Congressman Barrett Gives Updates on Meetings, Utility Situations

Press Release

Congressman Barrett Gives Updates on Meetings, Utility Situations

Though U.S. Congress has recently been in recess, numerous House Republicans, including Third District Congressman Gresham Barrett, have continued to meet and talk about the prospects of reconvening House members to debate the merits of a comprehensive energy bill.

On Wednesday, Barrett brought the discussion to Greenwood by hosting a press conference at S.C. Bio. Also speaking were Clemson University's Karl Kelly and Savannah River National Laboratory's Tom French.

The conference was attended by a number of local leaders, including state Sen. Billy O'Dell, Greenwood Chamber chairman Rudy Powell, Partnership Alliance CEO Jay West, Stockman Oil president Chip Stockman, Greenwood City Council member Barbara Turnburke, attorney Joe Smithdeal, Greenwood County Sheriff Dan Wideman and many more.

Barrett said was pleased to see so many prominent local residents in attendance and was eager to have a discussion with them on the subject of energy.

"It is an issue that I think could make or break the United States," Barrett said afterward. "It is the issue of our times. It is how we feed ourselves and how we use our transportation, how we continue to exist economically. Having South Carolina be a part of this, having S.C. Bio, which is in the heart of my district in Greenwood, be a part of this is exciting."

Barrett talked about the meetings that have taken place since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi abruptly moved to adjourn Congress several weeks ago before an energy bill was discussed.

"We've been on the floor of the House talking about a comprehensive energy solution for America," Barrett said. "We are trying to solve what is happening in our world today, in America today. We've got a toolbox, and in that toolbox we've got OCS, the Outer Continental Shelf, we've got offshore drilling, we've got Anwar, we've got renewables, we've got coal and gas. And we've got alternatives. We've got things available here in the United States that we need to use. And it's every tool in the toolbox, guys. It can't be one or the other."

One of the subjects at hand Wednesday was converting celulose from switchgrass or sweet sorghum into ethanol. Kelly talked about research currently being done at Clemson to explore ethanol alternatives.

"When we do the calculations, we can burn more ethanol," Kelly said. "But we don't have enough vehicles (in South Carolina) to burn ethanol. It's going to take national and state efforts to change some of the standards to make that happen. It's going to take getting into many different areas and looking at all the different alternatives."

Kelly also noted that, as alternative energy solutions are researched, state officials should be careful to keep South Carolina's relatively low electric rates at current levels.

"Do you know we have some of the lowest electrical costs in the region?" Kelly asked. "That is such an important economic development advantage in the state of South Carolina. It is led by really sound leadership in our utilities, with the forethought to build adequate nuclear power, with plans today to put four new nuclear reactors in South Carolina."

Kelly noted that Clemson and the Savannah River National Lab are researching cellulose to ethanol possibilities within switchgrass, sweet sorghum and coastal loblolly pines. New bio-diesels, wind energy and other alternatives are also being explored.

Though research is under way, it will likely be years before some of the alternatives approach the mainstream. Barrett talked about what leaders need to focus on in the interim.

"That's why the comprehensive energy bill that we've been proposing, that I've been working on, is so important," Barrett said. "Whether it's future nuclear power production or whether it's cellulosic ethanol, those are areas of the future. The comprehensive bill deals not only with that, but with immediate needs. Drilling for natural gas now. Drilling for oil now. Using coal to gas now. These are technologies we have now and can turn to immediately to help bridge the gap from where we are now to where we are going. It has to be a full toolbox approach."

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