Pickens Plan District Group NY-02

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Comment by Bill C. Merrell, Ph.D. on August 26, 2009 at 8:31pm

Allen Bauman:

Thank you for your comment.
Important stuff. I will forward it to evryone I am dealing with on a gevernmnetal level.
Thanks-
great stuff

Bill

Comment by allen bauman on August 25, 2009 at 9:49pm

PLEASE READ ENTIRE POST.

Below is a letter written to my Senators and Congresswoman. Within the letter is an article from the New York Times concerning underhanded Chinese tactics to become the world leader in solar panel manufacturing.

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AND SEND SIMILAR LETTERS TO YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES. I BELIEVE THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE AND MUST BE ADDRESSED BY OUR GOVERNMENT IMMEDIATELY. COPY AND PASTE IF YOU WANT TO THEN POST ANY RESPONSES YOU RECEIVE.

Allen Bauman
District Leader NY-04

The following article is from the New York Times. It is outrageous that China be allowed to use any back handed behavior necessary to capture the solar panel market without serious admonition from the American Government. As my Senator I insist that you light a fire under any and every agency involved in trade with China, contact the Chinese government and let them know in no uncertain terms that what they are doing is unacceptable and we will do what is necessary to protect this fledgling industry which I believe is critical to the future health and well being of the American economy. I am not a protectionist and I believe in global free trade, as long as there is a level playing field. I will also be sending this article to Senator Gillebrand and Congresswoman McCarthy imploring them to take action as well. It is my hope that you will meet with them and as many NYS Representatives as you can muster. This issue directly affects Long Island which has the potential to become a research, development and manufacturing center for solar technology. This also has the potential to affect upstate New York as well. Its a perfect lower wage, educated area which could benefit from new green industry. SUNY Binghamton is doing cutting edge research in this technology.


China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar
Ryan Pyle for The New York Times

Suntech, China’s biggest solar panel maker, has reduced the price of panels sold in America to build market share.

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By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: August 24, 2009

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Ryan Pyle for The New York Times

Chinese companies like Suntech, above, plan to build assembly plants in the United States.
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WUXI, China — President Obama wants to make the United States “the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy,” but in his seven months in office, it is China that has stepped on the gas in an effort to become the dominant player in green energy — especially in solar power, and even in the United States.

Chinese companies have already played a leading role in pushing down the price of solar panels by almost half over the last year. Shi Zhengrong, the chief executive and founder of China’s biggest solar panel manufacturer, Suntech Power Holdings, said in an interview here that Suntech, to build market share, is selling solar panels on the American market for less than the cost of the materials, assembly and shipping.

Backed by lavish government support, the Chinese are preparing to build plants to assemble their products in the United States to bypass protectionist legislation. As Japanese automakers did decades ago, Chinese solar companies are encouraging their United States executives to join industry trade groups to tamp down anti-Chinese sentiment before it takes root.

The Obama administration is determined to help the American industry. The energy and Treasury departments announced this month that they would give $2.3 billion in tax credits to clean energy equipment manufacturers. But even in the solar industry, many worry that Western companies may have fragile prospects when competing with Chinese companies that have cheap loans, electricity and labor, paying recent college graduates in engineering $7,000 a year.

“I don’t see Europe or the United States becoming major producers of solar products — they’ll be consumers,” said Thomas M. Zarrella, the chief executive of GT Solar International, a company in Merrimack, N.H., that sells specialized factory equipment to solar panel makers around the world.

Since March, Chinese governments at the national, provincial and even local level have been competing with one another to offer solar companies ever more generous subsidies, including free land, and cash for research and development. State-owned banks are flooding the industry with loans at considerably lower interest rates than available in Europe or the United States.

Suntech, based here in Wuxi, is on track this year to pass Q-Cells of Germany, to become the world’s second-largest supplier of photovoltaic cells, which would put it behind only First Solar in Tempe, Ariz.

Hot on Suntech’s heels is a growing list of Chinese corporations backed by entrepreneurs, local governments and even the Chinese military, all seeking to capitalize on an industry deemed crucial by China’s top leadership.

Dr. Shi pointed out that other governments, including in the United States, also assist clean energy industries, including with factory construction incentives.

China’s commitment to solar energy is unlikely to make a difference soon to global warming. China’s energy consumption is growing faster than any other country’s, though the United States consumes more today. Beijing’s aim is to generate 20,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2020 — or less than half the capacity of coal-fired power plants that are built in China each year.

Solar energy remains far more expensive to generate than energy from coal, oil, natural gas or even wind. But in addition to heavy Chinese investment and low Chinese costs, the global economic downturn and a decline in European subsidies to buy panels have lowered prices.

The American economic stimulus plan requires any project receiving money to use steel and other construction materials, including solar panels, from countries that have signed the World Trade Organization’s agreement on free trade in government procurement. China has not.

In response to this, and to reduce shipping costs, Suntech plans to announce in the next month or two that it will build a solar panel assembly plant in the United States, said Steven Chan, its president for global sales and marketing.

“It’ll be to facilitate sales — ‘buy American’ and things like that,” Mr. Chan said, adding that the factory would have 75 to 150 workers and be located in Phoenix, or somewhere in Texas.

But 90 percent of the workers at the $30 million factory will be blue-collar laborers, welding together panels from solar wafers made in China, Dr. Shi said.

Yingli Solar, another large Chinese manufacturer, said on Thursday that it also had a “preliminary plan” to assemble panels in the United States.

Western rivals, meanwhile, are struggling. Q-Cells of Germany announced last week that it would lay off 500 of its 2,600 employees because of declining sales. It and two other German companies, Conergy and SolarWorld, are particularly indignant that German subsidies were the main source of demand for solar panels until recently.

“Politicians might ask whether this is still the right way to do this, German taxpayers paying for Asian products,” said Markus Wieser, a Q-Cells spokesman.

But organizing resistance to Chinese exports could be difficult, particularly as Chinese discounting makes green energy more affordable.

Even with Suntech acknowledging that it sells below the marginal cost of producing each additional solar panel — that is, the cost after administrative and development costs are subtracted — any antidumping case, in the United States, for example, would have to show that American companies were losing money as a result.

First Solar — the solar leader, in Tempe — using a different technology from many solar panel manufacturers, is actually profitable, while the new tax credits now becoming available may help other companies.

Even organizing a united American response to Chinese exports could be difficult. Suntech has encouraged executives at its United States operations to take the top posts at the two main American industry groups, partly to make sure that these groups do not rally opposition to imports, Dr. Shi said.

The efforts of Detroit automakers to win protection from Japanese competition in the 1980s were weakened by the presence of Honda in their main trade group; they expelled Honda in 1992.

Some analysts are less pessimistic about the prospects for solar panel manufacturers in the West. Joonki Song, a partner at Photon Consulting in Boston, said that while large Chinese solar panel manufacturers are gaining market share, smaller ones have been struggling.

Mr. Zarrella of GT Solar said that Western providers of factory equipment for solar panel manufacturers would remain competitive, and Dr. Shi said that German equipment providers “have made a lot of money, tons of money.”

The Chinese government is requiring that 80 percent of the equipment for China’s first municipal power plant to use solar energy, to be built in Dunhuang in northwestern China next year, be made in China.

Dr. Shi said his company would try to prevent similar rules in any future projects.

The reason is clear: almost 98 percent of Suntech’s production goes overseas.
Sign in to Recommend More Articles in Business » A version of this article appeared in print on August 25, 2009, on page A1 of the New York edition.

Comment by Codi Prachar on July 21, 2009 at 7:11am

Thanks for posting his response, Bill!

Comment by Bill C. Merrell, Ph.D. on July 20, 2009 at 6:33pm

I am pleased to have received a very positive response from our 2nd District Congressman- and I have attached the e-mail here, as follows:


Congressman Steve Israel - Serving the Second Congressional District of New York
Visit Website | Constituent Services | View My Blog




Dear Dr. Merrell:



Thank you for contacting me about with your views on energy. I strongly share your concerns and welcome the opportunity to respond.

Whenever our nation has faced critical threats, we mobilized, manufactured, engineered, researched, developed and invested in the human and technical resources necessary to meet and master those challenges. And our addiction to foreign oil should be treated no differently.

If we could land Americans on the moon, we can produce energy efficient vehicles, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs in a thriving clean energy industry. In 2006, I developed a comprehensive plan, my Next Generation Energy Security Initiative, to spur advanced energy by incentivizing new markets and new supplies. I have been fighting to advance these ideas since coming to Congress in 2001, and this year we have a historic opportunity to make giant strides toward the goals I have outlined.

In order to seize this opportunity, I also co-founded and co-chair the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), a group of Members of the House of Representatives committed to advancing policies that promote clean energy technology innovation and domestic manufacturing, develop renewable energy resources, create green collar jobs throughout the product supply-chain, help arrest global warming and protect our nation's clean air, water and natural environment. This group is already leading efforts in the House to create incentives and make the investments we need to transform our economy, our infrastructure, and our environment.

In particular, the SEEC worked to strengthen green technology provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was signed into law by the President in February. I am proud that Congress has delivered on a promise to change energy policy with a $90 billion investment in clean technologies in this plan. I fought for the inclusion of tax credits to make it more affordable to build and obtain renewable energy technologies like plug-in hybrids and solar panels, as well as grants and loans to create new green energy jobs. These investments can create thousands of new jobs, and at the same time save us from millions of barrels of dirty oil. In addition, the recovery plan provides $5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program to help individuals make their homes more energy efficient so they can save on monthly energy bills.


At the local level, the federal government can play a critical role in addressing our energy challenges through local partnerships. For example, the Babylon School district has a problem: energy costs are rapidly approaching $1 million and the district has only three school buildings. In fact, school districts and local governments are major energy users, and that is driving up local taxes. One key factor in rising budgets is the increased cost to put fuel in gas-guzzling busses and heat cavernous, antiquated schools and public buildings. Many local governments are working hard to reduce energy costs, lower taxes and improve their environments. To follow through on my plan to create new federal/local partnerships to reduce local taxes by converting to advanced energy technologies, I voted for H.R. 3021, the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act. This legislation, which was passed by the House of Representatives on June 4, 2008, would have provided grants to states to modernize, renovate and repair public schools to make them safe, health, technologically up-to-date and energy efficient. Unfortunately, the Senate did not take action on this legislation, but I am pleased to say that the Recovery Bill provides funding for critical school modernizations that will result in local energy savings and a healthier learning environment for young students. Local partnerships, especially with our schools, will remain a top priority for me in this session as I work with my colleagues in Congress and with the new Administration to address our energy challenges.

Congress too has recognized the need to reclaim our energy independence. As you may know, on June 26, 2009, Congress passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). I voted for this legislation because I believe that the greatest threat to our national security is our deep dependence on foreign oil and this is the boldest step we have taken to regain our energy security in thirty years. For some people, energy is primarily considered an environmental issue. For others, it is essentially an economic issue. For me, it is principally a national security issue.



The past thirty years of energy policy haven't worked, but by making fundamental change and technological leaps, America has always seized the high ground in innovation, national security and economic prosperity. We did it in response to the threat of World War II, we did it in response to the threat of Sputnik, and now this bill, if passed by the Senate and signed by the President, will enable us to do it in response to the threat of foreign oil and climate change. Those past achievements - the industrialization of World War II; the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs; the Reagan defense build-up of the 1980s - required leadership, investment, and yes, even sacrifice.



ACES is not perfect. And some provisions may be changed as it moves through the Senate and returns to the House for a final vote. I will continue to keep your views in mind as the process of compromise continues.



Thank you again for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to do so again on any matter of concern. You can also visit my website (http://house.gov/israel) to learn more about the issues important to you.




Sincerely,

STEVE ISRAEL
Member of Congress


CONTACT INFORMATION
Long Island Office:
150 Motor Pkwy Ste 108,
Hauppauge NY 11788
Phone: (631) 951-2210 or (516) 505-1448
Fax: (631) 951-3308
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Comment by Codi Prachar on April 30, 2009 at 10:36am

A major article in the Wall Street Journal echoes what T. Boone Pickens has been saying for nearly a year: There is enough natural gas under the continental United States to serve all of our needs for upwards of 100 years.

Check out the Daily PIckens, where you can read full the article.

Comment by Raymond Fontanes on April 21, 2009 at 6:34pm

Hi Miss Green Jean,
Health- Bad GMO crops/Monsanto's Roundup.
Welness-Ban GM foods, Is there any nutrition left after microwaving, Does florinated water do anything for our teeth, Why do we drink milk after age 1? Advertizing?) Does a mamogram help spread cancer and or detect it 10 years after Thermogrophy? (Heat is inflamation)
Renewable energy- Not many have a solar panels on LI except for heating the Jacuzzi. (Passive) Is LIPAs insentive not good enough yet or do we have to see the Jones put one up 1st. Build all new house facing south. Mine is old and faces west.

Comment by Jean Weiss a/k/a Miss Green Jean on April 21, 2009 at 5:43pm

I've been invited to a meeting tomorrow with Congressman Steve Israel and his Deputy Director of Communications, along with a few others right here on LI, to brainstorm on Health/Wellness and Renewable Energy - they seem extremely interested in making some new legislation hopefully!....Keep you posted. Anything you want asked? Drop me an e-mail

Comment by Codi Prachar on April 15, 2009 at 8:55am

Hi Team,

I wanted to let you know that between now and April 19, over the Congressional Easter Recess, we have an opportunity to reach our Members of Congress in their home districts! Having our leaders hear from us, the constituents, makes the biggest impact!

So here's what to do:

The focus is now on 2 new pieces of legislation: NAT GAS Act of 2009 and RES (Renewable Electricity Standard). Boone needs your help to rally local supporters to contact your elected officials during the Congressional Recess.

Here is what you can do:

1) Generate letters, emails and calls to your Members of Congress during the Congressional Recess
2) Set up meetings with your Members of Congress or an aide over the next week while they are on recess
3) Organize local meetings, events, happy hours, receptions with local supporters and urge them to call or email their representative on the spot!
4) Submit Op Eds & Letters to the Editor to local newspapers and media outlets (If you want to do this option, let me know and I will be glad to help! )

Contact info for your Congressmen and Senators can be found at http://www.house.gov/ or http://www.senate.gov/

Finally, please post any updates on activity that you initiate in your district. I report to Boone on a daily basis, and your feedback keeps him up-to-date!

KEEP PUSHING!

Codi

Comment by Codi Prachar on March 31, 2009 at 8:17pm

Boone's ready to march tomorrow--are you?

Comment by Raymond Fontanes on March 21, 2009 at 8:25pm

Miss Green Jean,
-Your efforts have paid off it seems. Long Island Power Authority
R. Kessel has been quoted "I've never given up on the idea" This is on Wind Farms off Long Island NY. (Atlantic) Pardon my negativity on a previous post about
LIPAs conclusions on scrapping the wind farm idea altogether. Moving forward it seems
Kessel is willing to get WIND back on track and even add the idea of "More Distance From Shore" (Less complaints from non tree-hugging idiots still caught in the "OIL Matrix") 150 Turbines will produce up to 500 megawatts and will be put 10 to 20 miles off shore More than a previous design that was not approved.
Gov. David Paterson should help make the right choice on wind. He was against
LNG or Liquefied Natural Gas - a Barge, on Long Island Sound called Broadwater –A Florida based, foreign Corp. that would have destroyed the waters, and not even help Long Island residents. We are so lucky the other Gov, was ousted because he was in talks with them. Bottom line is the wind way off shore is just as strong as the wind in the central planes. Closer to land and the wind starts to rise. Being a sailor on Long Island Sound I know tthe wind has to go over the heat of the land before it gets to us on the north shore.between 4- 6 PM. out in the Atlantic its always windy weather we know it or not on the hot streets of land.

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