https://votesmart.org/public-statement/126768/yankee-frugality-alternative-energy-works-and-saves-money&speechType=1#.WE3HZ-ArLnA
YANKEE FRUGALITY: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY WORKS--AND SAVES MONEY -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 20, 2005)
SPEECH OF
HON. BERNARD SANDERS
OF VERMONT
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2005
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to bring to your attention, to the attention of the House, and to the attention of the Nation, the remarkable step forward made by the Washington Electric Co-operative in Vermont. This week they opened a new facility which produces electricity from methane, a gas formerly burned as a useless byproduct of the landfill in Coventry, VT. It is a wonderful example of Yankee inventiveness--and Yankee frugality.
The new facility, which costs a relatively modest $8.5 million, will produce enough electricity for one-third of the Washington co-op's customers, a percentage expected to rise to half when the plant is fully operational and tuned to take advantage of all the methane produced by decomposition in the landfill.
In a time of soaring energy and electricity prices, the co-op has not raised electricity prices for 5 years. Rates are not expected to rise in the next 5 years either, because the new powerplant operates economically and the electric utility makes good use of renewable energy certificates.
This is a wonderful lesson for the Nation, which is increasingly pressed by both shortages of fossil fuel and by soaring prices for energy of all sorts.
We need to find sources of alternative energy which can meet our needs for power. Contrary to what the large oil companies tell us, not only are such alternatives available now, those alternatives are often far more economical than using fossil fuels.
Whether it is methane power, wind power, solar power, geothermal power, or the use of hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative to gasoline in cars, we must cut out dependence on foreign oil now. We will be better off environmentally, our national security will be enhanced, and--as the Washington co-op has so boldly demonstrated--we may well be better off economically as well.
In short, we need an energy revolution by breaking our dependence on fossil fuels. I am very, very confident our small State of Vermont will lead this. We will be noticed by not only the country but the world.
My congratulations to the Washington Electric Co-Op for showing America, with its new facility in Coventry, what can and should be done to make our energy sources secure and sustainable.
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