Energy
What Hank believes:
- We must strive to reduce our reliance on oil, an increasingly scarce resource. Our continued addiction to this rapidly depleting energy source damages the environment, undermines our national security, and gravely threatens our economy.
- We must never again be fooled by low oil prices and neglect to take necessary steps toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
- "Peak oil" is a real phenomenon. Oil is a finite resource and global oil extraction and refinement will peak – soon. That means it will reach its highest possible volume, then begin a continual decline. Supply will fall as demand continues to rise worldwide, and the price of all petroleum-based products – gasoline, transportation, and plastic products (to name a few) – will dramatically rise.
- America should invest heavily in becoming the world’s leading producer of clean, efficient, renewable energy.
- Coal is not a clean solution to our energy crisis. Biofuels, especially corn ethanol, divert precious agricultural produce away from food production, causing the price of staples like rice, corn, and soy to skyrocket. Natural gas could be an acceptable bridge to an era in which clean renewables like solar, wind, and hydro are dominant. This must be the ultimate goal.
- The EPA needs additional resources and a Congressional mandate to aggressively defend the environment, which is a public good, and it should engage in regulation of carbon dioxide emissions.
- Congress should aggressively tighten efficiency standards, especially fuel standards for automobiles, and implement legislation to dramatically cut pollution.
What Hank has done:
- Introduced the Resource Assessment of Rare Earths (RARE) Act of 2011, which directs the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a three-year, comprehensive global mineral assessment of rare earth elements (REEs) critical to high-tech clean-energy and defense manufacturing.
Cosponsored the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which would:
- move the United States toward greater energy independence and security;
- increase the production of clean renewable fuels;
- protect consumers;
- increase the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles;
- promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options;
- and improve the energy performance of the Federal Government.
- Voted to remove subsidies to oil and gas companies.
- Cosponsored legislation to establish the H-Prize, which would award competitive cash prizes to advance the research, development, and commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies.
- Cosponsored the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, which passed the House. It extends tax credits for the production of electricity from renewable resources.
What Hank will do:
- Support measures to dramatically increase mandatory automobile fuel efficiency.
- Advocate for a significant development fund to sponsor wide-scale research, development, and production of energy from renewable sources. America must strive to become the leader of this industry.
- Continue to protect consumers from energy price gouging.
More on Energy
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04), ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law (RRCAL), which exercises jurisdiction over regulatory and competition policy, spoke out against Republicans’ H.R. 26, the REINS Act, as an example of “corporate welfare” that would establish sweeping restrictions on new environmental and public health protections.
[Watch Rep. Johnson speak from the House floor HERE]
I want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year. May the gift of love, peace and happiness be yours this season.
It’s been a busy month since Thanksgiving, and I want let you know what I’ve been working on in Congress.
Congressman Hank Johnson held a telephone town hall from his Washington, D.C. office on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. He called 50,000 residents in the Fourth District to hear their thoughts on the results of the Nov. 8 General Election and to listen to what they would like to see him work on in the 115th Congress that begins Jan. 3, 2017.
Dear Friends,
WASHINGTON, D.C. – An amendment to the FY 2017 Interior Appropriations bill addressing the disparate impact of coal ash disposal proposed by Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) passed by voice vote on July 12. It represented the first time this year legislation highlighted the disproportionate impact unsafe coal ash disposal poses to low-income, rural and minority communities, and the second full House of Representatives vote on the issue of coal ash in the 114th Congress.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the wake of the horrific act of hate and terror in Orlando last week, the deadliest mass shooting in American history, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) today joined House Democrats’ sit-in on the House Floor to demand that Speaker Ryan and House Republicans allow a vote on bipartisan legislation to address gun violence.
By product of producing electricity a noxious material that could be dumped in a landfill near you
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) today introduced The Coal Ash Landfill Safety Act (CALSA) – H.R. 4827 – to protect citizens from dangerous coal ash that will be disposed in municipal landfills that are not equipped to handle the toxic substance.
Congressman’s bill has support from entire Georgia House delegation; Resolution now goes to Senate for approval
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Johnson announced today that the bipartisan resolution to rename the Pine Lake Post Office at Rockbridge Road and Spring Drive in honor of fallen police officer Francis Manuel Ortega passed the U.S. House of Representatives.