From: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (Rockefeller) <Sen.Jay_Rockefeller@rockefeller.senate.gov>
Date: Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 4:39 PM
Subject: Sustainability in West Virginia: Spurring Economic Investment and Creating Jobs
To:
Dear Friend,
Last fall, I was excited to deliver remarks at the West Virginia Sustainability Summit, which was sponsored by the Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation in partnership with the Center for Economic Options. This was an incredible opportunity to highlight examples of how some of our West Virginia businesses are already employing sustainable practices and how we can use similar methods in the future.
During these tough economic times, we all realize the importance of innovation and creative thinking about the expansion of our core industries. Forums like this one help us multiply our power to spur economic investment and create jobs.
Sustainability is being employed across industries – from construction and agriculture, to innovations in manufacturing and exporting. These industries have learned through experience that employing sustainable practices can increase businesses’ bottom lines and create jobs as part and parcel of improving the environment for future generations.
The Summit was an important discussion about how to use sustainable practices to preserve our existing industries and jobs, protect our environment and most importantly, grow our state’s economy and create new jobs. This is an area that I will continue to focus on and I look forward to working with you through the coming year.
Please find below my remarks from the West Virginia Sustainability Summit.
All the best,
Jay
West Virginia Sustainability Summit
Remarks
Thank you, President Clements, for that kind introduction.
Thank you Mark for the work that you do to improve West Virginia’s economic future; and thank you to all of our guests and panelists for being a part of this important Summit – especially the man you will hear from next, Neil Hawkins. Neil – I am very happy that you are here and look forward to your remarks.
I also want to thank the event sponsors, the Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation and the Center for Economic Options for hosting this event. And, thanks to Pam Curry for all of your help organizing – sometimes that is a thankless job – so thank you.
We’re here to re-ignite a dialogue on sustainability and what it means to our state businesses, our residents, and our future.
So, what does sustainability really mean?
I think the best way to explain it is to give some examples of how some of our West Virginia businesses are already employing sustainable practices.
We see sustainability in local restaurants’ commitment to buy from WV farmers and purchase from other state vendors.
We see sustainability at Toyota’s Buffalo, W.Va. facility in their environmental management system (EMS). EMS remains a zero landfill contributor — reusing or recycling materials that otherwise would have been sent to landfills. Toyota is finding ways to reduce waste, water usage, greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous materials usage and wastewater discharge – and that is great.
And, we see sustainability with energy companies like Dow and AEP who are working to sustain West Virginia’s and our nation’s energy future by working to lower our carbon footprint and find ways to expand sustainable energy technology. At Dow West Virginia Operation’s South Charleston facility, the company has been working to reduce energy, water use, waste generation, and has increased the facility’s land and habitat conservation.
Sustainability is a word that is that is often used in various ways by many different groups and organizations. But at its broad base sustainability is about doing things and using products that are more environmentally friendly than they are currently done.
I firmly believe that if we play our cards right, our state, which has been an energy producing state for generations, is poised to provide the single most important energy – and sustainability – innovation for the twenty-first century -- which is truly clean coal technology.
New technologies already in place have allowed us to nearly triple coal’s use over the past 30 years, while vastly reducing air emissions for pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury.
The question is not: should we try to address climate change? The question must be: what tools can we develop to improve our economy, secure coal’s future, and reduce emissions for our environment and the health of our families?
The best answer, I think, lies broadly in “CCS” –carbon capture and storage.
I fought very hard to have $3.4 billion included in the Recovery Act for CCS, and Senator Voinovich of Ohio and I have worked together over the past year to write bipartisan legislation which lays out a bold roadmap for CCS.
Some have argued that transitioning to a sustainable economy means shifting away from West Virginia’s historic industries and towards new ‘green jobs’ that may or may not be there.
This is not the case.
CCS shows that we can make important strides in sustainability that encourage and build upon the important industries that we already have.
I believe that CCS is just one piece – but a very important piece of West Virginia’s future in sustainable industry.
But we’re not just talking about energy. Sustainability is being employed by all of our panelists here in every industry – from construction to agriculture, and from innovation to manufacturing and exporting.
We have learned through example that employing sustainable practices can increase our businesses’ bottom lines and in turn can simultaneously create jobs and improve the environment for future generations.
During these tough economic times, we all realize the importance of innovation and creative thinking about the expansion of our core industries.
Ideas are the best things we have – and conversations like these only help us multiply our power to spur economic investment and expand business. We are here to explore ways to build upon the industries we have today and be a creator of industries of the future.
Now, we all recognize that sustainability requires a partnership – at the local level – and a partnership between government and private industry.
I was proud that much of last year’s Recovery Act went toward emerging sustainability projects and training our workforce in sustainability fields.
The Recovery Act gave:
- $13.1 million to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in West Virginia under the DOE’s State Energy Program. That money is going toward a statewide plan that prioritizes energy savings, creates jobs, increases the use of renewable energy, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
- $14 million for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program – providing formula grants for projects that reduce total energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency across West Virginia.
- $15 million to our state’s weatherization program which helps reduce the utility bills for our most vulnerable residents while providing needed jobs to West Virginians.
- $6 million for West Virginia GREEN-UP which educates and trains workers for jobs in the new and emerging green energy sector and promotes green jobs entrepreneurship.
And that’s just the beginning.
The Recovery Act also gave much-needed resources to our research institutions – including West Virginia University and the National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) here in North Central West Virginia.
Morgantown’s National Energy Technology Lab and NETL’s Regional University Alliance recently received $40 million to accelerate the development and deployment of industrial (CCS) technology.
In addition, they’re working on some truly amazing and groundbreaking research, including a hydrogen fueling station at Yeager airport which is producing Hydrogen from water with coal-fired electricity.
This is an example where we are indirectly using West Virginia coal to displace foreign oil in our transportation sector. This will not only reduce tailpipe emissions but also improve our national security.
You’ve heard about some of the larger projects on sustainability, but I know that sustainability also happens every day on smaller scales – in small towns across West Virginia.
All ideas about sustainability are important and all efforts to make it work are paving the way for a stronger future.
There is great opportunity for sustainability and the development of sustainability practices here in West Virginia – and I know that with minds like yours, and conversations like these, we can help West Virginia lead this developing industry.
We need to have a conversation in this state about how to use sustainable practices to:
· Preserve our existing industries and jobs;
· Protect our environment and;
· Most importantly grow our state’s economy and create new jobs.
I have no doubt that West Virginians and our businesses can lead the way – and I think today is the start.
Thank you.