Tom Carper

We cannot trade our dependence on foreign oil for a new dependence on Chinese-made solar panels, on Japanese electric vehicles, and on European wind turbines.

I want to thank you specifically, Senator Carper, for doing everything you have done to advance our cause in Washington.

The cleanest, most affordable form of energy is the energy we never use, and I fully subscribe to that and so does our President.

I feel very lucky to have been with you and to have heard all the wonderful, encouraging things that you are doing.

I know there are national organizations in which school districts participate and superintendents of school districts participate.

Particularly at the Federal level, what can we do better to enable you to do more.

Thanks for a great story.

I like the quote I once heard from a pastor of mine who used to say, people would rather see a sermon than hear one.

Over $10 billion would be saved over the next 10 years because of the Federal Executive Order, and that is real money that we are talking about.

I will certainly do if I am confirmed is to make that point very clearly to people operating nuclear power plants that it isn't the point that it is not hurting anyone.

I think Senator Alexander has already said this in so many words, but just in the last several weeks to have heard what the President said on the floor of the House of Representatives in the State of the Union address, the importance of…

One foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake pedal

What we can't afford are mistakes that will derail this renaissance in nuclear power.

I expect and the public expects that the NRC must be a strong, independent and effective regulator.

As Chairman of the Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee ensuring that the nuclear power industry functions safely is a top priority of mine.

The TVA should be a leader in our clean energy economy, and not a lagger.

I see value in reporting cost savings, along with some of the other measures of success that you have cited in energy efficiency.

I believe knowing the financial ramifications could be very helpful.

But the idea was to take some next steps on vehicle-to-grid, where again we use a whole fleet of batteries in vehicles for storage, maybe for electricity you can create by offshore wind or onshore wind, or by solar or other renewables.

By making greenhouse gas reductions, the integrating metric for performance, the Executive Order encourages whole systems thinking.

I commend you very much, as I did the Postmaster General yesterday, for working as diligently as you are on so many fronts to rein in costs, control your expenses, and also to look for other ways to develop new sources of revenue, and I…

The good news is--and this goes back, again, to the test bed concept--where I think the Defense Department can really make a contribution is using its procurement power as an early technology adopter.

We are borrowing from around the world and we are buying way too much.

So how many facilities do you have, 33,000?

If the Department of Defense can't perform this task, there probably wouldn't be any Postal Service or Department of Energy or budget process.