Senate Dems mull 'green' spending

By Jim Tankersley

You can't cross a street in Washington these days without bumping into someone with a 12-point set of recommendations for President-elect Barack Obama and the massive economic stimulus plan he and Congressional leaders are drafting. And now that Congress is back in session, some of those plans are making their way into the public record - and key lawmakers' ears.

To wit: The Senate Environment and Public Works committee convened a briefing in a Senate hearing room this morning, on the topic of "green" investments and their role in economic recovery.

Testifying before a crowd of fawning Democratic senators were a pair of hot names in energy circles: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, author of "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America," and clean energy venture capitalist John Doerr, whose track record includes investments in Google and Amazon.com.

Both men called clean energy development the solution to America's economic, environmental and national security challenges. They urged major tax incentives to help speed renewable technologies to competitiveness and big spending to build an infrastructure to carry renewable energy from the wind turbines and solar panels that produce it to the cities and suburbs that consume it.

The stimulus package is "either going to be a burden of a lifetime for our children, or an opportunity of a lifetime for our children," Friedman said. Added Doerr: "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste."

Friedman synthesized his book, calling for regulations and price signals to encourage renewable energy innovation. Doerr suggested six congressional policies, including a refundable tax on carbon emissions, a major investment in a unified national electric grid and a national mandate for renewable electricity usage.

Senators pushed them on details and gushed over their guests. More than once, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the committee chairwoman, called Friedman's words "poetry."

We'll see how many of his stanzas end up in the stimulus.