Energy
As a member of the House Energy & Commerce committee, I am at the forefront of the debate on how to create a sustainable energy future for our grandchildren.
Congressman Brian Bilbray (CA-50) Appointed to the Powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee for the 112th Congress
Today one in ten San Diegans are unemployed making Congressman Bilbray’s first priority utilizing San Diego’s cutting edge industries to put his constituents back to work. San Diego is home to numerous companies and sectors that Energy and Commerce has jurisdiction over allowing Rep. Bilbray to work with his colleagues on the committee to help create jobs nationwide. Rep. Bilbray will bring his extensive knowledge and experience from serving on the California Air Resources Board and the California Coastal Commission where he delved into the details of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and implemented their requirements at the state and local levels.
Please see the below statement from Congressman Bilbray followed by brief descriptions of his subcommittee assignments:
“America’s economic security is directly related to her energy security which is why I welcome the opportunity to work with my colleagues to ensure that our energy policy is based on science and capitalizes on America’s greatest strength, our entrepreneurs and innovators. A seat on this committee will allow me to harness the power and knowledge of San Diego’s biotechnology, renewable energy, and nuclear power communities and craft common sense solutions for health reform.” – Congressman Brian P. Bilbray, Represents California’s 50th Congressional District
Congressman Bilbray’s Subcommittee Assignments on the House Energy and Commerce Committee:
Oversight and Investigations: Responsible for oversight of all programs within the committee’s purview including the Departments of Health and Human Services and Commerce, Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Institutes of Health, just to name a few.
Communication and Technology: Jurisdiction over interstate and foreign telecommunications including, but not limited to, all telecommunication and information transmission by broadcast, radio, wire, microwave, satellite, etc.
Energy and Power: Jurisdiction over the Department of Energy and the creation and sale of energy across state lines including nuclear, biofuels, solar and geothermal power.
NUCLEAR POWER
On Sunday March 27, 2011 the San Diego Union-Tribune featured op-eds in their Dialog section addressing issues relating to nuclear power. Congressman Brian Bilbray (CA-50), member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, contributed to the discussion by authoring an op-ed advocating in favor of nuclear generated power stating, “Speaking as someone who lives downwind from a nuclear power plant, I feel much better about my children’s future having [San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station] than relying on energy that picks our pockets while polluting our air.” Please read the full op-ed below:
San Diego Union-Tribune: “Science, Not Fear, Should Drive America’s Energy Policies”
By Brian P. Bilbray
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan on March 11 was more than 10 times stronger than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In the wake of this horrible disaster and the nuclear emergency that ensued, an alarm over nuclear power has once again entered our national dialogue.
Americans haven’t experienced this kind of hysteria over nuclear power since the incident at Three Mile Island, in which there were no fatalities and which today safely produces clean energy and provides recreational space. Many hope to capitalize on public fear and build prejudice against the only large-scale, clean-air electricity source available for our future. Science, not fear, should be driving America’s energy policies.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a long-standing record of safety. Our robust regulatory infrastructure has accounted for the possibility of a “station blackout” like what occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The Japanese lost on-site and off-site power, which paralyzed their cooling systems. Our plants, however, are prepared for such an event.
Consider the safety standards of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. San Onofre has redundant safety systems to provide cooling for its reactors. These systems are able to avoid combustion should a hydrogen surge occur similar to those that caused explosions at Fukushima Daiichi. San Onofre’s facilities have systems that can recombine hydrogen with oxygen to form water and avoid venting hydrogen gas.
We have built our plants based on ground motion criteria where the probability of disaster is so low that, according to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, we meet expectations for the kind of earthquake that could only occur every 7,000 to 10,000 years. Fear-mongers will laugh at those odds and point to Japan. What they don’t mention is that the ensuing tsunami that devastated the Daiichi plant was the real cause of the nuclear emergency, not the earthquake, because it drowned their backup generators in salt water. San Onofre’s tsunami walls are 50 percent higher than those at the Daiichi plant. Additionally, equipment necessary to safely shut down the San Onofre plant is protected in structures that are built to withstand both seismic and tsunami catastrophe.
Speaking as someone who lives downwind from a nuclear power plant, I feel much better about my children’s future having San Onofre than relying on energy that picks our pockets while polluting our air. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared there is no credible scenario for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our carbon footprint that does not include nuclear power. America’s 104 nuclear plants produce more than twice the electricity as our national output of wind, hydro and solar combined.
Nuclear energy doesn’t just power American homes; it creates jobs and stimulates local and national economies. The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates private investment in nuclear power plants has created up to 15,000 jobs in the past three years. Additionally, a nuclear power plant produces $20 million in state and local tax revenue annually, money that can fund schools, roads and other state and local infrastructure.
We’ve confronted this anxiety before. On Dec. 8, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed in his “Atoms for Peace” speech, “This greatest of destructive forces can be developed into a great boon, for the benefit of all mankind.” Eight years had passed since the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union and the United States were locked in a threatening arms race, and yet our president was determined to reconcile what the world thought of the atom’s destructive force with the potential benefit it held for all mankind. I believe President Barack Obama has that same opportunity today.
We should all support reviews of the accident in Japan and incorporating the lessons we learn into the design and operation of U.S. nuclear power plants, but we should not tolerate fear-mongering. As of this writing, the death toll as a result of the quake and tsunami in Japan is estimated to be more than 10,000. It could then be argued that living on the coast is much more dangerous than living next to a nuclear power plant. Requiring residents of San Diego’s coastal communities to abandon their homes would be as absurd as asking our nation to abandon a clean, inexpensive source of energy.
We need to be intelligent enough to go with next generation designs for nuclear power plants that are even safer than what we have today. It has been more than 30 years since we halted construction of our plants; think of the scientific and technological advances we have made. We should be saying let’s build more, let’s build new ones.
Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, represents California’s 50th Congressional District. He is a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.
Read It At the San Diego Union-Tribune
ALGAE FUEL
On February 16, 2011, Rep. Brian Bilbray (CA-50) introduced H.R. 1149 , The Algae Fuel Parity Act, in the House of Representatives. Algae-based fuel has the potential to significantly reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels but is excluded from most federal programs that support and encourage the development of advanced bio-fuels, such as cellulosic ethanol. Algae does not qualify for most of these incentives because it is not a cellulosic organism. The Algae Fuel Parity Act fixes these oversights.
Please see the following statement:
“Washington needs to quit finding excuses to say no to clean, cheap energy that economies can run on and begin taking every opportunity to incentivize innovation. The promise of algae as a clean, renewable fuel that could potentially replace a significant portion of our imported oil supply is too good an opportunity to pass up. That is why I introduced The Algae Fuel Parity Act today in Congress. This legislation will grant algae-based fuel access to a greater market share of the renewable fuels standard and clarifies that algae-based fuels qualify for relevant tax incentives.” – Rep. Brian Bilbray, Represents California’s 50th Congressional District
H.R. 1149 : "The Algae Fuel Parity Act"
Biofuels Digest: Leveling The Playing Field For Algae-Based Fuels
The Bilbray Bill levels the playing field
Fortunately, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are focused on addressing this challenge. Legislation introduced last week by Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA.) would take an important step towards achieving a technology neutral biofuels policy. The bill, H.R. 1149, would expand the $1.01 per gallon cellulosic biofuels tax credit to algae-based biofuels. It would also amend the Clean Air Act by adding algae- based biofuels to the definition of cellulosic biofuels, so that algae-based fuels can help meet the 16 billion gallon carve-out for cellulosic biofuels in the Renewable Fuel Standard.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
"The massive amounts of subsidy, of checks we write to an environmental snake oil called ethanol, is absolutely outrageous. The slogan in my office is ‘Yellow is not green, algae is.’" -- Rep. Brian Bilbray
From the North County Times:
“Bilbray said changes in regulatory and tax policy toward research and development need to be made quickly to prevent the United States from losing its leading position in medical research. ‘We need to ratchet up the urgency,’ he said, referring to trends such as a decline in venture capital investment and growing pressure for companies to move research and development overseas. ‘This is one place Democrats and Republicans have to start talking across the aisle,’" Bilbray said.
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The Hill’s Congress Blog: Going Green For Innovation
By Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.)
April 22, 2011
As a former member of the California Coastal Commission, the California Air Resources Board and current member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I have long been an active steward of environmental issues. What these experiences have taught me is that it is difficult to be an environmentalist without encountering some sort of paradox that suggests otherwise.
As we celebrate Earth Day, it is important to take a moment and understand these paradoxes and the challenges they present. Take surfing as an example. I have been a surfer all my life and deeply understand how surfing compels those devoted to their vocation to be in harmony with the environment.
But what many surfers don’t realize is that we leave a larger footprint than what is washed away by the tide. Surfboards are made of toxic polymers, wetsuits and wax are made from petroleum, and surfers leave a significant carbon footprint as they travel by air, land and sea with their boards in tow.
Surfing is a tradition I passed down to my sons that has allowed us to share thrilling experiences and musing conversations between sets. I would not sacrifice any of these memories or quit surfing on behalf of negligent contradictions. Instead, I keep my eye out for the latest innovation that does the best job at solving my trivial surfing dilemma.
Attempting to balance the scale to create a sustainable future for our grandchildren while preserving our environment proves a much more vexing problem. This past week marked the somber anniversary of the Gulf oil spill tragedy, which was a horrifying reminder that we must become less dependent on fossil fuels. I know how delicate these tasks can be which is why I look to innovation for answers.
With innovative technologies such as algae fuel, we have the keys to unlock sustainable clean energy right here at home. Algae-based fuel has the potential to significantly reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels but is excluded from most federal programs that support and encourage the development of advanced bio-fuels, such as cellulosic ethanol.
Unfortunately, algae does not qualify for most of these incentives because it is not a cellulosic organism. That is why I introduced The Algae Fuel Parity Act. This legislation will grant algae-based fuel access to a greater market share of the renewable fuels standard and clarifies that algae-based fuels qualify for relevant tax incentives. The promise of algae as a clean, renewable fuel that could potentially replace a significant portion of our imported oil supply is too good an opportunity to pass up.
Nuclear power is also too good an opportunity to pass up. This might seem like the ultimate paradox given the recent nuclear crisis in Japan, but if we would allow science – not fear – to guide America’s energy policy this would not be the case. According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there is no credible scenario for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our carbon footprint that does not include nuclear power.
We need to be intelligent enough to go with next generation designs for nuclear power plants that are even safer than what we have today. America’s 104 nuclear plants produce more than twice the electricity as our national output of wind, hydro and solar combined.
There are pros and cons with every alternative. Solar and wind farms have a profound impact on wildlife habitats, as do the transmission lines used to bring the power they generate to our communities. Corn based ethanol is a mandated additive to gasoline whose advocates say that it is the only large scale alternative for fueling vehicles, however it also releases pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that significantly contribute to air pollution.
As we seek the best solutions for securing a sustainable future it is important to recognize not every approach is perfect, but that innovation begets answers. Washington needs to quit finding excuses to say no to clean, cheap energy that economies can run on and begin taking every opportunity to incentivize innovation.
Read It At The Hill’s Congress Blog