Christopher Shays: “I waited 20 years for a debate like this, so thank you to this Congress. I live, all of us live, in the greatest country…”

“I waited 20 years for a debate like this, so thank you to this Congress. I live, all of us live, in the greatest country in the world; but we consume and waste too much energy and we are vulnerable to oil-rich states in a part of the world that would do us harm. We need to work towards energy independence, freedom from declining energy sources, freedom from nations who would do us harm. Thirteen years to reach 11 percent renewable and 4 percent efficiency that is doable. We need to set this goal and then strive every day to reach it. And it is not as hard as the opponents would have us believe. Biomass, which includes so much, incremental hydropower, solar and solar water heating, wind, ocean tidal, geothermal, distributed energy, PURPA-qualified facilities. This is a goal we can reach. At least we should strive to reach it. We have 13 years to do it, and we need to start today.”