U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin
Remarks as prepared for delivery
Focus on Midwest Energy II
Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison
Thank you, all, for being here. I’m delighted to participate again in what I hope is now an annual symposium on energy and the environment.
Since we came together last February, our world has changed dramatically. We have lived through an historic election and feel a new sense of hope and optimism even as our nation is in a crisis, the likes of which we have never seen. We are fighting two wars (just this week we said goodbye to thirty-two hundred Wisconsin National Guard troops heading off to Iraq), our economy is in crisis, and our energy challenges are urgent. Add to that, mounting health care costs, struggling schools, and a crumbling infrastructure.
We’re here today to talk about our energy needs and how we can satisfy them. But in today’s world, that and every conversation must begin with a look at our economy. President Obama, and every economist I’ve heard from of every political persuasion, has said emphatically that if we don’t act quickly and boldly, our economic crisis will become an outright catastrophe.
The headlines here in Wisconsin the past few months tell the story:
* Freedom Plastics in Janesville Goes into Receivership
* Renew Energy Files for Bankruptcy
* Alcoa in Beloit to lay off 293
* Woodbridge in Brodhead laying off 99
* Foreclosure filings soar 20%
* Statewide need for home heating aid up 13%
These aren’t just numbers. They represent people, with families, in dire need of:
* food,
* housing,
* health care,
* home heating.
* jobs. and
* hope for the future.
In the past few weeks, the Congress passed, and the President signed into law, a recovery and reinvestment plan with three main objectives:
* To create and save jobs.
The new law will create or save 70,000 jobs in Wisconsin over the next two years; almost nine thousand in my district alone. It’s estimated that the legislation will create or save 3.5 million jobs nationwide over the next two years — in a range of industries – from clean energy to health care – with more than 90% in the private sector.
* The second objective of the legislation is to act as a safety net for families currently in dire need because of the economic crisis – temporarily expanding existing programs for food stamps, unemployment benefits, health coverage for the uninsured, and one time benefits to Social Security recipients and disabled veterans.
Ninety-five percent of workers will see an immediate tax cut.
* The third, and equally important, objective of the bill is to lay the foundation for a more competitive 21st Century economy – by investing in clean energy, health care, education, science and technology, and infrastructure.
What does this mean for the energy industry?
* We will invest in clean, efficient, American energy – to put people back to work and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
* We will increase renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient.
* We will provide $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next 10 years. This includes a three-year extension of the production tax credit for electricity derived from wind through 2012 and for electricity derived from biomass, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas, and waste-to-energy through 2013.
* We will jump-start the transformation to a bigger, better, smarter grid. Upfront investments and reforms will result in more than three thousand miles of new or modernized transmission lines nationwide and forty million “Smart Meters” in American homes.
* We will support U.S. development of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems through loans and grants so that America can lead the world in transforming the way automobiles are powered.
* And, we will provide $5 billion to improve the energy efficiency of more than one million, modest-income, homes through weatherization.
My own amendment to the recovery package will boost investment in leading edge biofuels, making biofuel projects eligible for loan guarantees.
As many of you know, Wisconsin is a national leader in advancing biofuel technologies. The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, located here in Madison, is a federally-funded research center focused on finding ways to create forms of cellulosic ethanol. Further, many companies in Wisconsin are working on commercializing biofuel technologies that will power vehicles and replace the need for dirty fossil fuels.
These new loan guarantees will help enhance efforts to develop advanced biofuel technologies that reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lower our greenhouse gas emissions, and create jobs.
I am fortunate to be working to advance initiatives that will improve our energy portfolio, bring about a comprehensive plan to invest in renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, and address the global climate crisis. We have a real opportunity to change the course of history if we act now. We must address our energy challenges quickly, smartly, and domestically.
In the House Energy & Commerce Committee, and, specifically, in the Energy & Environment Subcommittee on which I sit, we are writing legislation to address these challenges.
First and foremost, with a cap and trade bill hanging in the wings, I strongly believe there are steps we can take now – I would argue that we must take now – to address climate change.
Think about it this way: We are about to go on a carbon diet. When you start a diet, you begin by jumping on the scale. And if we’re truly going to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we must jump on the “carbon scale” to know exactly how much we are emitting before we determine how much we have to lose.
Included in the 2008 federal Appropriations bill was a little-known provision requiring EPA to establish a Greenhouse Gas Registry, so we can begin gathering greenhouse gas emissions data from all sectors of our economy. EPA is currently working on setting up this registry, but they are far behind the legislated deadlines.
The design, scope, and timing of a greenhouse gas registry are of enormous consequence. We must ask important questions: Who should be covered and who exempt? What emissions thresholds should we require?
Many of the problems experienced by the European Union can be traced back to inadequate information about baseline emissions. We now know the importance of having high quality data about emissions on hand, in order to ensure the appropriate distribution of allowances.
I have introduced legislation: the Greenhouse Gas Registry Act. This measure would provide additional guidance to EPA as the Agency establishes a registry to ensure that information gathered is complete, high-quality, and publicly available; and that the data will support an array of climate change policies at the national, regional, state, and local levels.
I am working with my colleagues in Congress and the Administration to ensure that this registry is rapidly and successfully implemented and maintained.
Meanwhile, action on climate change is happening quickly in Washington, with our first deadline approaching. The newly elected Chairman of Energy and Commerce, Henry Waxman of California, has indicated that he would like our Committee to pass a cap and trade bill to address global climate change by Memorial Day.
Further, with the international climate talks in Copenhagen coming up in December, our nation must present a show of leadership – a bold statement of action to the world — that demonstrates our commitment to work in coordination with the international community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Crafting a bill at the federal level will not be easy. It will test us all to show the kind of leadership and determination that is needed.
During the previous session of Congress, the Energy & Commerce Committee, and specifically the Energy Subcommittee, held numerous hearings that only began to touch on the core issues that we’ll have to address – among them:
* the cost of inaction;
* how to address America’s competitiveness with rising emissions rates in fast-growing developing nations like China and India; and
* perspectives from auto makers, utilities; and state and local representatives.
Now, with a new Administration, and new Chairmen of both the full Energy & Commerce Committee and the Energy Subcommittee, we continue where we left off.
In fact, we kicked off 2009 with a hearing about the U.S. Climate Action Partnership’s Blueprint for Legislative Action. If you’re not familiar with USCAP, it’s a coalition of 26 major corporations and five leading environmental organizations that have come together to call on the federal government to quickly enact national legislation requiring significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
You’ve heard of many of USCAP’s member companies and organizations: GE, Caterpillar, the Nature Conservancy, Duke Energy, Xerox, Natural Resource Defense Council, Johnson & Johnson, BP and Shell, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, to name a few.
Both the process that brought this diverse group together, and the results they have achieved over two years of discussions, are heartening. They demonstrate how stakeholders can reach consensus on big and daunting challenges. And for Members of Congress, this coalition serves as an example of how, together, we can find a solution to the crisis that confronts us.
The Blueprint that was presented to us at the hearing will serve as our guide to designing a comprehensive cap and trade bill, along with other documents like the Dingell/Boucher draft climate bill, Ed Markey’s ICAP climate bill from last Congress, and Chairman Waxman’s Safe Climate Act.
As regards Wisconsin’s role in addressing climate change, and also the impact of a cap and trade bill on Wisconsin, I am deeply engaged. Our state is well-positioned to play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and crafting cap and trade legislation.
First, Wisconsin can maximize the green resources that our state is fortunate to have – renewable energy, biofuels production, energy efficiency and conservation programs, to name a few.
And, as you know, Wisconsin is a leader in addressing the challenges presented by climate change. The Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming recommends aggressive short and long term goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and identifies numerous action items for reaching these goals. The Task Force report, along with the discussions I have with you, will help guide me as we craft a federal approach.
Let me say that I have heard the concerns expressed by some that Wisconsin is trying to do its part, but that our state is not positioned like California or Massachusetts. With an abundant coal portfolio and manufacturing base, there are challenges ahead. Certainly, I am cognizant of this and will work to minimize any disadvantages we may face.
At the same time, I strongly believe that our nation’s emissions have put our environment, social structure, and national security at risk. And according to the analyses, if we fail to act comprehensively, the impact will be felt through the loss of human lives, declines in human health, species’ extinction, loss of ecosystems, and increased social conflict.
Members of Congress, especially those of us in “the People’s House,” are generally prone to design and pass legislation that will address immediate or near term problems for our constituents.
It is seemingly a challenge for many of my colleagues to pass consequential legislation that raises some costs in the near term, with benefits not reaped for a generation or more…benefits we may not live to see. And benefits which take the form of disasters averted. It’s hard to quantify, let alone pat one’s self on the back for the Class V hurricane that never happened in 2052 because we acted in 2009. However, we cannot accept the status quo. If we fail to stand up to any near term costs, we will pay dearly in the long term.
In fact, according to Lord Nicholas Stern, who conducted one of the most in-depth and respected economic impact analyses on climate change, the cost of unabated climate change is at least 5% of global gross domestic product each year. This amounts to about $3.3 trillion per year at the current value of the global economy. But, if we wait, and leave this issue for future generations, and watch the costs and risks rise, the cost of our inaction increases dramatically – up to 20% of global GDP each year.
I am of the opinion that the risks are too great for us to fail to act in the very near term.
We have all seen firsthand the flooding and devastation that people in Wisconsin and across the Midwest experienced as a result of the intense rainfall last year. We lost homes, businesses, farmland, and millions of dollars in lost productivity. We must do everything in our power to ensure that these “hundred year events” do not become the norm in the future.
In the words of David McKay, a Cambridge University physicist, “If everyone does a little, we’ll only achieve a little.” It’s up to each of us to play our part in addressing the energy challenges facing our planet. At the same time, we all have a big role to play in helping our economy recover and thrive in this century.
President Obama has told us that he can’t do it alone. The Congress can’t do it alone. We stand on the threshold of a new world that holds tremendous promise for the good of all people and the entire planet. But this is no slam dunk! It will not be easy, nor is success assured. But failure is not an option.
We need all of you, in every aspect of your lives, to help make it work – to transform the way we create, expend, and reuse energy; to restore our leadership in the world community; and to renew the Promise of America for future generations. I welcome this challenge and look forward to working with you to achieve all of our goals.
Thank you.
I’m happy to take questions.
