Federal support for clean energy now more important than ever

SEEC, AEIC business leaders meet to discuss importance of federal leadership in clean tech innovation

WASHINGTON, DC – Today members of the House of Representatives Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC) met with members of the American Energy Innovation Council - a group of America’s most successful business leaders who are vocal proponents of federal investment and policy support for clean energy innovation. Following the meeting SEEC leaders released the following statement:

“The United States of America is in a race to develop the energy technologies that will power a global twenty-first century economy, and lawmakers in Washington, DC must recognize that we as a nation are not winning this race. While renewable energy and energy efficiency have come under attack from the allies of heavily subsidized and politically-connected dirty energy industries, our Asian and European economic competitors are accelerating their investments and laying the foundations to dominate these burgeoning global industries.

“SEEC believes that the federal government must make robust and prudent investments in, and set policies that will support American clean energy innovators and manufacturers. These efforts will create jobs, increase American energy security and economic competitiveness, and create healthier communities.”

AEIC, an initiative of the Bipartisan Policy Center whose members include Norm Augustine, Bill Gates, John Doerr, Hal Harvey, Chad Holliday, Ursula Burns, and others, has called for the United States to “make a serious commitment to modernizing our energy system with cleaner, more efficient technologies.” AEIC member executives met today with Democrats and Republicans in both chambers of Congress to present their most recent report: Catalyzing American Ingenuity, the Role of Government in Energy Innovation, which “highlights the need for an active government role in energy innovation, recommends ways to improve the effectiveness of government innovation programs, and highlights options to pay for energy innovation investments.”

SEEC is a coalition of 49 House Democrats organized in January 2009 to advance policies promoting clean energy and environmental protection. Since its founding SEEC has fought for investments and incentives supporting domestic clean energy innovation and manufacturing. This year SEEC has been on the front lines fighting against House GOP attempts to slash funding for important federal programs with those goals.

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The Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC) is a coalition of forty-nine Democratic members of the House of Representatives that was founded in January 2009 to be a focused, active, and effective coalition for advancing “policies that promote clean energy technology innovation and domestic manufacturing, develop renewable energy resources, and create green collar jobs throughout the product supply-chain, and polices to help arrest global warming and protect our nation’s clean air, water and natural environment.”  SEEC is co-chaired by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Steve Israel (D-NY). SEEC vice chairs are Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Jared Polis (D-CO), and Paul Tonko (D-NY).