Energy Independence
SENATOR COLEMAN UNVEILS NATIONAL ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE INITATIVE
Will Make America More Energy Independent by Updating Energy Infrastructure For The Twenty-First Century
With America still relying on an outdated energy infrastructure designed in the twentieth century, Senator Coleman has outlined a plan to update our energy infrastructure to meet today's changing and diverse energy needs. Through the establishment of a National Energy Infrastructure Trust Fund, Senator Coleman’s plan would update and expand our energy infrastructure – including expansion of wind transmission lines, CO2 pipelines, E-85 pumps and nuclear energy infrastructure, among others - with the same vigor and comprehensive approach that President Dwight Eisenhower used to overhaul our transportation system beginning in the 1950s.
"In 1955, President Eisenhower sent a message to Congress: it's time to revolutionize our transportation system. Ike saw this as both an economic security and national security issue, and he called for action that was rapid, comprehensive, and forward-looking," said Senator Coleman. "Today, we have a similar challenge, as our nation's energy infrastructure is outdated and incapable of meeting current and future energy needs. Though we’ve begun to make progress in the last few years, we must accelerate our commitment going forward. As I’ve often said, half-measures do not work – we must do it all. That is why I am proposing a new National Energy Infrastructure Trust Fund, which will allow us to address our nation's energy infrastructure with the same passion and focus that revolutionized our national transportation infrastructure in the 1950s."
COLEMAN NATIONAL ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE TRUST FUND INITIATIVE
The Problem:
Today, the nation depends on an energy infrastructure that was designed in the twentieth century. The energy systems of the future will require an infrastructure that can support a wider range of technologies and resources. Our nation’s energy infrastructure is incapable of meeting the growing energy needs of this country in a clean manner with domestic resources.
The Plan:
PAVES THE WAY FOR WIND AND SOLAR: Studies indicate that as much as 20 percent of our electric power can come from wind sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, solar energy has the potential of producing 10 percent of our nation’s energy needs by 2025. This initiative would ensure our wind and solar potential is realized by promoting wind infrastructure with the following:
• Expansion of Transmission Corridors: One of the biggest impediments to increasing wind energy is the siting of transmission lines. This proposal would expand existing National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors to enable the United States to produce 20 percent of its electricity from wind energy. It would require DOE to conduct a study to determine which transmission corridors are necessary to allow the United States to reach the 20 percent level and then issue a report based on the study, to designate any geographic area found to be a Critical Wind Energy Transmission Area as a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor.
• Expansion of Infrastructure: The proposal immediately directs the federal government and federal utilities to use their existing authority to expand infrastructure and regional power pools.
• Expansion of Clean Renewable Energy Bonds: This proposal expands Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (tax credit bonds) to allow them to finance wind energy transmission projects with a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor designation.
INVESTS IN COAL and NUCLEAR: Together, coal and nuclear energy provide almost 70 percent of our energy supply, but conventional coal plants aren’t as practical in today’s carbon-restricted environment, so there will be much greater need for the zero emission energy of nuclear. This initiative would include:
• CO2 Pipelines: Fund an 80 percent loan guarantee for CO2 pipeline construction to take advantage of our 250 year supply of coal in the United States.
• Nuclear Energy Infrastructure: Improve the loan guarantee program provided in the 2005 Energy Bill to, among other things, mandate 100 percent coverage of the loan amount. This is necessary because the original language in the Energy Policy Act on this issue has been interpreted to provide for a guarantee of only 80% of the applicant’s actual contribution to the financing of the nuclear facility. The current language actually guarantees only about 60% of the total loan - that is 80% of the 80% the applicant has contributed. The new language will guarantee 100% of the applicant’s contribution thereby facilitating financing of new nuclear generation.
• Encourage Nuclear Development: Establish an Interagency Working Group to identify incentives necessary to increase U.S. manufacturing capacity for nuclear energy products and components.
PROMOTES FUEL ALTERNATIVES: We need to be investing in research and development of new and innovative sources of fuel. This plan includes forward-looking initiatives to break new ground on reducing our dependence on foreign oil. This plan takes bold steps with:
Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles: Widespread use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, our greenhouse gas emissions, and the costs associated with driving. Specifically, a transition to plug-in hybrids would require:
• Advanced Battery Technology: Creating a new advanced battery program that increases research and development for advanced batteries to maximize electricity range and use less gas and encourage the federal government to increase its purchases of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
• Next Generation Vehicle Production: Retooling our factories will create jobs for American workers by ensuring that the vehicles of the future are made in the United States.
• Biofuels: The United States’ renewable fuels industry is growing by leaps and bounds and we must immediately address the current problem of shipping and distributing the fuel. This proposal creates a new loan guarantee program for ethanol pipelines that will take biofuels from the Middle of the country and transport it to population centers in the East and West Coasts. The proposal would also require a program to turn every every interstate highway into an E-85 corridor in 60 days, and in two years the corridor program must achieve a 50 percent increase in E-85 infrastructure on our interstates.
How Do We Get There?
The Coleman initiative would use federal revenues from new Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas development for a National Energy Infrastructure Trust Fund. Given that the undeveloped resources in the OCS have been calculated to be 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and that in FY07, the federal revenues from offshore leases were about $7 billion on only 2.4% of the federally managed portion of the OCS, the trust fund would have access to billions of dollars every year