New subject: Sustainability in West Virginia: Spurring Economic Investment and Creating Jobs

6 Jan 2011


      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 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.
-- 
Paul Wilson
Sierra Club
504 Jefferson Ave
Charles Town, WV  25414-1130
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

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