Sustainable Energy Network: 175+ Businesses, Organizations, Activists Urge Members of Congress to Join House Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucus
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2008
1:05 PM
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CONTACT: Sustainable Energy Network
Ken Bossong 301-588-4741 or 301-270-6477 x.23
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175+ Businesses, Organizations, Activists Urge Members of Congress to Join
House Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucus
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WASHINGTON, DC - February 7 - In a letter sent today, 176 businesses, organizations,
and individual activists called upon Members of Congress who have not yet
joined the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RE/EE) Caucus to
do so.
The House RE/EE Caucus, which includes 217 Members of Congress
representing 44 states, the District of Columbia, and two territories, was
founded more than a decade ago to serve as a bi-partisan, non-legislative
source of information on sustainable energy technologies.
The letter's signers, which include 145 businesses and organizations as
well as 31 individuals, noted that renewable energy technologies now
contribute almost 8 percent of the nation's energy supply while energy
efficiency investments made during the past three decades now save more
than any single energy source.
"These technologies help to curb reliance on energy imports and lessen
energy costs thereby enhancing both national and homeland security," they
wrote. "They also improve the reliability of the nation's electrical
grid, and - perhaps most importantly - reduce the production of greenhouse
gases and other pollutants from traditional energy sources that contribute
to global warming and a host of other environmental problems."
The letter added that "the renewable energy and energy efficiency
industries include thousands of domestic companies that are providing an
ever-growing number of jobs in every state and community in the United
States."
Accordingly, the letter's signers are targeting those Members who have not
yet joined, accounting for about one-half of the U.S. House of
Representatives, and urging them to become members of the House RE/EE
Caucus. Current non-members include a number of prominent congressional
leaders from both parties:
Democrats:
* Xavier Becerra (CA) - Assistant to the Speaker
* John Dingell (MI) - Chair, Committee on Energy & Commerce
* Rahm Emanuel (IL) - Democratic Caucus Chair
* Tim Holden (PA) - Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit,
Energy & Research
* Steny Hoyer (MD) - Majority Leader
* Nick Lampson (TX) - Chair, Science & Technology Subcommittee on Energy &
Environment
* David R. Obey (WI) - Chair, Committee on Appropriations
* Peter J. Visclosky (IN) - Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy &
Water Development
Republicans:
* Joe Barton (TX) - Ranking Member, Committee on Energy & Commerce
* Roy Blunt (MO) - Minority Whip
* John A. Boehner (OH) - Minority Leader
* Phil Gingrey (GA) - Ranking Member, Science & Technology Subcommittee on
Technology & Innovation
* Ralph M. Hall (TX) - Ranking Member, Committee on Science & Technology
* David L. Hobson (OH) - Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on
Energy & Water Development
* Jerry Lewis (CA) - Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations
* Frank D. Lucas (OK) - Ranking Member, Agriculture Subcommittee on
Conservation, Credit, Energy & Research
A corresponding letter will be sent later this month to the Members of the
U.S. Senate who have not yet joined the Senate RE/EE Caucus.
The Sustainable Energy Network is an informal network created in 1996 now
consisting of 500+ organizations and individuals promoting increased use
of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies as preferred
solutions to rising energy imports, greenhouse gas emissions, and nuclear risks.
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