Rep. Salazar: Democratic Congress will focus on renewable energy
December 3, 2006
ALAMOSA — When the new Congress begins its work next year, led by Democrats in the House and Senate for the first time since 1994, there will be a strong focus on renewable energy and increased energy independence, Rep. John Salazar said.
The Colorado Democrat said during a renewable energy symposium at Adams State College on Saturday that the House is forming a new agricultural energy subcommittee to acknowledge the role farms will play in reducing America’s dependence on imported oil.
“If America were energy-independent, politics in the Middle East would be totally different,” Salazar said. “The only way I can ever see peace is to devalue the only resource they have in the Middle East, which is oil. The only way we can is to develop alternative energy and we must encourage other countries like China to do so, too.”
He said the San Luis Valley, near his Manassa-area farm, is poised to help in the effort with a strong potential for developing solar, wind and geothermal energy as well as growing crops for biodiesel and ethanol.
In any move toward energy independence, the government will have to change economic policies on agriculture, moving away from subsidies designed to provide a surplus of food to keep consumer prices down toward subsidies designed to encourage farmers to grow crops that can be converted to biodiesel and ethanol, Salazar said.
Under Democrats’ control of Congress, the public can expect compromise and stronger efforts to develop alternative energy sources, he said.
As an example, Salazar pointed to a facility in Idaho that can produce 524 gallons of ethanol from a ton of wheat straw. He also said the technology exists to make vehicles powered by 100 percent ethanol, but auto manufacturers argue that demand is too low.
“If you give consumers an option, success will follow,” Salazar said.
The symposium was sponsored by Adams State Community Partnerships, Colorado Field Institute, San Luis Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council, and the Colorado School of Mines’ Energy Research Institute.
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