Toward Our Clean Energy Future

From the consumer who sees the costs of filling her gas tank or heating her home go up to the scientists tracking how climate change is affecting our planet, we all know that maintaining our reliance on oil and other fossil fuels to power our economy entails significant costs and risks. One of the pillars of the new foundation for long-term economic growth is therefore positioning the United States to be a world leader in clean energy technologies.

 

That’s why the Administration invested more than $90 billion in clean energy technologies through the Recovery Act and proposed additional funds in the FY 2010 and 2011 Budgets. Building on this, I sent a letter today to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid asking them to move budget authority from FY 2011 into FY 2010 to get moving immediately on clean energy projects that are in the pipeline and ready to go.

 

Specifically, the Administration urges the Congress to provide $90 million in budget authority to support additional loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and efficient end-use energy technology projects administered by the Department of Energy. These funds will be available to support the credit subsidy costs for a wide range of innovative solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewable energy projects, as well as projects that improve how we use energy.

 

In addition, the Administration is asking for an equal amount of budgetary resources -- $90 million under CBO scoring conventions -- to support additional loan guarantee authority for advanced nuclear power facilities. Together with existing authority, the additional resources will support up to three more nuclear power plant projects in 2010 and enable these projects to move forward on schedule.

 

We will transmit a separate request to Congress to reduce the FY 2011 Budget by the amounts being requested in today’s letter. All told, then, this supplemental will not impose any additional cost on taxpayers – but it will expedite these investments and thereby begin to lay the groundwork for the clean energy future.