Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from North Dakota. She has been a champion of building this bipartisan coalition. When we announced this yesterday, we had a very large board that showed quite a broad array of groups from around the country that are very much in support of this concept. So, I thank Senator Heitkamp for her great leadership. It is terrific to be on the floor with Senator Whitehouse. We both serve on the EPW Committee together, and many times we are totally opposite. Sometimes we feel as if we are on opposite planets, I think, but definitely on different sides of this issue. It is great to be on the same side of an issue such as this, which really helps fortify not just our country but our regions and our beliefs as well. As Senator Heitkamp said, we have 25 cosponsors. Some of them are utilities, environmental groups, oil and gas companies, Governors, labor unions, so it is a great array of the country interested in carbon capture utilization and storage. We have done a lot of research in this area, but we haven't been able to scale it up to a point where it is economically viable, and that is where I think the tax credits will be not just welcomed and used, but it will be very important to see that scalability--which we have seen coming in small bits and pieces--maybe come in much greater amounts. We obviously have a very robust coal industry in the State of West Virginia. We have lost thousands of jobs.…”