By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com
—
Bryan Republican Bill Flores, if elected, would seek to eliminate the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, said Wednesday. Flores called the claims a desperate attack from a 20-year incumbent.
Edwards and Flores face each other in the Nov. 2 election for the Congressional District 17 seat. CD-17 covers 12 counties, including Johnson County.
Edwards called Flores’ plan a “naive, uniformed and dangerous proposal that would have deadly serious direct consequences on the district, state and country.”
In a press release, sent out after Edwards’ Wednesday teleconference, Edwards links a YouTube video in which Flores discusses the DOE.
The video contains clips of Flores in television interviews and forums on Dec. 20 and March 29 and a clip of Flores at a runoff debate in McLennan County on March 24.
“Get rid of the DOE,” Flores says on one of the clips. “The department has cost us billions of dollars.”
In a second clip, Flores calls for finding places to cut the federal budget.
“We can start by getting rid of the DOE,” Flores said.
Both clips appear to contain partial quotes.
Flores discusses the matter at greater length in a Dec. 20 clip.
“The DOE, which has been around and which our taxpayers have invested millions of dollars, has never produced one molecule of oil, one molecule of natural gas or one kilowatt hour of electricity,” Flores said. “Why do we need something that the free enterprise system can manage better?”
Flores misses the point, Edwards said.
“Maybe Flores doesn’t understand what the DOE does,” Edwards said. “But it’s a dangerous misunderstanding that would hurt jobs and economic development in our district and country.
Flores campaign manager Matt Mackowiak countered that Edwards misses the point and charged Edwards with thinking that only the government can solve the nation’s worsening energy situation.
“Bill Flores has spent most of his career producing American energy and creating hundreds of good paying jobs in the energy sector, so for career politician Chet Edwards to lecture us on American energy development rings hollow at best,” Mackowiak said. “Since the energy department was created in 1977 to end our dependence on foreign oil, it has failed to meet its primary objective even though it costs taxpayers about $30 billion each year.”
Eliminating the department, Edwards said, would cost the district more than 5,000 jobs, undermine research programs at Texas A&M and put America at greater risk for nuclear terrorism.
The department’s Nuclear Loan Guarantee Program provides federal loan guarantees for nuclear power plants.
That’s critical, Edwards said, given that Comanche Peak in Somervell County plans to expand soon. An expansion that will result in thousands of jobs among other benefits, Edwards said.
“David Campbell, the CEO of Luminant [owners of Comanche Peak], has said that federal loan guarantees are critical to the expansion of Comanche Peak and that, ‘We do not believe we would be able to obtain the necessary financing for the potential expansion of Comanche Peak without the federal loan guarantee support.’”
Edwards recently said Flores opposes such loan guarantees and would work to eliminate them if elected. Charges Flores also called untrue.
DOE has provided $125 million in funding to A&M during the past 10 years for critical research, Edwards said.
“They [A&M] have the largest nuclear engineering program in the U.S. and are training future leaders for the renaissance of nuclear energy we’re about to see,” Edwards said
DOE also plays an integral role in U.S. efforts to reduce the global danger of weapons of mass destruction, he said. They also play a vital role in working with private enterprise to develop technology to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, he said.
Edwards, Flores charged, supports the agenda of President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which includes a drilling moratorium and regulations to prevent drilling for American oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Flores supports the expanded utilization of technologies which reduce our energy usage,” Mackowiak said. “However, those programs do not have to come from DOE to be successful. Those elements of DOE which are effective should be transferred to other federal agencies, while eliminating the bloated, costly programs which have not worked.
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission existed before the creation of DOE and should exist afterwards. Flores regards the further development of nuclear energy and nuclear energy security as critical elements to lessen dependence on foreign sources of energy and improve the security of our nation. These functions can exist independent of a gargantuan federal agency.”
