HOMEPAGE > NEWSROOM

Press Release

For Immediate Release
December 8, 2007
Contact: Sean C. Bonyun
(202) 225-3761

Upton Named to Prominent Energy Post, Replaces Former House Speaker as Head of Panel
Rep. replaces former Speaker Dennis Hastert as top Republican on the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and active member of the House Energy Action Team, has been named as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality.  Upton replaces former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who retired from Congress last week.  Upton, who had been Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, will continue to remain actively involved on the telecommunications panel.

“It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of my good friend, Speaker Dennis Hastert to this formidable position,” said Upton.  “It is imperative that as we shine the spotlight on our nation’s energy policy we have an open, constructive dialogue on the future of our energy needs.  As our nation’s energy consumption is expected to increase by 50% over the next two decades, we must work towards common sense solutions with a greater emphasis on a number of fronts – nuclear power, clean coal technologies, alternative fuels, expanding domestic oil and gas production, hybrid technologies, as well as conservation and further developing energy efficient technologies.  We are a nation of ideas, and with the best research and technology and the brightest minds in the world – we will meet our energy needs and face the challenges of the future.”   

Southwest Michigan is at the forefront of energy development.  This summer, Upton brought both U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and Environmental Protection Administrator Stephen Johnson to southwest Michigan to showcase the region’s leadership in developing new technologies to fulfill the nation’s future energy needs.  Upton and Secretary Bodman hosted a roundtable with nearly a dozen of the region’s leading energy players ranging from academic research to nuclear power, toured several Whirlpool research and development sites and visited the Cook nuclear plant.  Upton provided Administrator Johnson with a firsthand glimpse of the region’s leadership in the development of hybrid technologies.
 
“Southwest Michigan is an epicenter for the development of diverse technologies to help meet tomorrow’s energy needs,” said Upton.  “From our rich academic research, to our development of alternative fuels and state-of-the-art hybrid technologies, to our emphasis on nuclear power, southwest Michigan has an important story to tell and we are making great strides as a community that will benefit the entire nation and help fulfill the nation’s energy needs in the 21st century.”   

Highlights of energy legislation that Upton has authored in the 110th Congress include:

Nuclear power - H.R. 3358 - Legislation to enhance the management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste and to ensure the expansion of clean nuclear power in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our domestic energy security. 

Reduce gas prices - H.R. 2492 - A four pronged approach that will increase domestic refining capacity by streamlining the permitting process, increase fuel efficiency through a public service campaign, reduce boutique fuel blends that cause regional price spikes and provide common sense price gouging protections.

Alternative fuels - H.R. 635 - Legislation that requires that gasoline have a 10 percent ethanol blend by the year 2012. 

###