INCREASE NATIONAL SECURITY
REQUIRE RENEWABLE
PORTFOLIO STANDARDS:
On September 19, 2001, James Woolsey,
former Director of the CIA, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer,
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and
Robert C. McFarlane, Former National Security Advisor
to President Reagan, sent a letter to US Senator
Jim Jeffords of Vermont and other members of the
Senate. They urged in the strongest terms that the
Senate
take immediate action to address our energy security.
Among other recommendations, they urged “the
Energy Committee to immediately adopt the Renewable
Portfolio Standard...." See http://jeffords.senate.gov/~jeffords/press/02/03/03062002renewable_energy.html
These leaders know where the real danger
to US security lies--energy source dependence. Senator
Jeffords believes, "An increasing reliance on
energy imports from politically unstable areas of
the world is not in America's best interests, and
we must reassert our dominance over our own energy
production and innovation. One of the most important
ways to achieve this is to wean ourselves from foreign
oil in our transportation sector, and to diversify
the energy base for our electricity generation into
clean, domestically produced renewable resources." An
indispensible part of achieving this goal is the
renewable portfolio standard legislation.
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
legislation has been enacted in 17 states and introduced
in Congress as a national goal. The various stautes
provide that different percentages of the
electricity sold in that state would come from the
wind. Producing energy from the wind reduces the
need to import liquified natural gas (LNG). If the
wind energy is used to create hydrogen as a fuel
substitute for oil, it reduces our dependence on
OPEC. For
more on RPS, click here.
REDUCE VULNERABILITY
OF ENERGY SOURCES TO TERRORIST ATTACK:
Nuclear power plants are targets for
terrorism. So are hydroelectric dams and coal-fired
electric generating plants. Windmills can be set
in a variety of places, diversifying the locations
of our power supply. Also, since windmills are smaller
than conventional electric power producing facilities,
if a windmill is destroyed by terror attacks, the
damage to our power supply will be less than if a
nuclear or coal plant were taken out.
IMPROVE THE
ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION GRID:
The "Electric Reliability Security
Act of 2005," will increase the reliability
and security of the electricity grid in an efficient,
cost-effective, and environmentally sound manner.
The legislation will create mandatory uniform federal
rules requiring that utilities operating power systems
to ensure reliable delivery of power; provide $10
billion in loan guarantees to invest in and modernize
existing transmission and distribution systems; and
establish national standards for "net-metering" to
allow existing alternative energy sources, such as
home windmills and extra power generated by manufacturing
facilities, to be sold back to the grid and provide
additional power.
U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords is sponsoring this bill.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Edward Kennedy,
D-MA,
are
cosponsors
of the legislation.