By James T. Hammond
Published November 30, 2009
With a 55-ton, 1.5 megawatt General Electric wind turbine gear box as backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said today that achieving energy independence for the nation is desirable and possible.
The South Carolina Republican, who has been the target of oil company television ads criticizing his energy positions, has cast his lot with South Carolina’s growing alternative energy sector, such as the wind turbine machines built in Greenville by GE.
“South Carolina is leading the nation in wind technology, right here in Greenville, with a new biomass plant at Aiken, and with nuclear power,” Graham said, noting that the state generates a higher percentage of its electricity with nuclear energy than any state except Vermont.
“This Secretary of Energy (Steven Chu) – the Obama administration – is committed to nuclear energy,” Graham said. Turning to Secretary Chu, Graham added, “I want to work with you to make this nation energy independent.”
Secretary Chu, in South Carolina for the groundbreaking of the biomass plant at the Savannah River National Laboratory, and the Energy Summit sponsored by Clemson University at its International Center for Automotive Research, also visited the GE Energy plant on Garlington Road in Greenville.
Chu said the United States should never cede manufacturing expertise and leadership to anyone.
“This plant does that very well,” Chu said. “This administration is very committed to nuclear power. We want to invest in new types of nuclear plants to recapture the U.S. leadership in this technology, and to make it proliferation resistant.”
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