Brian Schatz on Energy & Oil

Endorsed by LCV to tackle the climate crisis

The endorsements, first shared with CQ Roll Call, went to Michael Bennet of Colorado, Alex Padilla of California, Patty Murray of Washington, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

"Voters really are demanding that the administration, the Senate, and the House do something about investing in clean energy jobs and tackling the climate crisis in 2022," said the vice president of governmental affairs for LCV Action Fund. Climate change has been growing in importance for voters over time, and a majority of registered voters said it was a very or somewhat important factor.

Use every weapon at our disposal to fight climate change

SCHATZ: I firmly believe that we must use every weapon at our disposal to fight climate change. Moving from dirty energy to clean energy not only makes good environmental sense, but it increasingly makes good economic sense as well. This past year, I helped secure long-term extensions of tax credits for wind and solar that will make those technologies even more competitive in Hawaii and across the country. I also successfully passed legislation that would increase investments in cutting-edge clean energy research that could revolutionize our energy economy. We must, however, do more. I pledge to continue to defend and support President Obama's Clean Power Plan, which is the best tool we currently have for moving away from coal.

Work towards passage of carbon fee legislation

"People, governments, companies, and institutions are beginning to take the kinds of actions that give us a legitimate chance to solve this problem. We've got a long way to go, but this was enormously important. This agreement marks a historic step towards protecting our planet from the impacts of climate change. What our two countries are saying with this agreement is that climate change is real, caused by humans, and is solvable.

"For years, naysayers and deniers said that the US shouldn't move forward to regulate carbon pollution until and unless China took action. As of today, that argument is no longer valid.

"While this agreement is an incredibly important foundation and gives people around the world hope, we must not let up. We have to work towards the eventual passage of carbon fee legislation."

OpEd: Schatz promotes wind turbines requiring huge subsidies

Hawaii residents everywhere dislike wind turbines. Sen. Schatz promotes more taxpayer monies for special interests who are peddling a technology that cannot make it on its own. He is wrong for the following reasons.

I conducted detailed research on cost effective energy solutions for Hawaii, was published this week as "Making the Case for Liquefied Natural Gas." Our research concluded that wind and solar power plants are ineffective; they require multimillion dollar subsidies. On the other hand, homeowner solar photovoltaic panels (Rooftop PV) make sense without any subsidies.

Sen. Schatz should stop bragging about the jobs. Hawaii has fewer than 50 turbines and fewer than 50 people are located here to manage them

FactCheck: Yes, 97% of Greenland ice surface melted in 2012

97% would be A LOT of melting, especially for a mass of ice that is, over large stretches, a mile or two thick. We found a NASA web page that reported that in July 2012, "an estimated 97% of the ice sheet surface had thawed." The key word is "surface." The melting the satellites tracked was at and near the surface, often to a depth of no more than an inch. The ice sheet itself never thawed. A NASA scientist said, "Sen. Schatz's statement is very misleading. The correct statement would be that the surface of the Greenland ice sheet experienced some melt." However, the last time that much surface ice temporarily melted was about a century ago. We rate Shatz's statement as Half True.

Focus on clean energy and fighting climate change

Clean energy with Taiwan; smart grid with Korea

On February 2, the Republic of Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) and the State of Hawai`i signed a Letter of Intent to pursue mutual interests in smart grid development. While in Korea, Lieutenant Governor Schatz met with officials from MKE and the Korea Smart Grid Institute to strengthen Hawai`i's commitment to this collaboration. Negotiations are underway between public and private partners from Korea and Hawai'i and the goal of the partnership is to develop a Memorandum of Understanding for a project in Hawai`i in the early part of 2013.

Hawai'i is becoming an international leader in clean energy

Assigned by Governor Abercrombie to coordinate Hawai'i's efforts to develop clean and renewable energy, Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz says "Hawai'i has the most aggressive clean energy program in the nation, and it is paying dividends for our local economy. Hawai'i is becoming an international leader in clean energy, and, working with Vice President Gore, we can show the world that clean energy is not just good environmental policy, it's a good business strategy."

Develop alternative energy to avoid melting polar ice caps

50% clean and carbon free electricity by 2030.

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should establish a national goal of more than 50 percent clean and carbon free electricity by 2030 for the purposes of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, growing our economy, increasing our shared prosperity, improving public health, and preserving our national security.

• Whereas failing to act on climate change will have a devastating impact on our Nation's economy, costing us billions of dollars in lost GDP;
• Whereas extreme weather, intensified by climate change, has already cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year in recovery efforts, and this will only continue if climate change is left unaddressed;
• Whereas climate change will have devastating public health implications, including increased asthma attacks and exacerbation of other respiratory diseases, especially in vulnerable populations;
• Whereas inaction on climate change will disproportionately impact communities of color and exacerbate existing economic inequalities;
• Whereas the transition to a clean energy economy is feasible with existing technology;
• Whereas the transition to clean energy will create millions of jobs and will increase our country's GDP and increase disposable household income;

1. Establish a national goal of more than 50 percent clean and carbon free electricity by 2030; and
2. Enact legislation to accelerate the transition to clean energy to meet this goal.