Sheila Jackson Lee: “I include for the Record this letter from the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations of the State…”

“I include for the Record this letter from the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations of the State of Texas and the House Committee on Defense and Veterans' Affairs. Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations and House Committee on Defense and Veterans' Affairs, November 12, 2015. Dear Honorable Jackson Lee: On behalf of the Texas Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Military Installations and the House Committee on Defense and Veterans' Affairs, we are writing to ask for your support for the development of geothermal energy along the Gulf Coast to provide onsite power and increased energy independence to critical infrastructure facilities that include Military bases such as Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, Naval Air Station Kingsville, and the Ports of Corpus Christi and Brownsville. The August 2013 Report of Economic Benefits of Increasing Electric Grid Resilience authored by the Department of Energy determined that in addition to cyber-attacks, vandalism, and terrorism, the electrical grid is highly vulnerable to severe weather. The average yearly cost of power outages from severe weather in the U.S. is between $18-$33 billion. Cold weather in Texas caused a level two emergency that knocked out 9,355 MW of power that drastically increased wholesale electricity prices 100 times the normal rate in January 2014.…”