Monday, November 5, 2007

Sen. Salazar Lauds Gov. Ritter's Climate Action Plan

WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senator Ken Salazar lauded Governor
Ritter's report released today outlining a strategy for the State of
Colorado to address global warming and provided an update of his
renewable energy and climate change efforts in the Senate. Meaningful
steps toward energy independence and the reduction of greenhouse
gasses will only occur if the federal and state governments work hand
in hand toward solutions. Senator Salazar, as a member of the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources and the Finance Committee, continues to
work at the federal level to assemble and support legislation that
will bolster Colorado's renewable energy leadership and move our
Nation towards energy independence.

"I applaud Governor Ritter's vision and strategy to address global
warming. Colorado has long been at the forefront of our Nation's
efforts to create a new, clean energy economy for the twenty-first
century that reduces greenhouse gasses, and the Governor's plan is a
huge step toward ensuring we address the issue at the state level,"
said Senator Salazar. "We are all in this together, and the federal
and state governments must have a collaborative relationship in
addressing global warming and creating a clean energy economy. I will
continue to work hard in the Senate to support and bolster Governor
Ritter's initiative."

In his report, Governor Ritter outlined several initiatives on which
he encourages action by the federal government. Senator Salazar is a
leader on many of those issues in the United States Senate, including:

• National Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard: Colorado's
experience with respect to a Renewable Energy Portfolio has been an
absolutely positive one, and Senator Salazar is supportive of a
national renewable electricity standard. A Renewable Electricity
Standard was included in the House-passed energy bill and would
require utilities to produce 15 percent of their energy from renewable
resources by 2020. Senator Salazar is an original sponsor of a
similar provision in the Senate, and supports its inclusion in the
final energy bill to be considered by the House and Senate. Senator
Salazar strongly supports Amendment 37, which Coloradovoters approved
in 2004, that requires Colorado's top utility companies to provide a
percentage of their retail electricity sales from renewable resources.

• CAFE Standards: Senator Salazar was a strong proponent of
achievable increases to vehicle efficiency standards. The energy bill
passed by the Senate passed took meaningful, but not unrealistic,
steps to improve vehicle efficiency standards. Under the Senate-passed
version of the Energy Bill (H.R. 6), the overall fleet of new cars and
light trucks will be increased to 35 mpg by 2020.

• Research and Development for Biofuels, particularly cellulosic
ethanol: Senator Salazar believes cellulosic biofuels have a real
chance to displace significant amounts of foreign oil, and that we
should do everything we can to encourage their production. Senator
Salazar was successful in including in the Senate Finance Committee-
passed tax package a new Cellulosic Biofuels Tax Credit, which would
incentivize the production of cellulosic biofuels. It is a first-of-
its-kind tax credit creating a new production tax credit of 67¢ per
gallon (in addition to the current 51¢/gallon ethanol credit and the
10¢/gallon credit for small producers), for a total credit of $1.28
per gallon for cellulosic fuel production.

• Supporting Cutting edge research on energy efficiency and renewable
energy inColorado: Earlier this year, Senator Salazar was successful
increasing funding for the Department of Energy's National Renewable
Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden by more than $107 million for Fiscal Year
2007. This increase includes $20 million to expand the lab's
Integrated Biorefinery Research Facility, $17 million to equip the
lab's new Science & Technology facility, and $63 million to design and
build a new Research Support Facility on NREL's campus.

Senator Salazar was also able to secure an authorization in the Farm
Bill of $5 million in annual funds (subject to appropriations) for the
Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory which pools the efforts of
CSU, CU, NREL and School of Mines into an association. This
association takes world class research on new energy technologies and
helps deploy those technologies as rapidly as possible to the private
sector. The Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory has done
important research related to solar and wind energy technology as well
as the ColoradoCenter for Biorefining and Biofuels (C2B2). In the
coming years, C2B2's research will gradually transition us away from
oil and gas and toward renewable sources of energy, which is good for
Colorado, good for America and good for our economic and environmental
future.

• Bolstering Biomass and Biochar development: In the 2007 Farm Bill,
Senator Salazar was able to include $500 million for biomass research
and development and for competitive grants to develop the technologies
and processes necessary for the commercial production of biofuels and
bio-based products. Biomass is an organic material, usually referring
to plant matter or animal waste. Using biomass for energy can reduce
waste and air pollution. Biochar is a byproduct of producing energy
from biomass. As a soil treatment, it enhances the ability of soil to
capture and retain carbon dioxide.

• Development of Carbon Sequestration Technology: To advance
technologies for clean coal and carbon sequestration, Senator Salazar
has introduced various pieces of legislation addressing carbon
sequestration. Senator Salazar introduced the "CO2 Pipeline Study Act
of 2007," which would ensure that we develop the pipeline
infrastructure needed to capture, transport and sequester a major
contributor to global warming - carbon dioxide. It directs the
Departments of Energy, Commerce and Interior, the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission and Environmental Protection Agency to prepare a
report and offer recommendations to Congress on the myriad of issues
that are vital to fostering the development of a CO2 pipeline
infrastructure.

Senator Salazar was also able to include in the Senate-passed energy
bill the "National Carbon Dioxide Storage Capacity Assessment Act of
2007," which would authorizes the U.S. Geological Service (USGS), in
cooperation with the Department of Energy and the Environmental
Protection Agency, to conduct a comprehensive inventory of the
Nation's ability to store carbon dioxide in appropriate geologic
features and other natural basins. This inventory would provide data
on storage locations, estimates for the volume of carbon dioxide
storage capabilities and other factors.