongoing adjudicative process. Politics should not interfere with justice in this or any other case.

I won't support a bill that doesn't change the underlying law but only changes the ability of those we've charged with enforcing it with the ability to do so. Don't allow one controversy to sully Uncle Sam's ability for justice in this country.

Mr. Speaker, today I reintroduced a bipartisan bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the investment tax credit for combined heat and power

system property. There are economic opportunities for American industries that adopt combined heat and power (CHP) systems, which have the potential to greatly increase energy efficiency and the U.S. competitiveness of large industrial plants. The U.S. Combined Heat and Power Association has reported that CHP can save building and industry owners over $5 billion per year in energy costs. Further, the manufacture and installation of CHP projects have the potential to put our Nation back to work while producing cleaner energy and reducing emissions impacts of electricity generation costs.

CHP technologies capture some or all of the by-product heat for heating or cooling purposes and produce electricity and heat from the same fuel source, at or near the site of use. By-product heat at moderate temperatures can also be used in absorption chillers for cooling. Because they produce multiple forms of energy from the same source, CHP systems are two to three times more efficient than systems that produce one or the other alone.

In addition to CHP systems, newer, related technologies are available that can use low-grade heat to generate clean electrical power or simply make use of the heat as a thermal source. In traditional plants, this low-grade heat is wasted by venting it directly to the atmosphere. These new technologies, referred to as waste heat to electricity (WHE) and waste heat to thermal (WHT), have components that are manufactured in the U.S., and have the potential to become important exportable technologies. These systems are similar to traditional renewable technologies in that they do not require the direct combustion of fuels to generate power or heat, thus no emissions are generated.

If these technologies are widely adopted it would help move our country towards energy independence along with creating high quality, stable American jobs. According to the Department of Energy, if the U.S. was to increase its use of CHP to generate 20 percent of its electricity by 2030, it would spur $234 billion in private investment and create almost 1 million jobs.

Although the savings from CHP, WHE, and WHT can be substantial, significant up-front capital costs are a barrier to deploying these systems. This legislation will help deploy this energy-efficient technology by defraying a portion of these costs through an investment tax credit. My bipartisan bill raises the size of the system eligible for the current investment tax credit, allowing the credit to apply to the first 25 megawatts or 34,000 horsepower of an installed system. The bill also removes the cap on the eligible system size for the credit and also allows VVHE and WHT systems to qualify for this credit.

With our Nation's economic competitiveness and energy independence in mind, I urge my colleagues to support my bill to modify and improve the investment tax credit for combined heat and power and waste heat system properties.

Mr. Speaker, today, Representative Mike Simpson and I reintroduced the bipartisan Geothermal Production Expansion Act, a companion to S.1149, introduced by Senators Wyden, Crapo, Risch and Merkley. Our bill will ensure that geothermal resources that are near federal lands are developed, creating American jobs in rural areas. I thank my colleagues for their leadership and working together on this important bill.

As we work to develop American energy resources and become more energy independent, it is extremely important that we remove barriers to the production of domestic, clean, renewable resources that have been discovered and can be financed in the private market. This legislation will help remove a significant barrier to deploying geothermal energy and creating the accompanying jobs.

Currently, proven geothermal developers are not producing clean, reliable geothermal electricity, despite specific valid geothermal discoveries in the west that adjoin federal lands. The Geothermal Production Expansion Act would ensure that if a developer has made the upfront investments to discover and validate a geothermal resource that is adjacent to federal lands, there will be reasonable certainty that they will be able to secure a lease for a small parcel of the adjoining land necessary to develop and produce geothermal energy. Taxpayers would be compensated for the fair market value of the lease, and would receive increased royalties for the increased geothermal production.

Already under EPACT 2005 amendments, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is allowed to issue three different non-competitive leases for geothermal resources. Our legislation simply creates a fourth category whereby the BLM may issue a non-competitive geothermal lease for only these qualified companies who hold legal rights to develop geothermal leases on certain adjoining lands.

This legislation would spur immediate economic development in rural areas and ensure that developers who have invested substantial capital and made high risk investments can secure and develop geothermal discoveries. It will also add renewable, domestically produced energy resources to the American electricity supply. In the 111th Congress, the House Natural Resources committee held a hearing on the Geothermal Production Expansion Act, and I offered and passed this legislation as an amendment to the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010 (H.R. 3534), but unfortunately did not reach the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. I urge Congress to pass this bill into law this year.