LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – One of Lake County's members of Congress this week used Lake County as an example of success in the geothermal industry during a speech on the House floor.
Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), a member of the Safe Climate Caucus, spoke on the House floor Tuesday to urge greater use of geothermal energy, highlighting its strength as an emissions-free, environmentally friendly and sustainable source of energy.
The Safe Climate Caucus is a group of Democratic members who are highlighting the need for action on climate change through daily floor speeches and other activities.
Lake County – the northern half of which is in Garamendi's district – and its geothermal production were given special mention in Garamendi's remarks.
“We have a critical natural resource opportunity in this nation, and it's beneath the soil, beneath the ground, and it happens to be the heat of the earth,” Garamendi said.
He called geothermal an extraordinary natural resource that's clean and abundant.
“And it's often overlooked,” he said, adding that it has the ability to become a key source of energy in the future.
Geothermal also is cost effective, said Garamendi, explaining that the cost to produce geothermal energy has decreased by 25 percent over the past two decades, and it can be produced domestically, in areas of California like Lake County and in Nevada.
Garamendi pointed to the creation of jobs and the estimated $117 million in public benefits that are attributed to geothermal energy in California and Nevada each year.
Lake and Sonoma counties receive more than $11 million in annual tax revenue directly from The Geysers geothermal steamfield, he said.
He pointed out that Lake County has saved millions of dollars in disposal costs by funneling eight million gallons of wastewater per day back into geothermal wells that then generate electricity.
According to information provided by Garamendi's office, The Geysers – the largest geothermal installation in the world – provides energy for over 1.1 million people throughout the northern portion of California.
See Garamendi's speech on the House floor in the video above.
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