In a personal speech on the Senate floor this week, Senator Coons shared his own first-hand account of the climate change impacts he has witnessed during trips to Glacier National Park in Montana, the Santa Marta Mountains in Colombia, and at home in Delaware. He urged his colleagues in Congress to take action now – to support clean energy and energy efficiency and back responsible limits on harmful carbon emissions – so we can change the course of our future and leave our children a healthier world. Read his full remarks here: http://1.usa.gov/SAoDDB
Senator Coons, who earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry, live-tweeted Sunday night's episode of the Fox science show, Cosmos, which focused on the greenhouse effect and its impact on our climate. Take a look at what he had to say:
Looking forward to tonight’s important episode of @COSMOSonTV at 9pm on FOX. The science of climate change and the impacts of inaction.
NEW CASTLE, Del. – Senator Coons journeyed from the Senate floor to the factory floor Thursday to visit with local manufacturers at New Castle’s WhiteOptics, LLC. The award-winning startup develops and manufactures state-of-the-art materials used to improve the lighting quality and energy efficiency of LED and fluorescent lighting products. Nicole Steele from the Alliance to Save Energy, where Chris is a Congressional Vice Chair, also joined the tour.
WhiteOptics’ innovative materials, developed and assembled at their Quigley Boulevard facility, are used by some of the nation’s leading LED manufacturers, including GE and Cree. During the visit, Chris had the opportunity to meet with employees and try his hand at some of the manufacturing work performed at the facility –from sheering metal to slitting and packaging film.
“In a few short years, WhiteOptics has developed a cutting edge, highly efficient lighting product here in Delaware that’s being sold across the United States and to markets around the world,” Chris said. “Meeting with the team behind this innovative startup is a reminder of just how inventive, creative, determined, and capable American manufacturers are.”
Eric Teather, WhiteOptics’ founder and CEO, joined Chris and Nicole at the facility, and discussed some of the challenges his startup faces as it seeks to grow and create new jobs in Delaware. As an innovative, early-stage company, intellectual property protection – including protection of the trade secrets the company uses to manufacture its products – is a chief concern for WhiteOptics.
Trade secrets are often referred to as the “secret sauce” that makes companies work. In April, Senator Coons introduced the bipartisan Defend Trade Secrets Act to empower companies to protect their trade secrets in federal court. The bill creates a federal private right-of-action, to give trade secrets the same legal protections that other forms of critical intellectual property already enjoy. The legislation has been endorsed by a broad range of small and large manufacturers.
“For a small startup business, being able to act on your own, through your own attorney, promptly, is going to make a lifesaving difference,” Chris said. “When the NSA, and the FBI, and the Department of Justice are saying that American manufacturers are the subject of intentional, directed cyber-hacking designed to steal trade secrets every day, we ought to be doing more to strengthen the legal protections available to them.”
Energy poverty is one of the most significant challenges facing Africa today. Seventy percent of Sub-Saharan Africans – and 85 percent of those living rural areas – are currently living without access to electricity.
Pervasive energy poverty undermines economic growth and development goals in health, education, and institution-building across the continent. Businesses have repeatedly cited the lack of reliable energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa as a more significant impediment to doing business than corruption, access to capital, and other challenges. More than 90 million schoolchildren across the continent lack access to this basic educational resource and 30 percent of health facilities are without electricity. Toxic fumes from kerosene – the chemical used to light homes – lead to more than 3 million deaths per year, more than HIV/AIDs and malaria combined.
The Power Africa initiative, launched by President Obama in June 2013, seeks to double the number of individuals with access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa by producing at least 10,000 megawatts of more efficient, cost effective, and sustainable electricity generation capacity on the continent. By 2020, it aims to increase electricity access for at least 20 million new households and commercial entities, enhance the energy resource management capabilities of partner countries, and increase regional cross-border energy trade.
To achieve these goals, the U.S. government and private sector have made approximately $20 billion in commitments to expanding energy access and generation across Sub-Saharan Africa in the next five years, especially in the six Power Africa focus countries – Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.
Senator Coons, chair of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, will chair a hearing on Thursday to examine questions surrounding Power Africa’s scope, implementation and sustainability. The hearing will feature testimony from witnesses leading Power Africa’s implementation, including USAID Assistant Administrator for Africa Earl Gast, OPIC Executive Vice President Mimi Alemayehou, and Ex-Im Africa Director Rick Angiuoni. Additional witnesses include Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation; Paul Hinks, CEO of Symbion Power; Del Renigar, Senior Council for Global Government Affairs Policy for General Electric; and Tom Hart, U.S. Executive Director of the ONE Campaign. Their testimony will help to inform the Foreign Relations Committee’s future consideration of legislation to provide congressional authorization for Power Africa.
The hearing will be held Thursday, March 27 at 10:30 a.m. in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing Room, 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Click here to view a live webcast of the hearing.
Senator Coons questioned Secretary of State John Kerry about funding for the Power Africa initiative at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations earlier this month. Click here to watch their exchange.
While rail transportation has proven an efficient means of transporting North America’s growing supply of crude oil, increased oil by rail traffic has also raised serious environmental and safety concerns in recent years.
Following several recent, high-profile accidents by trains transporting crude oil – including a December derailment in North Dakota in which 400,000 gallons of crude oil were spilled – the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Association of American Railroads (AAR) have come together to announce the roll out of new safety measures for crude by rail operations.
The agreement institutes an array of new safety measures to prevent train derailments, including implementation of new, more effective breaking technology and traffic routing technology that determines the safest and most secure routes, increased track inspections, and reduced speed requirements through designated urban areas.
“Our rail safety procedures must keep pace with the rapidly changing landscape of North American oil production,” Senator Coons said. “In January, a derailment in Philadelphia nearly ended in disaster, and over the last year, devastating crashes in communities from North Dakota to Alabama have underscored the need to update and strengthen freight safety measures. The improved safety procedures announced by DOT and AAR are an important step in what must be a sustained effort to protect our communities and environment from future disasters.”
North American oil production has expanded rapidly in recent years thanks to growing production in the Canadian oil sands and increased shale oil production in North Dakota, Montana, and Texas. Nearly 70 percent of the United States’ crude oil demand is now supplied from production in North America, displacing imports from overseas. This crude oil boom has created new transportation challenges as producers have increasingly turned to rail to transport oil to refineries in market hubs across the U.S., including PBF’s refinery in Delaware City.
According to rail industry estimates, U.S. freight railroads carried more than 400,000 carloads of crude oil in 2013, compared to 9,500 carloads in 2008. In just the last three years, crude imports by rail from Canada have increased more than 20-fold. PBF’s Delaware City Refinery, which directly supports 500 jobs in Delaware, receives 1-2 unit trains of Bakken crude oil shipments per day.
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has once again recognized Senator Coons’ strong environmental voting record, awarding him a 92 percent rating for 2013 in their latest National Environmental Scorecard. The scorecard provides objective, factual information about the most important environmental legislation considered by Congress and the corresponding voting records of all members. Senator Coons’ lifetime rating is now 95 percent.
The 2013 LCV scorecard includes 13 Senate votes that demonstrate Chris’ commitment to addressing important environmental issues affecting Delaware and the nation. Chris scored above the Senate average by 35 percent and Delaware was noted as one of 26 states with an average score above 90, thanks to high scores from all three members of the Delaware congressional delegation.
At home in Delaware and in the Senate, Chris has been a strong voice for environmental conservation, clean and renewable energy development, and measures to curb and combat the effects of climate change. Over the last year, Chris voted for disaster relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy and investments to make our communities more resilient against future storms, as well as to preserve investments in advanced next generation biofuels by the Department of Defense, the nation’s single largest energy user. He also opposed efforts to block EPA regulation of greenhouse gases for the purpose of combating climate change.
Chris advocated heavily for the inclusion of strong conservation provisions in the farm bill approved by Congress last week. He has led a letter to the Appropriations Committee for the past three years urging robust funding for farm bill conservation programs.
For over 40 years, the National Environmental Scorecard issued by LCV has been the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on environmental, public health, and energy issues. The Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes to be scored.
Local scientists, chemists and engineers packed the dining room at Brantwyn Estate on Friday to engage in open discussion with Sen. Coons about his recent work in Washington to promote advanced manufacturing and innovation. The event was the sixth joint meeting of the MIT Club of the Delaware Valley and the Delaware Section of the American Chemical Society.
Chris, who holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Amherst College and worked for eight years for a materials-based science company, shared his genuine excitement about invention and innovation, as well as his keen understanding of the financing challenges materials-based science companies face. He discussed his efforts in the Senate around these issues, including leading the Manufacturing Jobs for America campaign to grow our nation’s manufacturing sector, introducing the America INNOVATES Act to modernize aspects of our national lab system, and working on new bipartisan legislation to reauthorize investments in basic science and technology through innovative programs like the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).
“I’m trying to help make the connection in the Senate between advanced manufacturing, research and development, and job opportunities,” said Chris. “America is and can continue to be one of the most productive manufacturing countries in the world, but manufacturing relies very heavily on R&D, on patents, and on continuous innovation.”
“At a time of scarce public resources, science is a critical investment,” Chris continued. “Right now, I need your voice, because there are very few in Congress who understand the compounding value of investment in basic and applied science, about the risks we face in intellectual property, and the importance of getting STEM education at the elementary school level right. We've got huge challenges ahead but also great opportunities – in green chemistry, in reimagining advanced polymers, in advanced manufacturing – and I'm looking forward to working with you to ensure our nation remains a leader in science.”
The White House on Thursday launched the first Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), a national assessment of the nation’s energy infrastructure that builds upon legislation co-sponsored by Senator Coons last year.
The QER, which is part of a broader national climate action plan announced by the President last summer, will help to coordinate energy policy around national priorities such as greater energy and climate security. The initiative builds upon goals laid out in the Quadrennial Energy Review Act, legislation co-sponsored by Senator Coons to authorize a comprehensive review of current domestic capabilities and future energy needs. The proposal is modeled after the highly-regarded Quadrennial Defense Review, a legislatively-mandated review of defense strategy and priorities.
"A strategic blueprint of America’s energy priorities is a critical resource for innovators working to support our clean energy economy,” Chris said. “The Quadrennial Energy Review is a great planning tool to identify a baseline assessment of our technological, economic, and national security capabilities. It will then put our federal resources to work to help us better coordinate with the private sector and promote energy innovation. This is a critical component of an all-of-the-above energy policy, and I am pleased that the President is putting it into action today.”
The first review is expected by January 2015, and will focus on the development of a national strategy for securing the infrastructure needed to transport, transmit, and distribute energy. More than a dozen federal agencies will participate in the review, along with members of the private sector, state and local governments, labor organizations, and the academic community.
Delaware’s ET International, Inc. was among 100 companies profiled in a new report released today by the Science Coalition – a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of more than 50 of the nation’s leading public and private research universities, including the University of Delaware. The report, titled, “Sparking Economic Growth 2.0: Companies Created from Federally Funded University Research, Fueling Innovation and Economic Growth” highlights companies that trace their roots to federally funded university research. The companies in the report were self-selected by the member universities of the Science Coalition and are illustrative of how federal research can spur the creation of companies that bring innovations to market, create jobs, and contribute to economic growth.
ET International, Inc. (ETI) was founded in 2000 by Dr.Guang Rong Gao, a distinguished professor in computer and electrical engineering at the University of Delaware. The company originated in the university’s scientific labs and is now a leading provider of system software for advanced many-core computing systems ranging from supercomputers for highly scientific research to high-performance portable devices for smart phones. In a statement to the Science Coalition, the company noted that “Federally supported research completed at the University of Delaware and ETI” by Dr. Gao “allowed his deep-rooted belief in fundamental dataflow principles technologies to be successfully explored, designed and implemented…”
Indeed, ETI’s first phase of growth generated over $22 million in investments from the industry’s most renowned High Performance Computing organizations including The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, IBM, Intel, Cray, and Samsung. ETI’s software solutions increase performance, computing power, and efficiency to allow users to fully realize the power of many-core architectures. Built on a decade of highly complex research, ETI currently provides software, applications and custom engineering services for the energy, defense, semiconductor, digital media, and financial markets.
During a time when federal funding for R&D has been on the decline, with funding levels in 2013 at historic lows, ETI and the other companies highlighted in the report show the high return on investment yielded by federal funding of basic scientific research. Senator Coons is committed to ensuring that our nation continues to support innovative research and companies like ETI that create jobs and keep America on the cutting edge of technological innovation.
Senator Coons and 11 colleagues held a press conference on October 29, 2013 to announce the launch of Manufacturing Jobs for America, a campaign to refocus Washington's attention on manufacturing jobs. The effort comprises 40 bills from 22 senators, many of which are bipartisan, that will help America's manufacturers grow and prepare American workers for careers in advanced manufacturing.
Chris opened the press conference, discussing the need for progress on legislation that will strenghten America's modern workforce, secure a more level global playing field, expand access to capital for new and smaller-scale manufactuerers, and establish a national manufacturing strategy. Citing the success of Miller Metal Fabrication in Bridgeville, Delaware, which has won manufacturing work back from China, Italy, and other countries, Chris urged renewed bipartisan efforts to accelerate America's manufacturing revival.
Participants in Tuesday's press conference included Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
Watch Chris' opening remarks:
Watch a highlight reel of senators' remarks at the press conference:
