Mr. BLUMENAUER. May I just elaborate on that point. I think that is a very important point to make, that this is 100 percent American energy, but also in terms of what happens with the net economic impact. There are some who claim that, well, we should deal with the fossil fuels, the oil and coal, because they create jobs. Well, they do create jobs, but I think the evidence is clear that the investment in the alternative energies of the future that you're talking about, in wind and solar, the clean energy economy creates about four times the jobs for each million dollars invested as in the traditional fossil fuels. And when you consider that we are also avoiding some of the most negative consequences of burning dirty coal on the health of individuals and of the larger ecosystem, it is a multiple benefit to the economy and the environment.
You know, on the floor, and this was incredible to me, last week I heard my Republican friends being upset that the Speaker, with the initiative to green the Capitol, had replaced dirty coal with natural gas, which has half the carbon emissions. It doesn't have the other problems in terms of sulfur dioxide, in terms of carbon monoxide.
[Time: 20:45]
The Capitol Heating Plant was the number one source of pollution in our Nation's Capital, threatening the lives and health of people who work around the capitol. Children in our schools and the opponents of responsible action for a clean economy were saying that was somehow an attack on coal.
