EXTENSIONS of REMARKS October 28, 2000 EXTENSIONS of REMARKS
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25346 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS October 28, 2000 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS INTRODUCTION OF THE ENERGY emissions per year. Finally, fuel cells have the ensure the United States is energy self suffi- INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 2000 capability to cleanly process methane emis- cient by the year 2010. Authorizes up to $20 sions from landfills and anaerobic digester million for completion of this plan. HON. JOHN B. LARSON gases from wastewater treatment facilities into Authorizes a total of $140 million over 3 OF CONNECTICUT energy, thereby preventing these harmful years to establish a federal pilot program to IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES emissions from degrading the environment. purchase up to 100 commercially available This technology presents us with an extraor- 200 kW fuel cell power plants or up to 20 mW Thursday, October 26, 2000 dinary opportunity, at a critical time in this of power generated from commercially avail- Mr. LARSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to country’s development. As you are aware, the able fuel cell power plants for use at federally introduce my bill, the Energy Independence United States imported an average of nearly owned or operated facilities. Act, designed to ensure the energy self-suffi- 11 million barrels of oil per day last year from Gives site selection priority to sites that (1) ciency of the United States by the year 2010 foreign countries to meet our domestic energy are classified as non-attainment areas under through targeted investments in an emerging needs, totaling nearly 4 billion barrels during Title I of the Clean Air Act; (2) have computer green energy technology called fuel cells. all of 1999. Even at last year’s comparatively or electronic operations that are sensitive to We have before us, for the first time in modest average price of $15 per barrel, that power supply disruptions; (3) need a reliable human history, the technology to provide adds up to more than $60 billion spent on for- uninterrupted power supply; (4) are in a re- clean, reliable energy for every person, home, eign oil. With the average price of crude oil at mote location or have other factors requiring business, and vehicle in America. With this about $24 per barrel for just the first 5 months off-grid power generation; or (5) need to main- technology, we have the opportunity to end of 2000, Americans have already spent more tain critical manufacturing or other activities once and for all America’s reliance on foreign than $48 billion on imported oil, roughly 80 that support national security efforts. energy sources while at the same time cre- percent of what Americans paid during all of Authorizes a total of $140 million over 3 ating quality jobs for the next century in a new 1999. We must break this cycle of depend- years to establish a program for the dem- and expanding technological field. ency, and strengthen our economy by turning onstration of fuel cell proton exchange mem- The technology I refer to is called a fuel cell. this level of spending back to domestic brane (PEM) technology in commercial, resi- This technology has been with us since it was sources. dential, and transportation applications. first used to power the Gemini and Apollo The current oil crisis has served to remind Authorizes a total of $150 over 3 years to spacecraft, and is still powering NASA’s fleet us, after nearly two decades of complacency, establish a comprehensive Proton Exchange how fragile the relationship is between our en- of space shuttles. It has finally matured to a Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Bus Demonstra- ergy sources, the vitality of our economy, and point where stationary power plants are pro- tion Program to address hydrogen production, the livelihood of every man, woman, and child viding reliable commercial power today and is storage, and use in transit bus applications. in this country. The price of a barrel of crude prepared to demonstrate its advantages to the Promotes the application of technology de- oil reaches into every corner of our society, general public in clean, quiet, and efficient res- velopments and improved manufacturing pro- from affecting the cost of transporting food idential, bus, and car applications. duction and processes for proton exchange from our farms and ranches to the dinner Current stationary fuel cell demonstrations membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology. table, to affecting the cost of each one of us within the Department of Defense have Directs the various agencies of the federal traveling to and from work, to affecting our showed an energy cost savings of over $3 mil- government that maintain fleets of federal ve- lion, and another unit in service at South very survival at home during cold winter and hot summer months. hicles to develop plans to transition the fleets County Hospital in Rhode Island is saving an We stand now on a fundamental crossroad to incorporate fuel cell technology by 2010. estimated $60,000 to $90,000 in energy costs in this country. We have the ability to provide Directs that any life-cycle cost benefit anal- per year. Perhaps the most important attribute for the economic and national security of the ysis undertaken by a Federal agency with re- of stationary fuel cell power generators in the nation by integrating this new technology into spect to investments in products, services, new, high tech economy is that they nearly our economy. The elimination of noxious construction, and other projects shall include eliminate brownouts and other power outages chemical emissions into our environment and an analysis of environmental and power reli- that disrupt the sophisticated and critical sys- the freedom of not being bound to existing en- ability factors. tems operating many businesses today. For ergy producing monopolies represent a poten- Authorizes $110 million per year for five example, at the First National Bank of Omaha tial impact on our society in the next century years to establish a grant program for state in Nebraska, where milliseconds without as profound as any of the achievements of the and local governments (requiring a 10 percent power can mean millions of dollars in lost rev- 20th century, from the elimination of small pox non-federal funding match) to make invest- enues, the stationary fuel cell installed as the and polio, to the development of the Internet, ments for the use of fuel cell technology in major component of an integrated assured to human’s first flights in space through which meeting their energy requirements, including power system is helping to provide power at this technology was born. However, bold ac- the fueling as a source of power for motor ve- 99.9999 percent reliability, which is equal to a tion is needed, with courage and vision to lead hicles. power interruption of one minute every six the way. Just as steam power generated the first real years. Over the next five years, my legislation industrial revolution in the 19th century, and The environmental benefits of this new tech- would invest approximately 1/60 of the na- power from fossil fuels generated the tremen- nology are also astounding. For example, the tion’s total yearly expenditures on foreign oil to dous technological growth seen in the 20th PC25 stationary power plant, which is the only develop and demonstrate fuel cell technology century, fuel cells are ready to power the commercially available until today, has been that can power our homes, businesses, and country and the world in the 21st century and installed at 29 Department of Defense facilities vehicles. My bill calls for a $1 billion 5-year in- beyond. This legislation is an important step in throughout the United States since 1995. vestment that should eliminate our reliance on this process, and the government must play a These fuel cells are estimated to have elimi- foreign energy sources by 2010 and improve role in this transition for several reasons. First nated 399 tons of SOx, 159 tons of NOx, and world environmental conditions by reducing and foremost, it will provide for the security of over 20,000 tons of CO2. Compared to a typ- overall consumption of fossil fuels and the the country in both economic and military ical combustion-based generator, each indi- harmful chemical emissions they produce. terms by eliminating our reliance on foreign vidual fuel cell unit eliminates more than Specifically, the Energy Independence Act: energy sources. Second, we have a long-term 40,000 pounds of air pollutants, including NOx Directs the Secretary of Energy to transmit responsibility to our seniors and to other peo- and SOx, as well as two million pounds of CO2 to Congress within one year a strategic plan to ple living on fixed incomes to see that they will ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. VerDate Aug 04 2004 10:25 Jan 17, 2005 Jkt 079102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0689 Sfmt 9920 E:\BR00\E28OC0.000 E28OC0 October 28, 2000 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 25347 one day have an opportunity to live within their Neurological diseases touch most every War hero. During the Civil War almost 400 means without being forced to choose be- human being in some way. As the founder men were buried in the cemetery. Their tween putting food on their tables, gas in their and Co-Chair of the Congressional Working graves, at the base of the hill near the en- cars, or buying oil to heat their homes. Third, Group on Parkinson’s Disease, I am especially trance, are a silent tribute to the men, both there is the opportunity within the govern- spirited by Dr.