Tom Harkin

Let me start by reiterating the urgency and importance of addressing global warming.

We can do it here in this country, and we can provide a lot of jobs, a lot of jobs, and it clean up our environment.

If the environment is not free, well, then you have to start calculating the cost of that.

It cannot do it all. We are going to have to have something else, and that is where the cellulose comes in.

We want to produce a lot of fuel in this Country, a lot of liquid fuel.

We do not need the government adding additional roadblocks.

I am convinced that we can do that if we just have the will to do it.

I think that certainly the challenge for us in agriculture is that. We are going to need liquid fuels for a long time.

I want to thank Chairman Harkin and our Ranking Member, Senator Chambliss from Georgia, for their leadership.

The battles are going to be ferocious over the next few years on coal. It is cheap. It is abundant, and certain States produce a lot of coal.

I just think that there is a lot of promise there that we can move ahead on.

Corn is always going to be the leader. It is always going to be out in front.

What we need are policies that make that happen faster today.

I am proud to be a co-sponsor of Senator Harkin's legislation that will expand the existing loan guarantee program.

But the other thing is, and I want to pursue this a little bit because we just have got to put to rest this whole thing about food or fuel.

I would like to thank the Chairman and the Committee and Senator Thune for their efforts to promote biomass collection.

We must continue to incentivize the installation of E-85 and blender pumps.

John and I have discussed that a lot in the Senate.

Senator Thune is a very valued member of our Senate Agriculture Committee and, as I said, one of our leaders on biofuels.

I want to applaud you, Senator Murkowski, for recognizing this in your proposed language that requires any proposed offshore oil and gas production, to use pipelines to shore-based facilities rather than tanker transportation across Arctic…

He has a profound understanding of energy issues and their impacts on ordinary Americans.

It is an honor to join with my colleague, Senator Grassley, in introducing John Norris.

I have always admired him for what he did during the 1980s for our family farmers.

It will be valuable to have a commissioner with John's knowledge, his background, his expertise.

This--to me, has been very informative. It's just good to be brought up to speed on it.