American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009

Floor Speech

AMERICAN CLEAN ENERGY AND SECURITY ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - June 26, 2009)

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Mr. DEAL of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. There are many issues that need to be discussed. I rise in opposition to this legislation. One of the topics is that of jobs. We are told we are going to gain jobs. By most reasonable estimates, we are going to lose jobs. The best example of that is to look at what happened in Spain. Spain has traveled this path of renewables and green energy. Their estimate is that for every job they gained, they lost over two. I don't consider that to be a direction that our country needs to go, especially in these difficult economic times.

The second thing that needs to be said is that there is a disparity that is being created in the renewable portfolio requirements. For portions of the country such as Georgia and the Southeast, in general, we don't have the volume of alternatives that are allowed under this legislation, especially if we are not going to get credit for the nuclear plants that we are trying to bring on board in our State. Therefore, we will have to purchase those credits from some other part of the country, something that I think will have an undoubtable, definite negative effect on the power bills of the citizens of my State.

I rise in opposition to the legislation and urge my colleagues to vote against it.

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