Political Quotes

“Let me begin by thanking Chairman Simpson for working on the bill and being willing to listen to this issue. This amendment seeks to highlight the fact that the Water Power Program is vitally important to reducing our dependence on foreign oil. This bill, the underlying bill, cuts hydropower by over $22 million. What the amendment I am offering does is restores that funding and offsets it with Department of Energy administrative costs. Hydropower is the Nation's most available, reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy source. Requiring only the power of moving water-- rivers, streams, and ocean waves and tides--hydropower is domestic and renewable. Hydropower is available in every region of the country. A range of technologies exist or are under development to tap the power of waves, tides, and river flows. Thousands of megawatts of potential are available from ocean energy projects from New England to the west coast and Alaska, and from in-river hydrokinetic projects proposed along the Mississippi River and others. 2,200 hydropower plants provide America's most abundant source of clean, renewable electricity. The United States produces more electricity from hydropower than from any other renewable electricity source. It accounted for 56 percent of renewable generation in 2012 and 7 percent of the Nation's overall electricity generation. New technology employed at existing hydro sites represents an opportunity for new sources of power.…”