Sen. Brown to Platts Energy Week: Retaliation vs China key to clean-energy jobs
Washington - September 20, 2010
Also on Platts Energy Week TV: Aging U.S. Gas Pipeline Safety & Shale Gas Concerns
The tens of billions of dollars spent by Washington on clean-energy development in the United States could be undermined if the Obama administration does not take strong trade action against China over that nation's energy policies, Senator Sherrod Brown said Sunday. To view the entire program, click here.
"What we're doing is operate within the confines of the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. The Chinese haven't," the Ohio Democrat said on the all-energy television program Platts Energy Week. "They haven't because of their currency, because of other direct subsidies in clean energy,” Brown said. Click here to view the interview with Brown.
Brown, a leading Senate advocate of reviving US manufacturing through investments in clean-energy technologies, backs a recent petition by the United Steelworkers union asking the US government to bring a World Trade Organization case against China over its energy practices.
Brown said he was not sure how the Obama administration would respond to the Steelworkers' complaint, though he maintained that the White House has "moved more aggressively than administrations in either party in some years on trade enforcement against China."
Still, Brown said he was concerned that China's support for its clean-energy industries could undercut efforts by the Obama administration and Congress to support similar efforts in the US through the 2009 economic-stimulus law.
"I think if the administration continues to move aggressively, and maybe more aggressively, and steps up enforcing these trade rules, there's not as much concern about China beating us," Brown said.
"We've seen how fast they've moved, especially in wind and solar [energy]," he said of China. "I'm concerned about fuel cells. I'm concerned about batteries. I’m concerned about a whole bunch of other things."
Also Sunday, a program segment entitled “America's Pipeline Safety In Question After California Gas Explosion,” which featured a panel discussion on the nation’s aging pipelines and what’s ahead, including Brigham McCown, former administrator from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Don Santa, president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and Rick Kessler, vice president of the Pipeline Safety Trust. The panel discussion may be viewed at this link.
Regarding the ongoing pipeline and environmental risks controversy in the exploration and production of shale gas, program host Bill Loveless interviewed Platts Natural Gas Associate Editor Bill Holland, who attended and reported on the latest meetings in New York by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). View the shale gas discussion at this link.
To hear Sunday’s “Market Spotlight,” where Bill Loveless reviewed the factors shaping the outlook for natural and shale gas for the weeks and months ahead and invited viewer opinion, view this link.
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