MR. CHAIRMAN, IT’S A PRIVILEGE TO JOIN MY BICAMERAL COLLEAGUES ON THIS CONFERENCE COMMITTEE TO ADDRESS THE FUTURE ENERGY NEEDS OF OUR COUNTRY.

AS A CALIFORNIAN, AND A MEMBER FROM ONE OF THE MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS DISTRICTS IN THE COUNTRY, MY TIME IN CONGRESS HAS FOCUSED ON ACHIEVING AN ENERGY FUTURE THAT RELIES INCREASINGLY ON ENERGY SOURCES THAT ARE RENEWABLE AND MINIMIZE IMPACTS ON OUR ENVIRONMENT…

MY CONSTITUENTS HAVE DEMANDED NO LESS OF ME, AND I’VE IN TURN WORKED WITH MY HOUSE COLLEAGUES TO ADVANCE THIS GOAL.

THAT’S WHY AS THE RANKING MEMBER OF THE SCIENCE COMMITTEE’S ENERGY SUBCOMMITTEE, I’M PROUD TO REPRESENT OUR COMMITTEE’S WORK ON THE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND EFFICIENCY PROVISIONS OF H.R. 4.

WE WORKED HARD, IN A BIPARTISAN WAY – WITH MUCH APPRECIATED EFFORT FROM CHAIRMAN BOEHLERT AND SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN BARTLETT -- TO ACHIEVE THESE PROVISIONS. IN DOING SO, WE MADE A CLEAR STATEMENT THAT THESE DOE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS MUST BE ROBUST AND MEET AGGRESSIVE GOALS.

IT’S NO SURPRISE THAT MY SENATE COLLEAGUES, LED BY SENATOR BINGAMAN, ALSO PASSED STRONG RENEWABLE ENERGY AND EFFICIENCY PROVISIONS IN THEIR BILL.

SENATOR BINGAMAN HAS LONG WORKED TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD FOR ALL RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES. I’M PLEASED THAT WE WILL BE PARTNERS IN THIS ENDEAVOR.

MR. CHAIRMAN, I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU, THE OTHER HOUSE CONFEREES AND THE SENATE TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT THE FINAL VERSION OF H.R. 4 CONTAINS THE STRONGEST PROVISIONS POSSIBLE FOR DOE’S RENEWAL ENERGY AND EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS.

THANK YOU.