Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - February 08, 2008)
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By Mr. BARRASSO:
S. 2614. A bill to facilitate the development, demonstration, and implementation of technology for the use in removing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on legislation I am introducing to address climate change.
Today, I am introducing legislation to address a major technological challenge that faces all of us. It is the challenge of how to solve the problem of the warming of our planet. This bill is called the Greenhouse Gas Emission Atmospheric Removal Act, or the GEAR Act.
Members of this body have discussed various proposals to regulate the output of greenhouse gases. Some advocate doing it through a cap and trade approach. Others have advocated a tax on carbon.
Such proposals are aimed at limiting future carbon output into the atmosphere. Many proposals have been introduced and debated using this approach of dealing with our carbon output. Overlooked in the debate are the greenhouse gases that are currently in the atmosphere.
The best science tells us that the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere are the gases that are causing the warming of our planet. To what extent, we are not certain. So let us resolve to find a way to remove the excess greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere. Remove them, and permanently sequester them.
To accomplish this goal, we are, as a Nation, going to need to make a significant investment to develop the technology. The approach my legislation takes to address this is through a series of financial prizes where we set the technological goals and also define the outcomes we demand.
The first researchers to meet the criteria would receive not only Federal funds, but also international acclaim. The prizes would be determined by a Federal commission under the Department of Energy. The commission would be composed of climate scientists, physicists, chemists, engineers, business managers, and economists. The commission would be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The awards would go to those, both public and private, who would achieve milestones in developing and applying technology. Technology that could significantly help to slow or reverse the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases would have to be permanently sequestered. Sequestered in a manner that would be without significant harmful effects.
This is how it would work. There would be four different levels of prizes. The first level award would go to the public or private entity that could first demonstrate a design for a successful technology that could remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases. Second, there would be a prize for a lab scale demonstration project of the technology that accomplishes the same thing. Third, there would be an award for demonstrating the technology to remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases that is operational at a larger, working model scale. Finally, there would be an award for whoever could demonstrate the technology to remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases on a commercially viable scale.
There you have it--four different levels of development. First for designing the technology, then for a lab scale demonstration of the technology, then for a larger working model, and then finally, the proven use of the technology on a commercially viable scale. Once the technology is developed, the United States would share intellectual property rights to the technology with whoever invented it. This bill, as drafted, does not include a specific dollar amount for each prize. Instead, it authorizes such sums as may be necessary.
The commission will be directed to report to Congress 1 year after enactment of the law. The commission will recommend the levels of funding that would be necessary to achieve the goals of this act.
I believe prizes can be a unique tool in creating technological development. It only seems natural that if we get all the best scientific minds thinking about the same problem, we significantly enhance our chances of solving it.
Historically, prizes have been used to spur all types of technological development to solve big problems. In 1714, the British government offered the first prize of this type for a device capable of accurately measuring longitude. John Harrison, a clock maker, was awarded 20,000 pounds for designing an accurate and durable chronometer 59 years later. This transformed our ability to sail the seas.
In 1775, the French offered a 100,000-franc prize resulting in an artificial form of alkali being produced. In 1810, the first vacuum sealed food was produced by Nicolas Appert, after 15 years of experimentation, driven by a 12,000-franc prize offered by Napoleon. Today, vacuum sealing is still used throughout the world.
In 1909 the first flight across the English Channel was spurred by a prize offered by a newspaper. Charles Lindbergh was competing for the Orteig prize offered by the wealthy hotel owner Raymond Orteig, when he flew in the Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927. The achievement spawned a $300 billion aviation industry.
The British Spitfire, the fighter plane that won the Battle of Britain, was developed as a result of the Schneider trophy, a series of prizes for technological development.
More recent examples include the creation of the X Prize Foundation, which gives multimillion dollar awards to the first team to achieve specific goals. The X Prize Foundation began a revolution in private space flight with the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
On October 4, 2004, the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team, led by famed aircraft designer Bert Rutan and financed by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, captured the Ansari X prize for the historic space flight of Space Ship One to space and back, twice within 2 weeks. Space Ship One is now hanging in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
The U.S. Government also offers prizes through NASA's Centennial Challenges program. According to NASA, the awards are made based on actual achievements, not just proposals. The Centennial Challenges seek novel solutions to NASA's mission challenges from non-traditional sources of innovation in our universities, in industry, and from the public.
Most recently, Sir Richard Branson and former Vice President Al Gore announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million global science and technology prize. The prize was established to encourage a viable technology, which will result in the removal of at least 1 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year for 10 years.
It is my hope and my goal that this legislation will foster the kind of solutions we need to address the concerns about climate change. What I am proposing is that we take a new look at climate change. With that new look, our solution will be based on removing excess greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere.
We must think anew, and we must act anew. That sentence, ``we must think anew and we must act anew,'' is engraved on a scenic overlook along Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, WY. It is engraved on the pedestal that holds a large-size bust of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was the one to have the vision for the Transcontinental Railroad. It is now time for us, as Americans, to think anew and act anew about the issue of climate change and controlling greenhouse gases.
Americans have always looked within ourselves for solutions. We have always had confidence in American ingenuity and American creativity to deal with the challenges of the future. Yes, we want to protect our environment, and yes, we want a strong economy. The way to have both is by thinking anew and acting anew.
It is time to use our untapped human potential and American spirit to develop the technological solutions we need. It is now time for the U.S. Senate and for Congress to find a solution to global climate change, not through limits but through imagination, innovation, and invention.
I look forward to working with each and every one of you on achieving this goal.
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