U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released the following statement on a report released today by the U.S. Department of Energy titled "Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States." The report states that wind power could produce 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030 and 35 percent by 2050:
"Our country uses about 25 percent of the electricity in the world. Relying on windmills to produce that electricity when nuclear power is available is the energy equivalent of going to war in sailboats when nuclear ships are available. After 22 years of billions of dollars in subsidies, wind still produces only 4 percent of our electricity and the windmills work only about 30 percent of the time. Nuclear power produces 20 percent of our electricity and 60 percent of our clean electricity. For more jobs and cheap, reliable power, our country needs more nuclear reactors--not more windmills."
Alexander is chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.