Contact: Marty Coyne
(202) 463-5945 / 888-249-NEWS
September 30, 2008
U.S. Chamber’s Energy Institute Releases Blueprint for Securing America’s Energy Future
Includes Recommendations for Next President, Congress
FORT COLLINS, CO – General James L. Jones, USMC (Ret.), president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, today unveiled a comprehensive blueprint for securing America’s energy future at Colorado State University (CSU). With more than 75 policy recommendations, the blueprint is a thorough and compelling framework for the next president and Congress to adopt as a balanced and comprehensive energy strategy.
“With a challenge this urgent, we must encourage new partnerships that bring together the best of government, industry, and academia to create cutting-edge technology solutions to our long-term challenges,” General Jones said. “The blueprint’s 75 policy recommendations for America’s forthcoming political leadership aim to transform energy challenges into energy opportunities; unleash the power of America’s vast resources and innovation, and generate new supplies, new technologies, and new American jobs.”
Following a tour of CSU’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, General Jones joined U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) and CSU Vice President of Energy, the Environment, and Applied Research Ron Sega to deliver remarks to students, faculty, and regional business leaders.
The blueprint puts concrete policy recommendations behind 13 fundamental energy pillars outlined in the Institute’s July 2008 Open Letter to the next president and Congress, which was signed by 27 influential and experienced national leaders and has received support from thousands of Americans. The blueprint also serves as a bridge to an energy transition plan that the Institute will introduce to the next president and Congress in the coming months as a foundation for a comprehensive, new energy strategy for our nation.
The blueprint’s recommendations include:
- Provide incentives for electric utilities, homebuilders, and consumers to use less energy; promote real-time pricing for consumers to moderate their energy use; and deploy advanced electricity grid technologies to increase efficiency and reliability.
- Permanently end the moratorium on exploration and production of America’s oil and natural gas resources;
- Expand the federal Loan Guarantee Program to increase the construction of emission-free nuclear power plants;
- Increase federal investments in clean coal technology to $20 billion over ten years, with half coming from the federal government and half from the private sector through a small fee on fossil-based utilities;
- Extend renewable and alternative energy tax credits for 8 years to bring these initially expensive technologies to compete in the marketplace.
- Establish a Clean Energy Bank of the United States, a domestic entity modeled about the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank, to accelerate capital formation and mitigate the barriers to commercialization of innovative technologies.
- Approach climate change as part of, not apart from, a comprehensive energy plan that takes into account the extent of existing mandates, invests in the technology solutions needed for meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and ensure global participation. Climate policies must not provide a windfall to the government.
- Encourages state and federal government to make swift regulatory and licensing decisions to allow industry to make large capital commitments for energy projects with certainty.
- Institute policies that build a highly skilled and technical workforce to ensure America’s competitiveness, including revising visa policies, flexible teaching schedules for retired professionals, and providing competitive salaries and other incentives.
The mission of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy is to unify policymakers, regulators, business leaders, and the American public behind a common sense energy strategy to help keep America safe, strong, prosperous, and clean. Through policy development, education, and advocacy, the Institute is building support for meaningful action at the local, state, national, and international levels. To read more about the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, visit www.energyxxi.org/. The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.
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