Samuel Dalzell
Friday, May 1, 2009
4:22 PM
Energy/Alternative Energy
In Washington this week, lawmakers in Congress introduced new legislation that would create an independent agency to oversee government clean energy investments, such as those included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bipartisan bill would establish a Clean Energy Deployment Administration within the Energy Department; this agency would provide various forms of credit including loans and loan guarantees to support new green energy technologies in an attempt to diversify America's energy supply and help curb the human environmental impact. A clean energy investment fund created from collected payments and fees would be used to start the agency. The lawmakers who introduced the bill hope that it will lead to further development and diffusion of green technologies by ensuring that commercial financing for new projects will be available in the future. The main goal of the agency is to support new projects that are considered too risky by private companies. The Energy Department was recently allocated $6 billion in the stimulus package, and is currently going through applications for clean energy loan guarantees. This new bill is widely supported by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
This is terrific news that we've been waiting for in this country; a concrete legislative solution that simultaneously addresses the energy crisis, the environmental crisis, and the economic crisis, and that doesn't create needless mandates and regulations. And the fact that it has overwhelming bipartisan support is a great thing as well---it proves that people on both sides of the aisle are ready to start implementing ideas that will radically change the status quo. It's good to finally see some federal action on these issues---issues that have been pestering us for far too long. And it's great that the agency will support projects that are supposedly "too risky" according to private companies who are too concerned about their overhead. Hopefully we will now see some federal support for some radical new ideas that will totally change the way we create and consume energy.
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5406CY20090501
No comments:
Post a Comment