Donald Norcross: “This important amendment looks to the future and what we need for our 21st century clean energy economy. It redirects…”

“This important amendment looks to the future and what we need for our 21st century clean energy economy. It redirects funds so we are sufficiently investing in renewable energy jobs of tomorrow. It is a simple change. The amendment simply moves $162 million to the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. It leaves the amount in that account, and the underlying bill still exceeds what the administration requested. Certainly my colleague from West Virginia understands that investing in the future in technology is extremely important. This bill provides $354 million more for fossil fuels. But by providing the additional resources for energy efficiency and renewable energy, we can better meet the needs of the future economy. I happen to agree, we need to invest in all of the above. But we also must invest in solar, wind, water, and geothermal. In fact, New Jersey is second in the Nation leading in solar and renewables. We must seek that cost- effective way of reducing energy costs for our manufacturing plants, our office buildings, and certainly our homes. We shouldn't underfund our energy future, let's make that clear. We should invest in it, the way we are in this bill. But we can redirect a small portion of that for future needs of renewable energy. Tomorrow might be too late to do the investigation and that research. We can do it today because we need a long-term strategy that takes the best of what we do here in America and continues that.…”