Improving air quality is one of the most important issues facing the Valley. In an effort to combat pollution I authored a bill (HR 3754) during the 110th Congress to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to continue funding diesel emission reduction projects through their supplemental environmental projects as part of settlement agreements with corporations. By allowing the EPA to continue this practice, this bill will help maintain a separate source of funding for diesel emission reduction projects, including retrofitting existing diesel engines with current emission control technology. The Senate companion to HR 3754 was signed into law in June 2008.
Opportunities have also come through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help clean up the air in our Valley. As one example, $6 million has been released to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to make diesel retrofits on school buses and agricultural equipment. While I am sure most people think of diesel as a dirty, foul-smelling fuel, diesel has undergone major changes in the past few years, and retrofitting clean diesel technologies for older diesel vehicles and equipment is one of the most cost-effective strategies for achieving tangible and immediate air quality benefits.
Carbon capture technologies have also made great advances over the past decade, and are attracting interest as a measure for mitigating global climate change. Electricity-generating plants that use fossil fuels to create electricity are ideal candidates for carbon capture. In December 2007, I introduced the Climate Neutral Electricity Generation Act (HR 4612) which allows for tax credits for certain climate neutral combustion facilities that burn matter to produce electricity and capture and use the released carbon dioxide. These plants must also produce no emissions of mercury or greenhouse gases and no emissions that form fine particulate, smog, or acid rain to qualify for the tax credit. Approaches for capturing carbon dioxide are available that can potentially remove 80% to 95% of carbon dioxide emitted from a power plant.
The use of fossil fuels will change, and multiple energy sources will be the future for our children and grandchildren. Solar power is being improved year after year, and with the ample sunshine in our Valley, I believe we will benefit greatly from solar energy. During the 109th session, I co-sponsored the Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act which directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a research and development program to provide lower cost and more viable thermal energy storage technologies. This legislation also establishes a competitive grant program in the Office of Solar Energy Technologies to create and strengthen the solar industry workforce and assist in commercial application of direct solar renewable energy sources.
In June 2009, the House passed H.R.2751, the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act, also referred to as the "Cash for Clunkers" bill. By providing rebates to consumers for trading in their old, air polluting cars and trucks, this program helped take over 700,000 gas-guzzling cars and trucks off the road and replaced them with newer, cleaner, fuel-efficient vehicles.
While electricity generation is the chief source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, transportation is responsible for 34% of the total carbon dioxide emission from the combustion of fossil fuels. More funding for the development of hydrogen fueled cars can bring that emissions number down, as will the development of a high-speed rail system in California and elsewhere in America. It is estimated that the California High-Speed Rail System will take 8 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the air every year, which is equal to removing 2 million cars and trucks from our roads.