L-11 President Bob Winger reviews his testimony before addressing the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee.
Lodge president supports new energy bill
BOB WINGER, PRESIDENT of Local 11 (Helena, Mont.) testified before the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee Oct. 29 in support of energy legislation backed by the Boilermakers union.
It was something of an historic event for the union, said Abe Breehey, Legislative Director for the Government Affairs Department. “At least since I’ve been in Washington, D.C., no other working Boilermaker has testified before Congress. Typically, it is a professional lobbyist who does that. Believe me; politicians pay special attention to what constituents have to say.
“It is a credit to Bob’s initiative and dedication to the Brotherhood’s broader interests that he stepped forward,” Breehey said. “This is an incredibly important bill for our union, in part because it includes more than $150 billion in incentives to spur the development of new clean-coal power plants.”
Winger was invited to testify by the office of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to support S. 1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. S. 1733’s subtitle is: “A bill to create clean energy jobs, promote energy independence, reduce global warming pollution, and transition to a clean energy economy.” The bill is sponsored by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). It is cosponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Paul Kirk (D-MA).
Winger told the Senate committee that S. 1733 is important for the Boilermakers because it would “create high-quality job opportunities for American workers.” He added, “The uncertainty associated with our nation’s energy and climate policy has prevented much-needed investments that would put people to work and aid in our nation’s economic recovery.”
To make that point, Winger described the cancellation of a new 250MW fluidized bed, coal-fired power plant in Montana. “The plant would have been among the cleanest in the nation for those pollutants already regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency,” he said. “In addition, the developers at Southern Montana Electric were willing to commit that the plant would be equipped with technology to capture and store carbon emission when such technology was commercially available.” The plant was cancelled because of legal challenges and an uncertain regulatory environment.
“The result,” continued Winger, “was that instead of a plant that would have employed 160 Boilermakers for four years, the developer is building a natural gas power plant that will employee four Boilermakers for three weeks.”
Winger praised S. 1733’s provision for “early and widespread deployment of CSS [carbon capture and sequestration] technology at coal plants, including new generation capacity and retrofit applications.” He also praised other provisions, including a requirement that the prevailing wage (under the Davis Bacon Act) be applied on any project that receives an incentive under the bill.
Winger also offered suggestions to improve the bill, including some exemptions in the domestic cement industry (which includes many Boilermaker members). He said the process of crushing limestone to make cement unavoidably produces CO2, and that capping emissions on that process could shift work overseas.
To view Winger’s testimony, click on the screen below. For the full Senate hearing, please visit the archived webcast on the U.S. Senate Committee website on Environment and Public Works.
