Ocean Renewable Energy Included in Senate Energy Bill
Senate Passes Energy Bill 85-12; Ocean renewable energy in federal RPS, DOE Assessment, REPI, MPR, PTC
(PRWEB) June 30, 2005 -- The United States Senate today passed the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 with Ocean Renewable Energy Amendments covering the Renewable
Energy Production Incentives, Mandatory Purchase Requirements, and Production
Tax Credits for ocean renewable energy produced from tidal, current and wave
technologies.
Additionally, the bill includes language, similar to the
House version, that encourages the Secretary of Energy to provide funding for
the assessment of ocean energy technologies. Also, included in the Bill is a
Federal Renewable Power Standard (RPS) that has Ocean Energy listed as a
qualified renewable. This RPS has a national goal of forcing the U.S. to derive
10% of its energy needs from renewables by the year 2020.
Both H.R. 6
and S. 10, the House and Senate Bills, will go into Joint Conference where
differences in the two bills will be negotiated and a final bill, if agreed
upon, will be presented to the President for signing into law.
“Fresh
from this success, The Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (OREC) will continue to
promote our industry’s interests. We made the difference,” stated Sean O’Neill,
President of OREC. “Now, as we move into conference, it is important that we get
the House conferees to support the Senate’s position on including the Production
Tax Credit and National RPS in the final energy bill. Large interests can’t wait
to eliminate support for competing approaches, however small, so we need to
maintain our commitment to the promise ocean energy holds in helping to secure
our energy future.”
“As we all know, even modest support can help to
produce energy from cleaner, more reliable sources. Traditional energy players
should, if anything, get behind the smallest of investments, with such bright
and promising potential. Over time, through judicious and insightful
investments, many large gains that have redefined the energy playing field have
started as non-traditional initiatives,” O’Neill added.
Our thanks go out
to the many friends who have written and called their elected representatives in
Washington and advocated on behalf of ocean renewable technologies. Special
thanks are in order for Senators Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Cantwell
(D-Washington), Congressman Inslee (D-Washington), Scott Sklar of The Stella
Group, Ltd., Henry Gentenaar of Reluminati, Damian Kunko and Scott Lindsay of
SMI; the teams at Verdant Power, the Ocean Renewable Power Company, The Ocean
Energy Council, RenewableEnergyAccess.com, and EnergyOcean2005.
“We began
this campaign two months ago at the EnergyOcean2005 Conference,” stated OREC
CEO, Carolyn Elefant. “It was clear the industry needed a voice in Washington.
Together, our voices have quickly become one unified, and effective, chorus. Now
it’s on to conference.”
www.oceanrenewable.com
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb256541.htm