Heidi Alexander: “I want to speak to the amendment from the Senator from Oregon, which would increase the funding for the wind energy…”

“I want to speak to the amendment from the Senator from Oregon, which would increase the funding for the wind energy program by $15.4 million. This is in addition to the $30 million that our subcommittee has recommended at the request of Senator Gardner of Colorado for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the $50 million Senator Collins of Maine has recommended for offshore wind research. Within the priorities in the bill, we have already put $80 million, and this would add $15 million more. That may not seem like much, but here is my question: I wonder if the American taxpayers wouldn't think that $23 billion is enough to spend on giant windmills--$23 billion. That is the amount the Congressional Research Service has said Congress has spent of taxpayer money to subsidize wealthy people so they can build giant wind turbines across America. That money has been spent from 1992 through 2016 this year. It started out as an effort to help wind turbines get started in 1992, and it has been renewed 10 times. You would think this is a mature industry. In fact, the previous Energy Secretary said it was. What do we get for this $23 billion? Four percent of our electricity is produced by wind turbines in the United States. This is a country that uses 25 percent of all the electricity in the world, and we spend $23 billion for 4 percent of our electricity.…”