Senator Santorum, USDA Rural Development, and PA Department of Agriculture Host Renewable Energy Conference
June 19, 2006
Harrisburg, PA - U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today co-hosted the Renewable Energy Conference with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
"Our dependence on foreign oil continues to grow at a time when we need to be strengthening our domestic resources," said Senator Santorum. "The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which I supported, directed significant federal funding toward research and development into and production of alternative renewable energy sources. As a result of this funding, there is the potential to bring a new industry to the agriculture community, create new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil."
Today's conference focused on ways to develop and fund alternative energy projects from renewable fuels. Renewable energy projects provide employment options to those living in rural Pennsylvania. For example, renewable fuels have the potential to bring a new industry to a rural community, provide jobs and added value processing, and provide increased demand for an energy feedstock crop that could be added to a farmer's product mix produced locally.
Alternative initiatives are not exclusive to the agriculture community. Senator Santorum has also been focused on other solutions to rising gas prices; he has been championed the nation's first coal-to-liquid fuel plant, which will be located in Pennsylvania. This proven technology has the potential to significantly reduce our nation's dangerous and costly dependence on foreign oil. Senator Santorum believes this funding will allow Pennsylvania to be a leader in this promising technology that is both environmentally friendly and strengthens our local economies, because of abundant coal resources in the Commonwealth.
Senator Santorum is the first Senator from Pennsylvania in over a century to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee. He is also Chairman of the Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition, and General Legislation.
http://santorum.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.View&ContentRecord_id=1883&Region_id=0&Issue_id=0