Lisa Murkowski

There has to be some kind of----

Why the decision to go that direction?

It's been estimated that over the next decade if we put this program in place it will actually save consumers about $9.5 billion off of their utility bills.

I want to thank the Edison Electric Institute, which represents 75 percent of the ratepayers in this country.

I continue to believe that the policies we put forward then make good sense.

I don't know what goes on in your house, but I am always after my kids to turn off the lights, turn off the machine, whatever.

I had appreciated that so many of you had come together with the agreement.

Even though we had moved our bill out, that work continued, and I think that that was exceptionally important.

But it is, it really is an awareness, and I think with kids particularly if you can distill it--you are not going to get a 15-year-old caring about what the kilowatt usage is on the Xbox game.

But you have to have the desire to go to your Web site to find out.

I am not going to see the smart grid implemented in Alaska in quite some time.

My initial concern is the impact to folks in my State could be considerable.

When we talk about the need to retrofit, I can tell you most of the people that I am coming across are going to look to try to fix rather than to replace.

Let me ask another question, and this is about proprietary data.

So are you comfortable with the bills that we have under review this morning, that that data is adequately protected?

I think we recognize that this technology moves pretty quick out there, and more quickly perhaps than the DOE rulemaking process.

AHAM commends Senators Bingaman and Murkowski for the future focused provisions in S. 3059 regarding smart appliances and the smart grid.

I am a member of the Congressional Hazard Caucus and introduced this legislation to tackle the impacts of our Nation's natural hazards, and that is avalanches.

The goal is to better protect people in avalanche zones nationwide, reduce the growing potential for avalanches to damage property.

I have been amazed for about the past year with the number of people that I have met in this Congress that say that the one thing that they are looking for from the Federal Government is certainty.

I am trying to determine whether or not we really do have a regulatory gap.

As the Senate considers Wall Street reform legislation, we know that our legislative actions to regulate over-the-counter derivatives will have consequences for physical energy markets.

You said there is no loophole to close. There is no regulatory gap to plug.

But I think this is a very important part of the conversation, and we would like to be working very closely with you on that.

I am hesitant, while we are in the midst of a very expensive radio modernization project, which again I agree we have got to do, that we be taking on other initiatives that may be nice but not necessary.