Please note:  The amendment is scheduled for a Senate vote at 11 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, April 26.

Floor Statement of Sen. Chuck Grassley
Amendment on Funding for Wind Energy Research
Delivered Monday, April 25, 2016

I’m pleased to join Senator Merkley in offering amendment #3812 regarding funding for wind energy research.  

This is a straightforward amendment.  It simply restores funding for wind energy research to the level provided for last year -- $95.4 million.  

The underlying bill provides $80 million, so the Merkley-Grassley amendment will increase funding by just $15.4 million.  

These additional funds will come from within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program.

There is no cost to this amendment.  It does not raise overall spending levels.  

It simply redirects $15 million from other renewable and efficiency programs to wind energy research.  

This funding will allow the Department of Energy to continue the advancement in wind technologies and innovations.  

These advances have greatly increased the competiveness of wind and facilitated rapid growth in wind energy across the county.  

In Iowa, wind energy now accounts for more than 30% of the state’s total electricity supply.  

Wind supported 88,000 jobs in 2015, an increase of 20 percent from 2014.  

Wind was also the number one source of new generating capacity in 2015 – greater than natural gas and solar.

Some of my colleagues oppose wind energy and federal policies that support this clean and renewable energy.  

They argue we shouldn’t pick winners or that wind is a mature industry.  

Don’t kid yourself.  

Wind, while nearly mature, is just an infant compared to the federal dollars and incentives provided for fossil and nuclear energy.  

It’s amusing that some of the strongest opponents of wind energy are the biggest proponents of other, much more costly, programs for mature, traditional energy sources.

For example, the 100 year-old oil and gas industry continues to benefit from tax preferences that benefit only their industry that result in the loss of more than $4 billion annually in tax revenue.  

Nuclear energy is another great example.  The first nuclear power plant came online in the United States in 1958 – 58 years ago.  

Nuclear receives special tax treatment including a production tax credit.  

Nuclear also benefits from Price-Anderson, federal liability insurance, that Congress provided as a temporary measure in 1958.  This temporary measure has been renewed through 2025.  

Nuclear energy has also received more than $74 billion in federal research and development dollars since 1950.  

This bill includes over $1 billion for nuclear research.  This is an increase of $71 million, or 7.3 percent over fiscal year 2016 levels.  

Fossil Energy Research and Development is allocated $632 million in this bill, equal to 2016 levels.  

Even prominent conservative advocacy groups have called for the nuclear and fossil energy funds to be cut or eliminated altogether. 

Again, this amendment will simply provide level funding for wind energy research, by providing an additional $15 million.  

This is not new money, so there is no score.  

I urge my colleagues to support the Merkley-Grassley amendment.


 

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