Energy Issues
Recent statements:
Utility Deregulation
In 1998, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission adopted a rule to open the interstate transmission grid and allow the wholesale and retail sale of electricity. This rule enabled states to open their retail electricity markets to competition. For the past two years, Congress has been proposing and debating legislation that would repeal current federal utility laws and facilitate the market-based competition already taking hold in many states. Congress has been focused on maintaining intrastate access to safe and reliable electric power.
I am a strong proponent of the drive to market-based competition in the electricity industry as I know it may lead to greater customer choice and lower electric costs for consumers. Yet I also believe that utility deregulation must be done carefully to protect the public health and our natural environment. If a "bottom-line" free market scenario leads to a swell in cheap, dirty power production, I am concerned that our nation -- and in particular the Northeast region -- would see an unacceptable increase in ozone smog, acid rain, mercury pollution, and dirty soot particles in our atmosphere.
Nuclear Waste
The United States now has about 35,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel in storage at 110 nuclear power plants in 34 states. In addition, we have thousands of tons of nuclear defense waste at several sites around the country.
Over fifteen years ago, Congress listened to scientists and decided that the safest way to get rid of this waste was to bury it deep underground in a long-term geological repository. While waiting for a national site to be chosen, power companies using nuclear energy (such as Vermont Yankee) built temporary storage sites for the waste. These temporary storage facilities were constructed with the understanding that the federal government would eventually assist in storing all high level nuclear waste at a single location. As the federal government has spent time debating the location of a central storage site, these local storage areas have been filled to capacity, and a few are so old that soon they will no longer remain safe.
I have long supported sending nuclear waste to the designated
national repository - the Yucca Mountain, Nevada facility - as I believe it is
the most secure and stable site available.
Renewable Energy
Vermonters know about the importance of renewable energy sources. Wind, solar and biomass technologies are some of the innovative alternative energy sources that could be used in Vermont that both minimize greenhouse emissions while reducing our national dependency on foreign oil.
Of the three, both wind and biomass have proven to be economically-viable as energy sources in Vermont today. I am proud to have helped open the 10 megawatt wind farm in Searsburg in 1997 and to have worked with the Vermont Public Service Department in its exploration of wind-power opportunities throughout the state. I have also been involved in a unique biomass-gasification pilot project at the McNeil plant in Burlington that turns woodchips into a multi-use liquid fuel. The McNeil facility is already a proven leader in biomass technology, providing a significant share of Burlington's electricity using sustainably-harvested Vermont wood as fuel.
Nationally, I continue to fight in Congress to increase federal funding of renewable and energy efficient technologies. This includes pushing for new alternative energy pilot programs at the Department of Energy and arguing for increased research and development funds for alternative energy throughout the nation.
