Wayne Allard

Mr. President, when Lavenia McCoy arrived in Bayfield in 1939 as new teacher, she also went to the library to volunteer. She has served that library continuously: from the small space behind the post office, to the town hall on the east side of the post office, to the entire 1100-square-foot building at the corner of Mill and Pearl Streets, to the new 8200-square-foot library on the north side of town.

Lavenia McCoy was the first person in Bayfield to catalog books by the Dewey Decimal System, a change for the alphabetical order by author's last name of the 500 or so books. She began serving on the Library Board in 1948, at the behest of Betty Stock, as secretary. About 35 years later, Lavenia McCoy became treasurer, including keeping the library's financial records; she did that until 2006. By then the budget had increased from pennies for overdue fees to several million dollars, the staff from all volunteer to six paid librarians, the circulation from a few shelves of books to 20,000 volumes, and the financial records from ledger to computer. Always she encouraged folks to use their library.

Lavenia McCoy is a lifelong library user, and she is one who is willing to do the work in order to enjoy the privilege. In 2005, the Library Board named its new library ``Lavenia McCoy Public Library'' in recognition of her contribution. I wanted to take a moment to congratulate her and her service.

Mr. President, I wanted to take a moment to say how much I have appreciated the friendship of Ted Stevens. He and his wife are a wonderful team.

Since I was elected a short--to him--12 years ago, it has been truly enjoyable to work with Ted on the numerous western issues before this body. Often, those issues correspond to Alaska issues, working for a strong military, missile defense, sound land management practices, energy development. He has been very helpful to Colorado.

I have particularly admired his work for our Nation's military. Ted and I worked together, and worked hard, on missile defense. He was an appropriator, I was an authorizer. I should also say, he was a titan of the Senate, I was a freshman Senator. So the workload was a little unfair, in my favor. But we, along with many others, got the missile defense established. I am delighted that after such a rocky fight the system is now a cornerstone of not only our national defense, but of our

NATO relationship as well. European militaries understand the value of what we can do, and what protections we can afford them. Ted saw this, he knew what the results would be, and he shouldered the burden, fought the fight, and dragged the system into reality.

I have had the pleasure of helping Ted raise money for his conservation efforts on the World Famous Kenai River. I have been fortunate enough to join him on the river. I had the even greater fortune to win his annual tournament a couple times. Some rivers are just lucky for some fisherman, and while I might wish my lucky river is a little closer to home than Kenai, AK, being lucky on a river famous for its prize salmon is not so bad. And what he is doing for that river, his conservation efforts, is remarkable. I have noticed a difference between my first visit and my last.

My wife Joan and I wish Ted and his wife Catherine the best. God Bless.

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about a subject that is near and dear to my heart, the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus.

Would the distinguished gentlemen from North Dakota and Idaho engage in a colloquy with me on this topic?

I thank my colleagues. The need for a strong renewable energy policy has never been more timely. This is something I have worked on for many years. As a member of the House of Representatives I was a member of the House Renewable Energy Caucus, and when I was elected to the Senate, discovered that no such similar caucus existed here. So I, along with Senators Jeff Bingaman, Tim Johnson, Jim Jeffords, and Bob Kerry, founded the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus.

The caucus is still going strong today with leadership from Senator Byron Dorgan, Senator Joe Lieberman, and myself. It is a nonpartisan group that strives to increase awareness of the various forms of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in the United States.

I have been honored to serve as the Republican cochair since the inception of the Senate caucus, during this time we have seen the caucus membership grow and today more than a third of the Senate is a member. The caucus has hosted numerous events and briefings and helped hundreds of renewable energy groups display their ideas and technologies. It has also been a forum for sharing thousands of news articles relating to renewable energy and energy efficiency.

As many of you know, I am retiring from the Senate at the end of this term and will no longer serve as cochair of the caucus. I am proud of the work that the caucus has done, and I am confident it will continue to do great work in the future.

I know it will do great work in the future because it will have strong leadership. I greatly appreciate the work of the other cochairs, Senators Dorgan and Lieberman. They have a remarkable dedication to renewable energy. With the addition of the new Republican cochair, I have no doubt that the caucus will be as strong as ever.

The man replacing me on the caucus is an ardent advocate for renewable energy, Senator Mike Crapo. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Crapo has helped craft successful legislation to provide tax credits for production and investment in renewable energy such as wind, solar, and geothermal, and as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, he supported expanded usage of renewable biofuels.

Senator Crapo also represents a State that is passionate about renewable energy and energy efficiency. The State of Idaho has received awards for its dedication to renewable energy and cutting edge research is taking place every day at the fine colleges and universities in Idaho.

Senator Dorgan, you have helped me cochair the caucus for several years, and your efforts have been invaluable. Do you share my estimation that Senator Crapo will make a strong co-chair?

Senator Crapo you have been a strong advocate for renewable energy for years, and I am sure are looking forward to cochairing the caucus. Do you have any comments?