SHAHEEN: LAKES REGION COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROGRAM WILL PREPARE STUDENTS FOR JOBS IN ENERGY EFFICIENT ECONOMY

(LACONIA, NH) – Renewing her efforts to move the first major energy bill in several years, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) today visited the Lakes Region Community College (LRCC) to discuss how her newly reintroduced Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency legislation will help create jobs, reduce pollution and save consumers billions of dollars. During her visit to the LRCC campus in Laconia, Shaheen toured the LRCC Energy Services and Technology Program and discussed how the bipartisan bill she reintroduced yesterday has the potential to create 190,000 jobs by 2030.

“The Energy Services and Technology Program at Lakes Region Community College is doing great work preparing students for jobs in the energy-efficient economy of the future,” Shaheen said. “Our country needs an energy-efficiency strategy to meet future economic and consumer demands, and my bipartisan bill will help us address our energy needs while creating jobs and saving people billions.”

Shaheen has been a leader on energy efficiency policies since her time as Governor of New Hampshire when she established the New Hampshire Building Energy Conservation Initiative. In 2010, Shaheen fought to secure an investment for the LRCC Energy Services and Technology Program that went toward the installation of equipment used to train students in energy systems and hardware.

“We were excited to have Senator Shaheen visit our campus once again,” said Dr. Scott Kalicki, president of Lakes Region Community College. “Senator Shaheen has been an important supporter of the college, specifically with our Energy Services and Technology Program in helping us to secure important funding and her personal support of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems and technology. Her visit helps us to recognize and promote this important college program.”

Shaheen reintroduced the widely supported bipartisan Shaheen-Portman legislation yesterday with Senator Rob Portman (R-OH). The legislation is supported Democrats and Republicans and has received numerous endorsements from industry leaders, energy-efficiency advocates and environmental stakeholders because it reduces pollution, saves consumers money and creates jobs.  A study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) estimates that Shaheen-Portman will create more than 190,000 jobs, save consumers $16.2 billion a year, and cut CO2 emissions and other air pollutants by the equivalent of taking 22 million cars off the road – all by 2030.

The reintroduced Shaheen-Portman legislation uses a variety of low-cost tools to help energy users become more efficient while making the country’s largest energy consumer – the federal government – reduce its energy consumption through the use of energy-efficient technology. The deficit neutral bill incentivizes the use of efficiency technologies that are commercially available today, can be widely deployed across the country, and quickly pay for themselves through energy savings.  The reintroduced bill incorporates 10 bipartisan amendments that will help the United States transition to a more energy-efficient economy while driving economic growth and private sector job creation.