Mike Simpson

Hopefully this will be the year that we will move ahead with this.

At some point in time we are going to have to bite the bullet and get on with this.

I mean, look at the country. We look ridiculous; billions of dollars unused and a political standoff that I don't think is going to end.

If we don't do it now, we are only going to be falling--we are going to fall behind our adversaries.

I support Oak Ridge just as much as Mr. Fleischmann does. He supports the Idaho National Lab.

Nuclear modernization demands a substantial and sustained amount of funding through the NNSA.

But what I do is struggle with what it is.

I appreciate all your testimony and all of you being here today. It is an interesting subject, one that we don't know a lot about, frankly.

Reliable, affordable energy sources are essential to our Nation's continued economic growth and national security.

I would just say, if you have not been, Madam Chairwoman, down to the Everglades and taken a tour of it, it would be very helpful.

Chairwoman Kaptur, ranking member Simpson and members of the subcommittee, it's been an absolute privilege to be able to address you here today.

I'd like to thank the Wyoming and the Idaho delegations including representative Mike Simpson, who has long been a strong advocate for both CAES and INL.

Part of the reason we hold oversight hearings is so success stories can be shared with a wider audience, perhaps leading to improvements in more locations.

And while you noted the benefits, I thought I was not going to say this, well you noted all about the benefits of the dams, you didn't mention that they also stopped the migration of salmon back to their breeding ground in Idaho which is…

These benefits have impacts beyond individual households to broader communities as well as particularly when we look at the program as a whole.

I read your written testimony last night and several of the innovative programs you're rolling out this year.

That is an interesting topic on itself and its challenge with DOE, especially when you have EM sites and the goal of an EM site is to clean it up and move on.

Our desire is to get as much money out into the program actually as possible.

We have to weigh the benefits of the program versus other things that we are putting money into.

Are there any ways for us to measure success of the program?

We have heard about the benefits of the program, this committee has obviously limited resources, we all do.

Because he is the one that is going to get the benefit, it is improving the property that he is renting out and he is renting it out and making profit off of it. So it seems like there ought to be some type of cost share for the landlord.

I look forward to hearing about your experience with the Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program.

I am just raising questions. Because nothing is as simple as we oftentimes make it. It is always very complicated.

As long as you can charge it.