Energy & Environment

The U.S. computer server market is expected to grow from 2.8 million units in 2005 to 4.9 million units by 2009, no doubt resulting in increased energy demand followed by soaring energy costs as companies deploy greater numbers of servers, consuming more power, and in the process emitting more heat that needs to be dissipated.

That's why I introduced HR 5646, directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify the potential energy and cost savings to the federal government and private business of energy efficient servers. The legislation was approved the same week Google Inc, the Internet search engine giant, announced plans to hire 1,000 workers in their new office based in my home state of Michigan.

As more everyday services move to the internet, studies are showing that more efficient servers could save up to 80 percent in electricity and cooling costs, and at the same time help protect our communities from the construction of new power plants and new transmission wires. By cooling off our computer servers, we would be cooling off the hot demand on our energy resources.

Increasingly beachgoers are being turned away from our Great Lakes beaches during the summer because of health hazards caused by water pollution. Often times this pollution comes from the dumping of sewage into the lakes by local municipalities. This practice must come to an end. That is why on June 29th, I introduced The Great Lakes Water Protection Act, H.R. 5734, along with Congressman Mark Kirk.Right now, many communities in the region allow untreated sewage flow into our rivers and lakes during heavy rainstorms because their sewage treatment infrastructure does not have the capacity to treat it. This pollution damages our environment and puts the public at risk from the heavy levels of bacteria in the water. The EPA recently determined that in 2003, 10 to 14 percent of swimmers at beaches in the Great Lakes suffered from gastroenteritis, leading to diarrhea, vomiting, and possibly serious illness for at-risk populations. And this is after more than 1,800 beach closings or advisories in that same year.

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The United States has few, if any, better friends than India. I feel strongly that the United States and India are destined to be great partners as they seek to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. One of these challenges is the need to develop new sources of energy. The Indian economy is growing by leaps and bounds, offering new opportunities, not only for India itself, but for India's partners as well. India will need to develop ten of thousands of megawatts of new power capacity in the next few years to meet this need and lift India's poorest from poverty.

But there is another twenty-first challenge that India and the United States must meet together. And that is the challenge of nuclear proliferation, particularly the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of extremist governments and terrorist movements. Read more...

Our bill is a bi-partisan, comprehensive, common sense attempt to secure America's chemical infrastructure from the threat of a terrorist attack. We believe we have achieved the proper balance to continue to benefit from the products of the chemical industry while at the same time rendering the best defense against potential terrorist attacks.

Last night's vote to unlock some of our vast resources along the Outer Continental Shelf represents the culmination of a long, hard-fought, and, at times, contentious debate we started back when natural gas prices were a fraction of what they are today. Since then we've seen demand rise, supply fall, and prices approach levels no one ever thought possible. In truth, these resources should have been made available years ago, but I'm hopeful that the vote will send a strong message to consumers, seniors, working folks across the country, and maybe even the U.S. Senate that members of this chamber take seriously the effects of our current energy crisis and are willing to take steps necessary to end it.

The Bush-Oman Free Trade Agreement is a rotten deal for American working families.  The Bush-Oman deal follows in the bad tradition of deals like CAFTA, which have caused millions of American jobs to disappear to countries where employers can pay much less and pollute much more.

Even worse - and I can't emphasize this enough - entering a free trade deal with a country that has an abysmal record on human trafficking is a betrayal of the American commitment to freedom.

I don't understand how President Bush can make campaign speeches calling for freedom everywhere, and then reward a country that fails to stop the trafficking of people into forced labor.

Senator Nelson wants to have federal control of the state's coast. We can ill afford to do that with only 5% representation in Congress.

I want Florida's future to be more closely tied to its state legislature, which is not accountable to Texas, Oklahoma, and other oil states.

This is our coastline, and we need to determine our future.

My bill looks towards the future in terms of what energy we are going to be using.  It takes us off of our addiction to oil by funding research and development into alternative forms of energy, such as hydrogen power, solar power, and wind power.

This is all about national security as well.  Our addiction to energy from the Mideast is a dangeorus policy.

This bill brings universities to the table.  Programs like Future Gen will be administered by the Department of Energy in coordination with universities.

Energy is a hot topic in Washington, and there are more than a few ideas on the table trying to convince consumers that Congress can save them money and make us energy independent now.  The truth is this is a long term problem that requires not only a major shift in consumer behavior, bu  more importantly, marketplace penetration of revolutionary advancements in energy technology.  That's a tall order - but one that a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, or ARPA-E, could help to fill.

Despite the very valuable research already being done at DOE and in the industry, I am not convinced that our current energy R&D system alone will get us much further down this road.  Between bureaucratic inertia in federal research, private companies rightfully protecting their corner of the markets, and the immense scale of the marketplace, any revolutionary change (and there will have to be many) in our energy paradigm will require an unprecedented effort.  I believe we should start that new effort by giving the best and brightest the flexibility and resources to approach the problem in a whole new way.

There are models that we can look to in crafting that effort into a new program at DOE.  Congress can cherry-pick the best organizational and operational ideas from examples such as DARPA at the Department of Defense and In-Q-Tel at the CIA to do business in a way that breeds new life into the existing energy research efforts.

Some ask, "Do we really need a new agency for energy research?"  I say to that, "Are we more or less dependent on foreign sources of oil than we were 6 years ago?  Is it any cheaper to drive your car and power your home and business?"  I think we all know the answer to that.  So let's think about this a little differently.  Establish ARPA-E.

It would be far more productive for Senator Nelson to talk about what he is for than what he is against. The bill that he filed provides for drilling that is only 25 miles different from the House bill. At some point, he needs to take off his campaign hat and start legislating.