Thank you for this opportunity to testify. My Summit colleagues and I welcome your questions, and we appreciate your thoughtful policymaking and support on this vital matter.

We are actively planning for rapid national expansion by partnering with local contractors.

Establishing an entirely new institution is a heroic undertaking, however, and it is not clear that such an initiative is necessary.

I commend the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for this hearing examining the DOE Loan Guarantee program.

It's time that we finally pass this provision in both houses and include it in legislation that we send to the President.

I'm here, obviously perhaps, to urge the support and the passage of a national RPS.

I commend you for this important legislation.

A Federal RPS proposal, such as that proposed by Senator Bingaman, could easily increase rates in the Southeast by 5 to 6%.

The Bingaman RPS proposal would establish a national renewable energy floor but allow states to exceed that floor if they so choose.

The RPS has been estimated to create, if passed in its current form as proposed, 185,000 new jobs, $66 billion in new investment.

This is, in my view, a national security imperative, that we find ways, and start planning for that time in the future.

This will lead to greater amounts of renewable energy than if the Bingaman proposal preempted state opportunities to promote renewable energy.