Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation aimed at increasing the production of our hardest working renewable resource, one that often gets overlooked in the clean energy debate-- hydropower. The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2013 is a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by my colleagues Senators Wyden, Risch, Cantwell, Crapo, Murray, and Begich, true hydropower advocates. The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2013 seeks to increase substantially the capacity and generation of our clean, renewable hydropower resources that will improve environmental quality and support local job creation and economic investment across the nation. There is no question that hydropower is, and must continue to be, part of our energy solution. It is the largest source of renewable electricity in the United States. The approximately 100,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity we now have today provide about seven percent of the Nation's electricity needs. Hydro-electric generation is carbon- free baseload power that allows us to avoid over 200 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year. Hydropower is clean, efficient, and inexpensive. Yet, despite its tremendous benefits I am constantly amazed at how some undervalue this important resource. Perhaps it's because conventional wisdom dismisses our Nation's hydropower capacity as tapped out. That is simply not the case.…”