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I believe national security begins at home with the economic security, health security, education security, and environment/energy security of our citizens; these four security pillars, along with defense security, provide for our country’s overall national security. Like all the others, environment/energy security is critical to America’s collective prosperity.
One of the largest environmental security issues facing the nation is climate change. Taking steps to address climate change not only makes environmental sense, but makes good economic and strategic sense. We need to spark an unprecedented transition to alternative, clean, and renewable power, to create a new clean energy economy and halt the damage to our environment. We need to recognize that the 2008 spike in the cost of gasoline for what it is: the signal that the days of our reliance on fossil fuels are over. It is time to lay the framework for far-reaching and sustainable solutions to our predicament.
I support what Chairman Waxman laid out in his “Principles for Global Warming Legislation.” The principles established the framework for climate change legislation that will avoid the most catastrophic levels of global warming and assist those harmed by the warming that is unavoidable, while strengthening our economy.
In the area of energy policy the approach must be comprehensive and include: promoting conservation and efficiency, responsible coal production, responsible nuclear policy, and transitioning to a clean energy economy. In 2006 alone, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries generated 8.5 million jobs and nearly $970 billion in revenue in the United States, touching nearly every sector of our economy.
We must move quickly from corn ethanol to cellulosic ethanol. Advanced second and third-generation bio-fuels have the potential to displace over a third of domestic gasoline supplies, and could have a significant impact on the price of gasoline as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fuels by over 80%.
We need to provide a level playing field for wind and solar power, as well as emerging clean alternatives such as wave power. In the United States, more 5,200 megawatts of wind energy were installed in 2007, accounting for 30% of new power, an increase of 45% in just one year. I support a Renewable Electricity Standard to require 25% of electricity comes from renewable sources like solar, wind, wave, and geothermal energy by 2025.
Click here to read Congressman Sestak's position on the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
Click here to read Congressman Sestak’s project submittal to the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2010.
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