Smarter Energy Future
Issue Position
"America's smarter energy future must include a plan to get us off foreign oil, provide the energy resources necessary to fuel the country's drive to remain the most powerful economy in the world, and do the right thing for the environment at the same time." - Greg Walden
As a leader in solar, wind, geothermal, and woody biomass technologies, Oregon remains a leader in reducing our dependence on foreign oil and building a smarter energy future that creates jobs at home.
Equality for Oregon's woody biomass
Fuel created from woody biomass, like the puck in Greg's hand in the picture to the right, is clean-burning and created from the small-diameter byproducts from good forest management projects. Here's what woody biomass production would mean for Oregon:
* Jobs for rural communities
* Domestic energy production
* Healthier forests
Because the federal government does not give Oregon's woody biomass the same incentives as other clean, renewable energies, Greg Walden joined in bipartisan fashion with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) to write legislation to fix the inequality (H.R. 1190). He pushed the same language in committee as an amendment to the national energy tax, but was denied on partisan lines.
The Society of American Foresters says the exclusion is "extremely problematic" and "has no basis in science."
Greg will continue to work across the aisle to ensure this woody biomass, with its economic, environmental, and energy potential, has the chance to deliver jobs and healthier forests to rural Oregon.
Oregon is uniquely position as a leader in new energy technologies to benefit from America's smarter energy future, be it solar energy in Christmas Valley, groundbreaking geothermal energy at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, wind energy in Shepherds Flat, or biomass-fueled heating systems in rural schools and hospitals. Rep. Walden will continue to support legislation that promotes homegrown, smarter energy that will get us off our addiction to foreign oil from countries that wish us harm.
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