Utah House Democrats

Representative Lynn Hemingway Holladay During the week I attended many interesting sessions. I am a member of the Energy and Agriculture Committee so the first two days were attending committee meetings.  The topics were Underground storage of Co2 (Sequestration), clean coal technology, the Presidents energy plan (Cap and Trade). We also talked about the effects of energy on rural America. The committee agrees with the President on Global warming. They also agree that the power industry needs to be more aggressive and more flexible regarding Power Generation.  The issue of Carbon Sequestration is a mess. Everyone knows that it will be difficult and seem to agree that it will also be expensive. There are no easy answers. It will take some imagination to try to solve, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Power Generation is another exciting subject if you are a nerd like me. In a meeting late in the week, Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, and a FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) Commissioner debated ways to solve the Clean and Renewable Energy conundrum.  Jim is probably the only really progressive Energy CEO in the country.  He has identified several ways to generate power by placing solar units on individual homes and buying back the excess power from his own customers. His company assists with the cost and installation of the units through low cost loans that can be repaid by the cost of the excess power that is produced. They are also working on a project to replace old roofs with white roofs to reflect the suns rays and help cool the home. I hope these are things that our power company is working on. Health care: I attended a senior and disabled health care discussion regarding allowing Seniors to receive care in their homes and stay out of Nursing Homes. There are great resources available at WWW.eldercare.gov. The statistics are staggering about the elderly and disabled and how they are cared for. The above web site has great information. My observation of the conference in general was positive. Most legislators in the country believe the President is doing the right thing for the economy, Healthcare, and Energy. The resolutions that were passed support a lot more liberal and progressive point of view than what you will see and hear in Utah. I actually felt like there was hope for our country to do some things right.