Energy Subcommittee Discusses Dynamics of the Energy Marketplace
(Washington, DC) - Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy held its first hearing of the 113th Congress. The purpose of the hearing was to provide an overview of the current energy landscape in the U.S. and a forum for discussing what the future might hold for various energy technologies and resources. Testifying before the Subcommittee were the Honorable Adam Sieminski, Administrator of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the Department of Energy (DOE); Mr. Robert McNally, President of the Rapidan Group and a former senior energy advisor to President George W. Bush; and Ms. Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE).
Commenting on the rapidly shifting dynamics of the energy marketplace, Ranking Member Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said in his opening statement, “Our responsibility is to ensure that this country is prepared for whatever changes the markets may experience. Overreliance on a limited range of technologies and finite resources is unsustainable and unreasonable. Our strength will lay in our ability to transition to new, cleaner, more sustainable resources. We cannot drill our way to long-term energy security and a thriving economy – we need to unleash the creativity of our scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to unlock our energy potential.”
Ms. Jacobson said, “To continue the momentum of growth in these sectors, and to receive their co-benefits, long-term, stable polices will be needed to level the playing field and to provide market access to sustainable energy technologies. We will also need to continue to invest in energy research, development and deployment to increase the efficiency of our energy generation and use and to spur new innovations. This is important for domestic economic growth and for U.S. competitiveness in the energy sector.” Ms. Jacobson also noted that early stage R&D, “… must be balanced with work on commercialization, market, transformation and other efforts to ensure that products do not sit on laboratory shelves, but are transferred to the private sector to achieve the intended public benefit of the research and development.”
Democratic Members covered a broad range of issues from energy efficient buildings to climate change to the environmental concerns of drilling to nuclear research and development. Mr. Swalwell spoke about the institutional barriers that must be overcome to meet common energy objectives. He said, “As Washington bickers, our global competitors are pulling out all the stops to capitalize on a booming clean energy economy…there is no one-size-fits-all prescription for the appropriate role of government in securing our energy future. In a field as complex as energy, we must flexible and efficient when deploying taxpayer resources, and rely on a mix of scientific expertise, market forces, and common sense to identify gaps and inform our policy decisions.” He continued, “The big energy challenges we face require big lead times to solve. We thus cannot let bureaucratic inertia and partisan politics delay or get in the way of us making investments that encourage research, innovation, and competition. IF the U.S. is to be the world leader in all aspects of energy, we must be willing to work together, compromise, and embrace innovative ideas.”
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