Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (8913)	2/18/2009 1:01:23 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24225

Chu to move quickly on stimulus By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday he's ready to push out some of the billions from the economic recovery plan within a couple of months, with money for shovel-ready projects to build and improve power lines and programs to help low-income families cut energy requirements. "We're really looking at months" for some of the money to begin flowing, said Chu as he briefly answered reporters' questions after an appearance before a meeting of state utility regulators. The Energy Department will manage $39 billion in grants, tax breaks and loan guarantees under the stimulus package, much of it to boost renewable energy and conservation programs. Chu said he will speed up processing energy project loan guarantees that have languished at the Energy Department for nearly three years - much of it earmarked for support to the nuclear industry - and quickly begin work on $6 billion in new loan guarantees aimed at helping fledgling renewable energy industries. Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was greeted warmly by state regulators and others attending the winter meeting of the National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners. He spent most of his remarks discussing the need to build more power transmission lines to move energy from isolated wind farms to urban centers and the need for a "smart" grid to improve transmission efficiency. During his speech, Chu criticized the elaborate and time-consuming application process for the loan guarantees, saying in some cases the applications added up to more than 1,000 pages. He suggested a 50-page application would do the job. Chu cited a Bonneville Power Administration transmission line project in the Pacific Northwest as one that is ready to go and producing jobs once stimulus money is provided. The project, originally planned to take electricity from a now canceled coal-burning power plants, already has gone through environmental reviews, so work could begin quickly, he said. The Energy Department also plans to move quickly to distribute money under a government program to help low-income families improve the energy efficiency of their homes. The economic stimulus package provides $11 billion to the so-called "weatherization" program. On the need to expand and modernize the transmission grid, Chu demonstrated his "hands-on" involvement in such issues as "smart grid" development, and the importance of the grid to making wind-produced electricity a larger share of the nation's power supply. The good news is that the United States has vast areas where wind is plentiful, he said, but "the bad news is renewable energy sources are in places that don't have many people" requiring construction of new transmission lines. Chu, former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, also made clear his focus will be on such issues as science and renewable energy and not international oil market issues. Asked by a reporter what he plans to do to try to keep the OPEC oil producers from dramatically cutting production at an upcoming meeting, Chu replied: "That's not in my domain." © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. hosted.ap.org