Nope, I’m not on Jay’s mailing list. A
response and challenge to him would be good.
Bill Price, Sierra Club EJ Program
Cell 304-389-8822
Fax 304-342-3182
Voices from the Mountains-September 25-27th
For more information go to www.appalachiarising.org
From: Paul Wilson
[mailto:pjgrunt@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011
11:42 AM
To: WV Chapter Energy Committee
Cc: Bill Price
Subject: Fwd: Sustainability in
Anybody else get this
stuff? paul
---------- Forwarded
message ----------
From: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (Rockefeller)
<Sen.Jay_Rockefeller@rockefeller.senate.gov>
Date: Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 4:39 PM
Subject: Sustainability in
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
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
Please find below
my remarks from the West Virginia Sustainability Summit.
All the best,
Jay
Remarks
Thank you, President Clements, for that kind introduction.
Thank you Mark for the work that you do to improve
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
We see sustainability in local restaurants’ commitment to buy from WV
farmers and purchase from other state vendors.
We see sustainability at
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
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
Some have argued that transitioning to a sustainable
economy means shifting away from
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
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
- $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
- $15 million to
our state’s weatherization program which helps reduce the utility bills
for our most vulnerable residents while providing needed jobs to
- $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
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
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
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
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
Thank you.
--
Paul Wilson
Sierra Club
Charles
Phone: 304-725-4360
Cell: 304-279-1361
"There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~
Aristotle