80 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Bush this week seeking substantially higher funding levels for renewable energy and energy efficiency in the White House’s Fiscal Year 2008 (FY’08) budget request for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Circulated by Representatives Mark Udall (D-CO) and Zach Wamp (R-TN), the letter notes that “renewable energy and energy efficiency can have the most immediate and longest lasting positive effect on energy availability, stable prices, and greenhouse gas emissions.” Consequently, it urges the Administration to “develop a request that fully funds the renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in the U.S. Department of Energy and other federal agencies at the levels authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.”
In particular, the letter calls for full funding of the advanced hydropower program and geothermal power programs as well as the biomass/biofuels, wind, and solar programs in addition to the buildings, industry, and vehicles efficiency programs.
The signers conclude that “a budget request that fully funds the range of federal sustainable energy programs will go a long way toward meeting the nation’s goals of reducing energy imports and controlling energy prices while also improving the economy, national and homeland security, and the environment and public health.”
The full text of the letter:
December 8, 2006
Dear Mr. President:
You have noted on multiple occasions the important role to be played by renewable energy and energy efficiency in meeting the nation’s future energy needs.
We share your view.
Additionally, the last two years have starkly highlighted the adverse impacts posed by our nation’s reliance on vulnerable energy resources. Here again, renewable energy and energy efficiency can have the most immediate and longest lasting positive effect on energy availability, stable prices, and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, as your Administration develops its Fiscal Year 2008 budget request, we urge you to use this opportunity to put your words into action.
In particular, we recommend that you develop a request that fully funds the renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in the U.S. Department of Energy and other federal agencies at the levels authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Likewise, we urge that the Renewable Energy Production Incentive program be fully funded. Immediate and enhanced attention to these efforts to reduce our demand on fossil fuels such as natural gas and petroleum are our nation’s best means of addressing a secure energy future.
For this reason, we also recommend that you continue to support the core programs that have historically been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. These would include the advanced hydropower program and geothermal power programs as well as the biomass/biofuels, wind, and solar programs in addition to the buildings, industry, and vehicles efficiency programs.
A budget request that fully funds the range of federal sustainable energy programs will go a long way toward meeting the nation’s goals of reducing energy imports and controlling energy prices while also improving the economy, national and homeland security, and the environment and public health.
We look forward to working with you on this important endeavor.
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