As a Co-Chairman of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Caucus, I recognize the need to address alternative solutions to reduce our energy needs.  The launching of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in Cadarache, France potentially could lead to a huge breakthrough in energy technology.

The dream of fusion, a power source that is both clean and self-sustaining, until now has been a technological dream.  The ITER program will hopefully realize that vision.  Dr. Orbach of the Department of Energy's Office of Science estimates that through this project nuclear fusion power plants will be commercially viable during this century. 

The ITER program is a partnership of six parties: the European Union, Russia, South Korea, China, Japan, and the United States.  The United States will be responsible for paying for approximately 10% of the $12 billion required to complete this project, and the U.S. portion of the work will be shared jointly by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. 

The only way to guarantee affordable energy for American consumers is to be much less reliant on foreign oil and develop technologies in energy efficiency.  I look forward to pushing the long term development of energy efficient technologies like ITER.