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56–841 PDF 2010

S. Hrg. 111–725 

BLUE, GOLD, AND GREEN: HOW DELAWARE 

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE 

CUTTING THEIR ENERGY COSTS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT 

INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES, AND 

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

OF THE

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

FIELD HEARING IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 

FEBRUARY 19, 2010 

Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

( 


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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois 

PAUL G. KIRK, JR., Massachusetts 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina 

ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah 

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT 

INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

JOHN KILVINGTON, Staff Director 

JOHN COLLINS, Legislative Aide 

BRYAN PARKER, Staff Director and General Counsel to the Minority 

DEIRDRE G. ARMSTRONG, Chief Clerk 


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C O N T E N T S 

Opening statement: Page 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 1 

Prepared statement: 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 31 

WITNESSES 

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010 

Hon. Jack Markell, Governor, State of Delaware ................................................. 5 

Chris Coons, County Executive, New Castle County, Delaware ......................... 14 

Roy Whitaker, Chief of Buildings and Grounds, Seaford School District, Delaware ....................................................................................................................... 19 

James Baker, Mayor, City of Wilmington, Delaware ........................................... 25 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Baker, James: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 25 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 46 

Coons, Chris: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 14 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 39 

Markell, Hon. Jack: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 

Whitaker, Roy: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 19 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44 

APPENDIX 

Charts referred to by Senator Carper .................................................................... 50 


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BLUE, GOLD, AND GREEN: HOW DELAWARE 

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE 

CUTTING THEIR ENERGY COSTS 

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010 

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT,

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES,

AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m., at the 

Carvel State Office Building, 820 North French Street, Wilmington, 

Delaware, Hon. Thomas R. Carper, Chairman of the Subcommittee, 

presiding. 

Present: Senator Carper. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER 

Senator CARPER. Welcome, one and all, to our hearing. We will 

be joined by others as the day goes on. Governor Jack Markell is 

kind enough to be with us until about 11 or 11:15 a.m.. We will 

promise to have him out the door by then. 

I remember some wonderful memories of being in this room and 

announcing some exciting initiatives in the past and to be able to 

be with our governor today and to hear what the State of Delaware 

is doing to lead the way in important areas, is a source of real joy. 

The last few years have underscored the need for our Nation to 

rethink the way we use energy. Ever-changing energy costs and 

our Nation’s severe economic problems have resulted in families, 

homeowners, and businesses all taking a very hard look at how 

they are spending their resources—and governments should be no 

different. In fact, they are no different. 

Last month, I held a hearing of this Subcommittee in Washington to explore what the Federal Government is doing to save energy and money for our taxpayers. Late last year, President Obama 

issued an Executive Order calling for the Federal Government to 

step up its efforts to conserve energy by challenging agencies to 

meet a number of energy, water, and waste reduction targets. Each 

Federal agency is required under that Executive Order to develop 

plans to reach those targets, and we expect initial reports on the 

status of these plans later this year. 


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One of my former staff members used to say, the cleanest, most 

affordable form of energy is the energy we never use, and I fully 

subscribe to that and so does our President. 

We learned in our hearing, though, that the Federal Government 

is the single largest energy user in the Nation. In fiscal year 2008, 

the total energy consumption of the Federal Government in all of 

our buildings and operations was roughly 1.5 percent of all energy 

consumption in the United States. The energy bill for the Federal 

Government that year was just under $25 billion, or about one percent of total Federal expenditures. Of that roughly $25 billion, over 

$7 billion was spent on energy to operate Federal buildings alone, 

and with a price tag that large, there are significant opportunities 

for savings of taxpayers’ dollars. Following our hearing, the White 

House announced that over $10 billion would be saved over the 

next 10 years because of the Federal Executive Order, and that is 

real money that we are talking about. 

While the President’s Executive Order represents an important 

step forward, there is a lot more that we can do. Making better use 

of new financial tools is just one example. Energy savings performance contracts are a creative way to pay for energy efficiency 

projects, and these contracts work, as you may know, by having a 

company pay out of their own pocket to renovate a facility with energy-efficient retrofits. The company’s contract is then paid back 

out of the energy savings generated from the renovations, which 

otherwise would not occur. 

This means that governments can reduce their energy use, can 

help clean up the environment, can cut back on money that they 

have to spend for heating and lighting, and do it all on someone 

else’s dime. To me, that seems like a very clear win for really just 

about everyone. 

I believe that several of our witnesses today have experience 

with these types of contracts and I look forward to hearing their 

thoughts and suggestions on how those contracts can be used most 

effectively, not just in Delaware, but across the country. 

There is an old saying that goes something like this: You can’t 

manage what you can’t measure, and that applies to energy use, 

as well. At a recent hearing, I learned that using technology such 

as advanced metering is one way we can save energy and money. 

By connecting facilities across an organization and monitoring 

buildings, or even parts of buildings, on their energy use in real 

time, managers can make more effective decisions. The best part 

about advanced metering is that it pays for itself in less than a 

year. Do we have a chart that shows that? 

Mr. Collins, where are you from? 

Mr. COLLINS. Townsend, Delaware. 

Senator CARPER. Where did you go to school? 

Mr. COLLINS. University of Delaware. 

Senator CARPER. A Blue Hen? 

Mr. COLLINS. Yes. 

Senator CARPER. That is great. What kind of degrees do you have 

from there? 

Mr. COLLINS. I have an international relations degree and a Master’s in Public Administration. 


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1The chart referenced by Senator Carper appears in the Appendix on page 50. 

Senator CARPER. All right. Well, we have a chart that shows 

what the pay-back periods are for a couple of different approaches 

for energy conservation, and the top one there says—renewable 

electricity, and it looks like the payback time there is how many 

years? Eighteen years.1

Coming on down, what is the next one? 

Mr. COLLINS. The building envelope. 

Senator CARPER. Building E–N–V, building envelope. And it 

looks like the payback there is about 91⁄2 years. What is the next 

one, HVACs. The payback is about 7 years. Lighting, payback is 

about six years. We spend a whole lot of money. A lot of our utility 

money just goes for lighting, and there is great stuff, as the governor knows, that is going on right here in Delaware by small companies and by big companies like DuPont to help us cut dramatically our lighting bills. 

What is the next one, co-gen? Co-gen payback on co-gen is just 

under 5 years. And look at that last one, advanced metering. It is 

not 2 years, it is not 1 year, it looks like a couple of months. And 

so what we are talking about is a real return on investment, a 

wonderful return, and the kind of thing that we want to 

incentivize. But thank you for joining us. 

Wal-Mart uses this technology, advanced metering technology, 

because they understand the financial savings that it brings. From 

their headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, they will know if a 

freezer door is left open for too long at their operations in Middletown, Delaware. 

And it isn’t just an idea for big businesses, either. Later this 

year, Delmarva Power will finish installing advanced metering systems for all of its approximately 300,000 customers across Delaware. This technology will provide greater transparency for energy 

users, allowing them to better manage their energy use to save 

money and help protect and preserve our environment. 

As a recovering governor, I know that Washington doesn’t have 

all the answers. In fact, we may not even have most of those answers. In my time as Chairman of the National Governors Association, I have seen the importance of sharing solutions and best practices, not just between the States, but between the Federal Government, our partners in State, and local government, and to learn 

from one another. 

The challenges we face in Washington are often dealt with first 

in State capitals, cities, and small towns across our Nation. And 

today, perhaps no problem looms as large as the impact that the 

ongoing financial crisis has had on government budgets, both local, 

State, and at the national level. In the face of significant budget 

shortfalls, State and local governments are looking for ways to cut 

their operating expenses, just as we are in Washington. 

Delaware is no different. In fact, from Woodburn to Wilmington 

to Wyoming, Delaware governments understand that saving energy 

isn’t just good for the environment, it is good for the bottom line. 

And when I say Wyoming, I mean Camden, Wyoming, not the 

State. 


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It is important to remember the cleanest, most efficient, and 

cheapest energy is the energy you never use, as said before. Governor Markell certainly understands this. The Executive Order will 

be introduced, I believe, this week, and which he will speak about, 

in a few minutes, creates clear, ambitious goals for making Delaware State Government leaner and more efficient, combining fiscal 

responsibility with environmental responsibility, while nurturing 

the State’s burgeoning clean energy economy. It is a clear win for 

Delawareans. 

Later this morning, Chris Coons, our Chief Executive or County 

Executive of our State’s most populous county, will be with us. He 

also understands the link between energy efficiency and fiscal responsibility. Coming into office, he faced a budget swollen from the 

real estate bubble of the last decade and recognized the need to 

rein in spending. He has led an effort to not only save energy and 

money, but to improve the quality of service provided to the people 

of New Castle County. 

As well, the City of Wilmington and the Seaford School District 

have both been nationally recognized for being energy pioneers. 

Seaford School District, which I visited myself many times, is a 

shining example for what dividends a commitment to energy efficiency can have not for just small towns, but for small school districts. 

The City of Wilmington, too, has shown how government can successfully work together with businesses and developers to achieve 

these goals. It is clear we have a number of lessons to learn from 

our partners in the State and in our local government. 

During these times of mind-boggling budget deficits, governments need to find every way that we can to better manage our operations and finances, and we also need to find ways to put Delawareans back to work. 

In closing, let me just add, the scope of assets held by State and 

local governments is wide. By leveraging buying power, making 

wise and prudent use of taxpayers’ dollars, governments can provide secure demand for sustainable small businesses and for entrepreneurs. 

With that in mind, I want to thank our first witness especially, 

our governor, for really a superb job that he is doing as our Chief 

Executive. It has been a joy, as I said to him privately many times, 

to work with him and his administration. We are interested in 

learning how the rest of us, other States, but the Federal Government, as well, can learn and benefit from what we are doing in 

Delaware. So thank you for being with us today. 

I was kidding earlier. I said, normally, we don’t swear in our witnesses and ask them to take an oath that everything they say is 

the truth, and we are not going to do that today, either, because 

I believe it all. 

Right behind him is our Secretary of the Department of Natural 

Resources and Environmental Control. I just want to say welcome 

to Mr. O’Marra and thank him for the great job that he is doing. 

Thank you. 

Governor Markell, it is all yours. 


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1The prepared statement of Governor Markell appears in the Appendix on page 34. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. JACK MARKELL,1 GOVERNOR, STATE OF 

DELAWARE 

Governor MARKELL. Well, thank you, Senator Carper, for holding 

this field hearing here in Delaware and inviting me to participate 

today. 

We stand at a critical juncture. We are working hard to make 

our economy stronger, but we still have too many of our fellow residents out of work. State revenues are down significantly at a time 

when our citizens need government services the most. And this reality has really forced us to develop new and innovative approaches 

to stimulating economic growth and to making strategic investments that are going to produce long-term results. 

Now, fortunately, Delaware’s economy has some strengths that 

will help accelerate our recovery. We have a proud tradition of innovation. We have the four Cs—chemicals, cars, credit, and chickens—which have led the Nation for generations. But in the past 

year, we have had setbacks, like many parts of the country, with 

the closure of two automobile plants, layoffs in the financial services sector, and the shutdown of a large refinery. Yet despite this, 

we remain confident in our future. 

We are seeing the emergence of a fifth C, clean energy or clean 

tech. In Delaware, when we talk about environmental sustainability, we are really talking about creating good-paying jobs, many 

of which cannot be outsourced. We are talking about the greening 

of the economy to make ourselves more economically competitive as 

we move toward a low-carbon future. 

An important first step toward emerging as a clean energy economy is embracing energy efficiency and conservation in our homes 

and businesses and new buildings, and as you said, the best savings is the energy we don’t use. And beyond that, investments in 

greater energy efficiency put people to work now and it pays dividends for the future. 

Every dollar that is wasted from inefficient energy usage is a dollar that is not put to work getting our economy moving in the right 

direction. And for every million dollars we invest in energy efficiency, our economy can actually produce 15 to 25 jobs, in addition 

to substantial long-term savings. 

And for this reason, a key focus of our energy agenda during my 

first year in office was, in fact, energy efficiency. So during 2009, 

we made numerous improvements to State law with respect to energy issues, including adopting progressive building codes. We also 

passed the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act of 2009, and 

this legislation established Delaware’s new Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, and that is a requirement that all electric and natural gas distributors in Delaware reduce consumption by 15 percent by 2015. That will save taxpayers money on their energy bills. 

And we are also working with our Public Service Commission to 

protect taxpayers and ensure that the savings are passed on 

through to the customers. 

In addition, we worked to pave the way for more solar, photovoltaic, and wind systems in municipalities and subdivisions, and 

we adopted some needed changes to metering requirements, allowVerDate Nov 24 2008 12:28 Dec 01, 2010 Jkt 056841 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\56841.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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ing people who invest in renewable technologies to reap more rewards for their foresight. 

Now, these new improvements in public policy energy infrastructure were the principal drivers for Delaware being nationally recognized this past summer by the American Council on an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). I had the pleasure of going to the National Press Club in Washington to speak on our State’s behalf because Delaware was recognized as the most improved State in the 

Nation with respect to programs aimed at improving energy efficiency. And while we were recognized as the most improved, we 

also know that we have got a ways to go. And it is clear that in 

addition to making sure that we have got the right incentives, the 

right laws, and the right policies on the books, we have got to do 

more to walk the walk. And for this reason, putting our own house 

in order and leading by example is a top priority for us this year. 

So just this past Wednesday, 2 days ago, I signed Executive 

Order Number 18, and we call it the Leading By Example Executive Order, which is exactly what we, in government, ought to be 

doing. So let me just talk about what the order does. It specifies 

that new State construction will be built to the Silver standard, or 

its equivalent established by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Council. 

Second, it sets a target for State agencies to reduce their energy 

consumption by at least 10 percent by the end of fiscal year 2011, 

20 percent by the end of fiscal year 2013, and 30 percent by the 

end of fiscal year 2015. It requires audits of State facilities for energy efficiency opportunities. We establish a system and procedures 

to benchmark, to monitor, and to track the energy use and carbon 

emissions of all State-owned and State-leased facilities. 

It sets a goal for purchasing 30 percent of the State’s electrical 

energy needs from renewable sources by the end of fiscal year 

2013. It specifies a 75 percent diversion rate for solid waste leaving 

State facilities through reducing, reusing, and recycling waste 

products. 

It sets a goal of reducing petroleum consumption by 25 percent, 

vehicle emissions by 25 percent, and vehicle miles traveled by 15 

percent by the end of fiscal year 2012. It specifies green computing 

practices that will save both money and paper. And it requires 

more sustainable purchasing practices and policies. 

Now, these actions are anticipated to save the State significant 

money in the coming years, but also to create jobs and significantly 

reduce the environmental footprint of State Government. And by 

being smarter about the way we use and buy energy, we can enjoy 

significant savings. 

So as one example, the Division of Facilities Management in the 

Office of Management and Budget created what we call an Energy 

Aggregation Partnership. The partnership totaled the demand for 

electricity of many of the State’s facilities and a reverse auction 

was conducted to purchase the electricity for these facilities. The 

end result was an estimated $22 million in savings in electrical 

costs over the 3-year life of the contract compared to existing service provider rates. The aggregation partnership includes counties, 

municipalities, school districts, and is now beginning to plan its 


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second iteration of bidding, which will potentially save the State 

even more in energy costs in the future. 

But government cannot do it all. We need to leverage private 

outside investment, and now with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we have got substantial help coming from Washington, and I want to thank you specifically, Senator Carper, for 

doing everything you have done to advance our cause in Washington. 

And while the Recovery Act was a blessing last year on a number 

of fronts, the assistance and focus on clean energy is especially appreciated. We need to use this opportunity to transform our economy and the focus in the Recovery Act on clean energy and jobs 

is just the sort of shot in the arm that we needed in Delaware. 

Now, another key is allowing innovation to flourish. One of the 

truly innovative ideas coming out of Delaware is the concept of a 

Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU). Now, under the leadership of 

State Senator Harris McDowell, Delaware created this utility to 

provide energy efficiency and renewable energy services to Delawareans across the State. 

SEU is an innovative means of providing energy services to residents and businesses alike and will be the principal distributor of 

Federal Recovery dollars which are dedicated to energy efficiency. 

Under its new banner, which is ‘‘Energize Delaware,’’ the SEU is, 

in fact, a model for the Nation and we are proud to once again be 

leading in the provision of energy services. 

Now, one significant task for the SEU will be to implement the 

results of the audits conducted under the Leading by Example Executive Order. Through use of the SEU’s bonding authority, we can 

retrofit State buildings, some of which are over 30 years old, including this building, to update the systems that provide heat, air 

conditioning, electricity, and water. Now, these improvements are 

going to save taxpayers money. They will result in new jobs for 

Delawareans. And they are not going to require any up-front expenditure by State Government, thanks in part to the Recovery 

Act, which will be used to help pay for these improvements. And 

it will, in fact, bring jobs to Delaware. 

Through innovative public-private partnerships, we hope to catalyze substantial private sector investment in the energy efficiency 

technologies and services. So today, in Delaware, we are seeing a 

lot, dozens of great building projects that demonstrate the opportunities to incorporate energy efficiency and sustainable elements 

into new construction. I have had the chance to attend several 

events dedicating LEED buildings, including multiple LEED Platinum projects. 

Now, while some people have raised concerns about the increased 

costs of building green, some local builders have recouped the additional investment in less than a couple of years. But just as important as the savings is the fact that these construction jobs and construction projects produce good paying jobs. We are committed to 

finding creative ways to move beyond the handful of LEED projects 

and help ensure that we are greening more of our projects in the 

State, helping all of our residents benefit from sustainable design 

and construction and supporting good paying jobs for years to 

come, and that is really the final point that I want to make. 


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We should not think of our efforts to modernize facilities and 

adopt cleaner energy as simply an environmental initiative, although it is that. But it is also a jobs initiative. In Delaware alone, 

we are seeing some of the most exciting innovations in the State 

emerging in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy, building materials, alternative fuels, and advanced transportation. As 

you mentioned, lighting. 

So we are seeing companies like White Optics—another is PTM, 

insulated ductwork, B.F. Rich, windows—all of them producing 

great technologies that reduce energy consumption and generate 

rapid savings. Another exciting company, Motech, recently purchased the former G.E. solar plant and is making photovoltaic panels here in Delaware. DuPont has a series of products that will 

make solar panels more efficient and dynamic, particularly as the 

next generation innovations in thin film come to the market. W.L. 

Gore, DuPont, and Ion Power are leaders in the fuel cell industry. 

Autoport is converting traditional vehicles to electric. And Blue 

Water Wind is planning the first offshore wind farm in the Nation 

off the coast of Rehoboth. The list goes on and on. 

One of the best examples of our innovation economy is the 

repurposing of Delaware’s two automobile plants. The Chrysler 

plant in Newark has been purchased by the University of Delaware 

and will be the home of groundbreaking research. And at the 

former GM plant, Fisker Automotive is going to manufacture their 

plug-in hybrid sedan with the help of a critical loan guarantee from 

the Department of Energy. 

In each case our State’s responsiveness and commitment to business success resulted in a positive outcome for Delaware workers 

and a growing innovation economy, and we are working hard to 

achieve a similarly successful outcome at the Valero facility in 

Delaware City. 

So throughout Delaware, we are fostering a vibrant, functioning 

market for cutting-edge companies not only to succeed, but to put 

people to work making things in Delaware. It is not enough to create demand for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. We have also got to be thoughtful about maximizing the 

economic benefits from these initiatives. We cannot trade our dependence on foreign oil for a new dependence on Chinese-made 

solar panels, on Japanese electric vehicles, and on European wind 

turbines. We have got to work to seize these economic opportunities 

here at home. 

And for this reason, I ask that the Congress continue to look at 

ways to help American companies succeed in serving these emerging markets. We need to create an innovation ecosystem where entrepreneurship can flourish. We need to use every ounce of American ingenuity to strengthen the economy for the next century, and 

it is not enough to just innovate, but we have got to scale up the 

production here at home and to deploy these technologies. 

We, in government, have an opportunity to stimulate the market 

demand through thoughtful procurement goals. We need to expand 

the loan guarantee programs that are providing the critical access 

to capital to help companies grow. We need to allow companies to 

invest in the research and development that will drive future innovations. We need to support domestic manufacturing. We need to 


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help train the workforce so local residents are equipped to enter 

these new, exciting fields. We have made some progress in Delaware, but there is a lot more to be done. 

And I do want to recognize the excellent efforts of New Castle 

County, Kent County, Sussex County, the City of Wilmington, our 

local governments, a number of school districts—Milford, Cape 

Henlopen, Smyrna, Brandywine, Appoquinimink, Caesar Rodney, 

Christina, Sussex Tech, Seaford—our local universities and colleges 

for all their notable actions to implement green technologies and 

improve energy efficiencies in the schools they are building or renovating. 

And I would be remiss if I didn’t publicly and proudly recognize 

the great efforts being led by my colleagues on the panel today, 

New Castle County Executive Chris Coons, Wilmington Mayor Jim 

Baker, and Roy Whitaker from the Seaford School District. They 

have been statewide leaders in these issues. 

So I thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony. 

More importantly, I very much appreciate your very clear commitment, which has been demonstrated over a number of years. Before 

the title of green energy and green technology was really bandied 

about, you were not just talking about these things, you were doing 

something about them. And the fact that you continue to be a leader for us in the U.S. Senate is a big deal for the country, but it 

is also a very big deal for Delaware. We are very grateful to you 

for it. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you for those kind words. Thanks very 

much for your testimony and thank you very much for walking the 

walk and providing the kind of leadership that you are and that 

Delaware is now providing. 

I want to just go back and start off by asking you just to reiterate again the steps that the Federal Government can take to support and to be, if you will, part of the wind beneath the wings of 

the State in the State’s efforts in these regards. 

Governor MARKELL. Well, I think there are a few things. I mean, 

first of all, the loan guarantees can be very significant because 

when you think about these projects being built out, and particularly in the renewable arena, whether or not these projects get 

built out in this country is largely dependent upon two things. 

What is it that taxpayers pay? And the second is, what is it that— 

how much does it cost the companies to build? 

So the cost of capital is just a critical component of whether or 

not the industry is going to take off here, and so I believe that the 

loan guarantees are a very significant component of that. 

As you know, I was recently in Europe and it is just, frankly, 

amazing that in offshore wind, specifically, that industry is thriving. There are 800 offshore wind turbines in Europe today. There 

are zero in the United States. We are a decade behind. 

And part of that is because the European governments, not at 

necessarily the European Union level, but the specific country governments recognized a decade ago what the opportunities would be 

from an economic development perspective. So in Germany, for instance, I understand that a decade ago there were 20,000 people 

working in the renewable energy sector. Today, there are 200,000. 


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And we have to recognize—I think it is sometimes a mistake 

when we talk about all of these initiatives just from the perspective 

of being the right thing to do on the environmental side. These are 

also, as you have been pointing out—I think you were talking 

about this as early as any public servant that I know of—you were 

also talking about this as an issue of national security in terms of 

reducing dependence upon foreign oil and sending money to folks 

who were going to use it against us, but also the economic development implications in terms of job creation are very significant. 

So we believe the loan guarantees are important. Your efforts to 

continue to support research and development is also important because we want these technologies to be developed here as well as 

implemented. So those are just a couple of things. 

Senator CARPER. Good. Thank you for those responses. 

You have grappled as governor for over a year now with dwindling revenues and the need to cut spending in order to try to balance the State’s books, and you have done, with the help of the legislature, a very commendable job. 

I had the good fortune of being governor, at least for most of my 

8 years, we had a time where it was a rising ship, rising tide that 

lifted a lot of boats, including our own. But you have really done 

well with the tough hand that has been given to you. 

We are trying to grapple with deficit reduction in Washington. I 

am encouraged by some of the President’s initiatives in freezing 

discretionary non-security spending, creating a bipartisan commission to come back to us later this year with ideas to reduce expenditures, to put everything on the table, the revenues, entitlement 

programs. Just the combination of the two, that is a very good 

start. 

But rather than cut the services that citizens count on, I think 

it makes a lot more sense to cut out the waste and the services 

that we simply don’t need. You have spoken to this, but I am going 

to ask you to come back to it again, if you will. How can energy 

efficiency work to stabilize and reduce operating expenses for the 

State? How can it help to ease pressure on the energy bottom line? 

You mentioned this. I just want you to come back and touch on it 

again. 

Governor MARKELL. Yes. Well, first of all, it is a great opportunity for the State as a State Government. It is also a great opportunity for individuals. You talked about the difficult challenges facing the State Government in terms of our budget. Obviously, a 

huge number of people through the State and the country are facing the same things with their own budgets. 

And so, for example, the weatherization programs that have existed for a while but have really received a boost through the stimulus program help a lot of people. Less energy escapes. It requires 

less hot air during the one season, less cool air during the other 

season escapes. It is good for our environment. It is good for our 

health. It is good for people’s pocketbooks. So those weatherization 

programs make a big difference. 

But similarly, within State Government, it is everything from 

smarter disposal of waste, because to the extent that we are recycling rather than paying significant tipping fees for the disposal of 

our garbage, I mean, it just makes sense. The great thing about all 


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of this area is these are win-win-wins. They are wins in the sense 

of when you dispose less and recycle more, it is good for our environment. It is good for our health. It is good for our pocketbook. 

But it is also good for creating jobs. So we are going to work hard 

to reduce how much we dispose of and how much we recycle. 

We are, in this building and in other State buildings, capitalizing 

on a very creative program through the Sustainable Energy Utility 

(SEU) where we are taking advantage of financing that is not taxpayer financing. This is not against the general obligation. It is not 

a general obligation debt of the State. But the SEU is essentially 

going out to borrow. The money that is raised through the borrowing is going to be used to make buildings like this one much 

more energy efficient. We are going to be paying less for energy 

and that will be the source of the repayment of the bonds. So that 

is another example. 

And so there are just lots of things like that, but we do think it 

is just incredibly important for us to get beyond the talk and the 

paperwork to real action. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you. I am going to ask one more question. I think you need to be out the door in, I think, about 5 minutes, so we will be mindful of that, but just one more question, if 

I could. As our State and our Nation transition to a new economy, 

new ways of doing things, it is going to take new talents and skills 

for, as you said, for Delaware students and Delaware workers. The 

technology management of even 10 years ago just doesn’t cut it 

when it comes to meeting those new demands. I think about all the 

folks that we represent who worked at the Boxwood Road plant, 

the Newark assembly plant for Chrysler, who have years of technical and mechanical expertise and are, as we know, waiting to get 

back to work. 

How do we bring these workers into the fold and better ensure 

that they have the skills to thrive in a new economy, and what can 

we do to prepare our State and our Nation’s students to make sure 

that they are better able to take advantage of the opportunities a 

green economy will bring? 

Governor MARKELL. Well, this is a great question and it is an important question and it really speaks to the need to think holistically about these opportunities, because it all sounds good, but if 

you don’t have the people to do the work, then it is really for 

naught. 

And the other great thing about it is these projects, these jobs 

cannot be outsourced. I mean, we need people on the ground here 

who are doing all this work. 

So we have already begun to form partnerships with our labor 

community, also with Delaware Tech, and so Delaware Tech has 

launched a series of courses, certificate programs in everything 

from energy auditing to building management to weatherization. 

They are working closely with the State. They are working closely 

with private industry to ensure that the programs that they are developing mirror the kinds of job opportunities that are available in 

the real marketplace. 

So we have got to be mindful also of the timing. So, for example, 

we need people to do the energy auditing and the energy efficiency 

work today while at the same time we are getting people or preVerDate Nov 24 2008 12:28 Dec 01, 2010 Jkt 056841 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\56841.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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paring people to begin the work that will be required at places like 

Fisker. 

We have got a very interesting specific example that I want to 

mention. So right after I came into office, Alan Levin and I awarded a grant to Autoport, just down by the Port of Wilmington. The 

purpose of that grant, it was a training grant to have a few of their 

people learn how to do the retrofits to electric vehicles. So they did. 

They sent their folks, I think it was to California to get trained. 

They then came back and they started producing some of these— 

retrofitting some vehicles for electric usage. They actually had 

some paying customers. 

Senator CARPER. I got to drive one of those. 

Governor MARKELL. Yes. 

Senator CARPER. That was so much fun. 

Governor MARKELL. It is fun. I think they are one of five finalists 

to produce electric vehicles for the Postal Service. And so I don’t 

know if they are going to get that contract or not. We are obviously 

very hopeful that they are. But that would not have been possible 

without their workers being trained. 

And so we just think all of these things fit together, and it is certainly our view—when you talk to companies, as you know from 

your experience as governor and since then, when you talk to companies about why they would locate in Delaware versus some other 

place, there are lots of factors that they consider, many of which 

work to our advantage—our location, our transportation infrastructure, the port, the responsiveness of the government, and certainly 

in the case of Fisker that was big because we were so responsive 

to them. 

But the quality of the workforce is very high on the list. Nobody 

wants to be here if there is not a great workforce, and we are fortunate. We do have a great workforce, in part because we have great 

schools. And so all of these things have to continue to fit together. 

So that is my perspective. 

Senator CARPER. Well, great. I think you are the single best witness I have ever had for a field hearing in Delaware. 

[Laughter.] 

Governor MARKELL. Your second-best witness is about to come 

up on the stage. I mean, your new first-best is about to come up 

on the stage. 

Senator CARPER. Well, he is going to have to work hard to top 

you. But I just want to say, I like the quote I once heard from a 

pastor of mine who used to say, people would rather see a sermon 

than hear one, and in what Delaware is doing under your leadership, we are actually getting to see the sermon rather than just to 

hear about it and we applaud you for that and want to be supportive of that. Thank you very much for sharing some of that with 

us this morning. 

Governor MARKELL. Thank you. 

Senator CARPER. And thanks for riding Amtrak, too. I understand you are going to catch a train here in just a minute. 

[Pause.] 

Senator CARPER. Well, I was kidding our County Executive, 

Chris Coons, saying that the governor, who has now left the building, what a low bar he set as our witness and how easy it will be 


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to exceed what the governor is proposing to do and leaving the 

State to do, but actually, I am kidding. It is actually exciting and 

inspiring to see what the governor is proposing in his new Executive Order and the commitment that he brings to actually implementing the words that are in that Executive Order and sharing 

with us at the Federal level what we can do, what we have done 

that is being helpful and supportive of those policies, but what we 

can do to be even more supportive. 

Our first witness today is our County Executive, Chris Coons. He 

is a former member of the Governor’s State Energy Task Force, 

which worked to address the State’s short- and long-term energy 

goals and to bring clean energy technologies and businesses to 

Delaware, along with a whole lot of other accomplishments. He has 

worked tirelessly, and I think successfully, with partners in the 

Federal Government to bring energy efficiency grants and green 

energy jobs to Delaware and I thank him for being here today. 

He and I both share a passion for creating a nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation. In a day and age when 

we have shed in the last year so many jobs in this country, really 

around the world, we need to do our very best in creating that kind 

of nurturing environment. I think we are doing that in Delaware 

and we thank you for your leadership in making that happen. 

A couple of years ago, when I was, I think, in my first term as 

a Senator, I had the good fortune—I had heard about the remarkable work that was taking place in the School District of Seaford 

and how Seaford was serving as a model to other school districts, 

really to other States, to be able to conserve energy. And I was 

struck, but I learned that they have—I think Seaford has about a 

half-a-dozen school buildings, between your elementary schools and 

middle schools and high schools, and Seaford is one of the school 

districts where they have not just talked about extending the 

school year, but actually have done so in some cases. 

Among the things that Seaford has done, and I have learned this 

in my visit there, that they have been able through all the conservation investments they have made in their schools, been able 

to provide air conditioned schools that can stay open during the 

summer and everybody can—students can learn, teachers can teach 

in an environment that is conducive to that. And by making all the 

savings in energy consumption in other ways, they have been able 

to not really use much more energy. It is a pretty remarkable accomplishment. I said, boy, they ought to be recognized nationally, 

and as it turns out, they have been. 

One of the people who has been just a key part of all this is our 

witness here with our County Executive, Roy Whitaker, who is the 

Chief of Buildings and Grounds for the Seaford School District. I 

bet a lot of school districts around the country would like to get 

their hands on him, but we don’t want to let you go, so thanks for 

being here and staying here. He has been with the school district 

since 1996 and has held a long-time interest, as we all do, in renewable energy. 

In fact, he designed and fabricated a successful solar domestic 

water heater during the late 1970s energy shortage. I would just 

add to that, when I was a graduate student in the MBA program 

at Delaware, we had an operations research course that I took and 


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1The prepared statement of Mr. Coons appears in the Appendix on page 39. 

one of our responsibilities was to design a manufacturing operation 

for some kind of product. And in 1974, my project was a plant that 

created solar energy panels. So you and I are really in the same 

time frame, working in the same venues. It is kind of interesting 

that we have intersected again here. 

During his 14 years’ tenure in Seaford, Mr. Whitaker has been 

instrumental in Seaford becoming only the third school district in 

the Nation to receive the ENERGYSTAR Leader’s Award for reduction of energy consumption, and we salute you for that. We applaud you for that. We are delighted to hear your testimony as to 

how we can learn, at the Federal level, and be better informed as 

we create national policy and fund those policies. We look forward 

to what we are going to learn from both of you today and from 

Mayor Baker when he joins us. 

County Executive Coons, thank you, sir. 

TESTIMONY OF CHRIS COONS,1 COUNTY EXECUTIVE, NEW 

CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE 

Mr. COONS. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for an opportunity to testify at this Subcommittee field hearing on energy efficiency actions by State and local governments. I am grateful for 

your long and effective leadership on this issue, going back to your 

time as a governor and now as a Senator, and I am also grateful 

for the leadership we have seen from Governor Markell, as we 

heard in his testimony earlier today. 

The conservation of energy and our natural resources is an important issue, not just for New Castle County and the State of 

Delaware, but for our Nation and world. As a County Executive 

who represents more than half-a-million people, every year, I have 

to produce a balanced budget, provide needed services, and serve 

as a wise steward of public funds. In tough economic times, people 

across the country are tightening their belts and making their dollars go further, and my government is called on to do the same. 

Out of last year’s operating budget of about $228 million, we 

spend about $10.4 million in total on energy of all kinds. That is 

from street lights and electricity—— 

Senator CARPER. Would you say those numbers again, please? 

Mr. COONS. Out of a $228 million operating budget, we spend about $10.4 million on energy, all in. That is gasoline and diesel 

for our 1,600 vehicles, that is operating energy for roughly 50 

buildings and facilities, and that is the street lights that we are responsible for in dozens of communities in the unincorporated county. So it is one of our largest and most unpredictable operating expenses for energy, both for fuel and for electricity, and one where 

we have made real, I think, strong and consistent efforts to be fiscally responsible. 

As we know, about 40 percent of the energy consumed in our 

country goes into the operation, heating, and maintenance of buildings, and so conserving energy through the retrofit of our county 

buildings and by using more renewable sources is not only environmentally responsible, it is fiscally responsible and makes great economic sense in these difficult times. 


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As a society, all of us are called to be good stewards of natural 

resources, but as a public servant, I think energy efficiency also 

makes me a good steward of county dollars, helps create jobs, and 

makes the world a better place for our children. So New Castle 

County and my administration, in particular, is committed to fostering economic development, creating green jobs locally, and enhancing environmental protections. 

Our county was an early adopter of local government sustainability practices, starting with waste reduction, increased recycling, 

and by empowering my staff to take on leadership in environmental initiatives. One of the first Executive Orders I issued was 

to mandate recycling in county buildings, something about which 

I know you are passionate. And in 2007, we became the first local 

government in Delaware to join the International Council for Local 

Environmental Initiatives, making a commitment to conduct a comprehensive inventory of our greenhouse gas emissions and working 

towards a holistic strategy to reduce those emissions. 

The first and strongest prong of our efforts in that strategy is to 

tackle one of the county’s greatest energy hogs, our buildings. As 

a pilot, we worked first on the City-County Building, the Louis L. 

Redding City-County Building, which is just immediately adjacent 

to this Carvel State Office Building, a 36-year-old building which 

was significantly inefficient, both because of when it was built and 

because of its operating history and the significant amount of deferred maintenance. 

The City-County Building is a 10-story, 192,000-square-foot office 

building, and the energy conservation measures that we implemented were done in partnership with Ameresco, an energy services company. We have a 15-year agreement with Ameresco, which 

was made possible by a facilitating bill in State law that allowed 

a county procurement code to finance capital investments in energy 

efficiency retrofits off the future savings. The sorts of things that 

we entered into this partnership with Ameresco to deliver are upgraded lighting controls, new energy management systems, a replaced boiler, chiller, and cooling tower, variable volume hot and 

chilled water pumping systems, premium efficiency motors, water 

and gas conservation measures, and, of course, ENERGYSTAR certification. 

Our annual operating savings projected through this investment 

are about $355,000 a year. That is the equivalent in terms of reduced emissions, these energy savings, of taking 1,150 tons of carbon dioxide per year out of the environment and reducing the energy demand that New Castle County places on our local grid of 

about 1,890 kilowatts per year. 

Another important point is that this roughly $3.3 million capital 

project is something that, because of our own county’s fiscal situation, we would not otherwise have been able to do. So we were 

faced with a common problem in local government, an aging building with aging critical infrastructure that we lacked the bonding 

capacity at the time to invest in. 

The energy savings contracting system that we entered into with 

Ameresco made it possible to achieve three goals: To upgrade our 

systems so that, frankly, they operated better; to achieve energy 

savings; and to achieve over the long-term cost savings. 


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In 2007, New Castle County completed the construction of our 

largest and newest and in some ways most expensive building, the 

Corporal Paul J. Sweeney Public Safety Building. There is a small 

graphic of the Sweeney Building to my left. It is on Route 13 in 

Minquadale, just south of the City of Wilmington. This roughly $48 

million building is a state-of-the-art public safety building that integrates police, paramedics, and our 911 center, as well as several 

other public safety disciplines, under one roof. It received a Silver 

rating from the U.S. Green Building Council under its Leadership 

in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Building Rating System. And that took a great amount of work and design and 

investment by New Castle County. 

There are many features of the building described in very small 

detail on the graphic that help it achieve that LEED Silver certification. Principal among them, a geothermal pump system consisting of 30 pumps that are buried underneath our parking lot 

that have 400-foot-long pipes that go up and down at various times 

using an alcohol-based liquid to either capture heat, subsurface 

geothermal heat during the winter, or relieve some of the heat from 

the building during the summer. 

It also has a lot of features—electrical sensors for turning off 

lights in rooms that are unoccupied, using skylights to maximize 

natural light within the building, reusing gray roof water, rainwater, or gray water for all the bathrooms in the facility, and many 

other energy efficient aspects to its heating, air conditioning, and 

ventilation systems. 

We also reused and recycled the site of the former county police 

headquarters and separated out and recycled most of those building materials, thus getting a Silver certification. 

Due to the vital public safety activities that are housed in that 

building, it is not uncommon for a building such as this to be a 

very large consumer of energy. But through the use of these green 

technologies and the disciplines that the LEED Silver certification 

forced us to go through, we reduced both our environmental impact 

and the annual operating cost of the building. 

Last, after these initial successes with the public safety building 

and the city-county building, we decided when the stimulus was 

enacted a year ago to jump with both feet into doing a countywide 

energy efficiency program. We again used Ameresco to do an energy performance audit of all of our facilities and to establish a 

baseline for setting and measuring progress over time. The purpose 

of that audit was to prioritize and rank our different infrastructure 

investments to find the best return on investment for reducing energy demand. We found 158 different conservation measures across 

more than 20 county facilities and nearly half-a-million square feet 

of building space, which includes two rooftop solar installations. 

This will allow us to undertake a comprehensive countywide 

partnership with subcontractors in specific trades and local materials here in New Castle County. We have also partnered with 

DelAccess, which is an organization that helps in terms of outreach 

for small, minority, and women-owned businesses. We believe this 

project will ultimately create 156 green local jobs, and we are going 

to invest $3.8 million in Federal stimulus funds which we are 

leveraging with $4 million in county bond indebtedness, which we 


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will either finance through our traditional AAA general obligation 

county bonds or through a zero percent interest Renewable Energy 

Tax Credit Bond program that is currently being offered by the Department of Treasury. 

We have a whole range of improvements that are being planned 

through this initiative, which will include lighting retrofits and 

new controls, energy management systems, premium efficiency motors, heat pumps, boilers, cooling towers, a whole range of different 

improvements that across all of New Castle County should allow 

us to reduce CO/2/ emissions by 11.8 million pounds per year, 

equivalent to that amount of offset. That is the equivalent of taking 

1,000 cars off the road or the power to heat 240 homes across Delaware. 

We are also going to be working with Ameresco to educate the 

community about the benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, hoping to set an example, not just for our citizens 

but also for our private sector and general business community. 

Our savings should be about $450,000 a year in energy for New 

Castle County through this stimulus-funded countywide initiative, 

and in all, these initiatives should pay for themselves in 20 years 

or less. That was the benchmark we set. Some of them pay for 

themselves in just 3 or 4 years. Some of them take up to 20 years. 

There is also intangible benefits to these investments—health 

benefits, for example, for our workers, by improving air flow, increasing natural lighting, or decreasing volatile organic compounds 

(VOCs), in their work spaces. 

I, if you don’t mind, Senator, will take this opportunity to make 

a few comments, as well, about how this experience was positive 

and more difficult for us. I strongly support the Obama Administration’s initiative to invest in our Nation’s energy infrastructure 

through the stimulus and we recognize the daunting task of rapidly 

ramping up such a large investment in energy infrastructure. But 

we also saw some real challenges for us. 

Understandably, when you are trying to disburse this large an 

amount of taxpayer funds, you have to take strong efforts to maintain transparency and to ensure that they are appropriately accounted for. But in respect to the disbursement of funds from the 

Department of Energy (DOE) to New Castle County, they did not 

have sufficient staff, either career personnel, or contractors, to handle some of these initiatives. Our initial application for EECBG 

was filed in July 2009. The release of funds didn’t occur until December 2009, and through that 6-month review, our application 

went through three different DOE staff and a contractor, each of 

which requested different information and we had different hurdles 

to get through. That has produced some significant frustration in 

our local contractor community just because of the delay. 

Frankly, I think in New Castle County, we also have to own 

some of that delay due to our own internal purchasing and procurement process. Again, when using public funds, we recognize the importance of transparency. But we were somewhat frustrated by the 

timing that it has taken to get this money on the street. 

A second comment, if I could. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, allocates amounts to municipalities across this State and the country, in some cases in very 


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small amounts. Arden, Odessa, and Townsend, for example, got 

$20,000. Newport and Bellefonte, $30,000. Delaware City, $35,000. 

So to try and help make that more efficient, make it go farther, we 

invited Ameresco to work with New Castle County and those municipalities to pull them together and allow them—which State 

code allows—to piggyback on New Castle County’s contract with 

Ameresco, so that instead of having these small municipalities 

spend that money on an RFP process or going through their own 

procurement process, they could piggyback on the work that we 

had already done and partner with us, hopefully, or with the 

State’s Sustainable Energy Utility, to achieve rapid investments 

that would actually see real results rather than just investing in 

a paper process. 

At the end of the day, our partnership with Ameresco, our work 

in partnership with the city and with the State, with Honeywell 

and with the SEU have been very positive, and I would like to applaud the Administration and your leadership, Senator, in supporting energy efficiency investments at the State and local level. 

It is my real hope that we will learn from the experiences of this 

year and there will continue to be investments through EECBG, 

because it is my belief that it ultimately produces high-quality sustainable green jobs, a reduced operating cost for State and local 

governments, and significant benefits for our community, not just 

in environmental ways but in economic ways, as well. 

Looking forward, some areas where we are hoping to continue to 

work together is, for example, in plug-in hybrid vehicles. It is my 

real hope that the Fisker automotive plant, which you played a role 

in helping get reopened, will be producing plug-in hybrid vehicles, 

and I think State and local fleets are a perfect place for them to 

begin. We have 1,600 vehicles in the New Castle County fleet and 

I am hopeful that some of them will be hybrids that are plug-in hybrids as that plant begins to ramp up. 

Second, local governments can encourage or even mandate energy efficiency through the adoption of building codes that encourage conservation. New Castle County has adopted the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code, which sets standards for building efficiency and operation. And working in partnership with the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s ENERGYSTAR program, we have 

made real progress in measuring and delivering energy efficiency, 

not just in our buildings, but in the private sector here across New 

Castle County. 

We have a number of buildings, as I mentioned, that have applied for and received LEED certification—our own Sweeney Public 

Safety Building, also showing some real leadership, I think, the 

State’s Blue Ball Barn, which got a Gold certification, recently the 

Girl Scouts had a LEED Platinum certified building out in 

Hockessin, but also our private sector, P&C Bank, AstraZeneca, the 

American Honda Financing Center have all achieved LEED Gold 

certification. It is our hope, working in partnership with the State 

and with them, to begin a Green Buildings Award Program annually that would recognize private sector partners, government partners who have made these investments. 

There is a lot more that we can be doing together. I thank you 

for your leadership in holding this hearing today. I look forward to 


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1The prepared statement of Mr. Whitaker appears in the Appendix on page 44. 

the comments of both Roy Whitaker from the Seaford School District and the Mayor when he joins us. We can learn from each 

other, and working together, we can invest in making this not just 

a greener, more livable, more sustainable community, but in putting people back to work and making ours a more financially solvent and responsible community. 

Thank you, Senator, for this chance to testify. 

Senator CARPER. You are quite welcome. We thank you very 

much, not just for being here, but for the great leadership that you 

and the county are providing for a half-million of us who are privileged to live there and be your constituents. Thank you for all that. 

I have a couple of questions I would like to ask, but we are going 

to turn to Mr. Whitaker next and thank him again for joining us. 

We welcome your testimony. Thanks so much. 

TESTIMONY OF ROY WHITAKER,1 CHIEF OF BUILDINGS AND 

GROUNDS, SEAFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT, DELAWARE 

Mr. WHITAKER. Good morning and thank you for inviting me to 

the hearing. There are three primary points of interest I would like 

to make to the attendees. The three points will describe our school 

district and our successes, the free and low-cost efforts resulting in 

huge financial savings, and how other school districts, government 

agencies, or businesses can duplicate the efforts. 

The Seaford School District in Seaford, Delaware, is a national 

average school district with six schools. We have used the free webbased EPA ENERGYSTAR program, and particularly the Portfolio 

Manager software, to successfully benchmark all of our schools and 

manage them for superior energy efficiency, resulting in current 

annual savings of $640,000 per year compared to national average 

schools. Another benefit includes a several-million-pound reduction 

in air pollution. 

In summary, the Seaford School District’s introduction to the 

ENERGYSTAR program and ensuing partnership has enabled us 

to fast track significant energy and pollution reduction measures 

that are having a real and immediate impact on the planet and 

budget. The quality ENERGYSTAR training program and resources showed us how and where to start with benchmarking and 

how to take our Portfolio Manager numbers into an effective action 

plan that made an immediate impact. 

I note that the six schools have an average age of 61 years and 

our current average ENERGYSTAR rating for all six buildings is 

96 out of 100, with the 1928 school building dragging us down just 

a few points. We are very proud to manage our schools with some 

of the best energy performance in the country, even when compared to the newest schools. The Seaford High School right now is 

rated at 38,000 BTUs per square foot per year, which is in the 

order of a brand new school with the best LEED design. 

There are a multitude of free and low-cost items that can be implemented to initiate a path of significant energy savings like ours. 

There are also many items with quick payback that would be a 

part of any savings program. 


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One important aspect of any program would be to sweat the 

small details. The small details are what make a school environment healthy and effective for the students and staff. I note that 

we have made mistakes along the way and have learned and improved because of them. I would suggest that anyone interested in 

the steps we took please review the PowerPoint presentation on the 

Seaford School District website. It is available off of the Buildings 

and Grounds link, or contact us. 

Although the list is long, a few of the details that you will find 

on the website presentation will include creating a formal energy 

policy, benchmarking building performance, managing the on-off 

times, and tuning the equipment. Also important is sealing up the 

building envelope, avoiding wasteful practices that consume significant energy, modifying or upgrading existing lighting, storm windows, which at one school saved 24 percent right off the bat, and 

specifying different or better equipment when repairing or building 

new facilities. 

I also believe that some of the engineering practices in even the 

past 10 years are not suited for the facilities of today and every detail needs to be scrutinized. At one of our schools, we are considering upgrading the main electrical transformers, which are only 

12 years old. The replacement will have 2-year payback with a savings of over $1 million over the 30- to 40-year lifespan. 

If suitable funding can be found, there are countless similar investment opportunities that will produce significant cost savings 

over the next few decades. To summarize this point, the goal is to 

maintain an excellent indoor environment while providing the taxpayer with substantial energy savings. 

Although these tough economic times throw up roadblocks, it will 

take interested and dedicated people to plan, coordinate, and control the outlined steps to achieve significant and consistent energy 

savings. It will also take the financial partners to fund the projects 

that have significant payback for many years into the future. 

To take this last point full circle, we just recently noted that the 

ENERGYSTAR rating was starting to drop at one of our buildings. 

The Seaford School District is one of the poorer school districts in 

the State and the phrase ‘‘shoestring budget’’ applies to all of our 

buildings and grounds operations. My two technicians and I are responsible for everything from maintaining the athletic fields to 

what has unfortunately been too much of lately, snow removal. Although everything seemed to be running very well at the school, 

the technicians—— 

Senator CARPER. Let me just interrupt you. Did you have a roof 

of one of your elementary schools collapse, or partially collapse? 

Mr. WHITAKER. Yes. That was our West Seaford Elementary 

School. Ironically, we were watching the rainstorm come for almost 

2 weeks. We saw that on AccuWeather on the long-range forecast. 

I did even note to the Superintendent that we had a blizzard coming, which we would deal with, and the rain that came on that 

Tuesday into Wednesday was a problem. Monday of that week, we 

actually took the ceiling tiles out of most of our schools in the corridors and the classrooms, cranked the heat up to 80 degrees in an 

effort to actually get some of the snow melted off the roof. Our staff 

was also up on the roofs Monday morning shoveling the drains, the 


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roof drains, to make sure as much water as we could, we could get 

off of them. Unfortunately, that roof is ballasted. It has large rocks 

all over the top of the roof. It is not very easy to walk on and we 

didn’t deem it safe or wise to try to get up there and shovel it. 

And about 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the nominal 100,000 

pounds of extra weight of snow and rain did bring that roof to a 

very substantial and catastrophic collapse. It took out that area 

and the adjacent kitchen area and the perimeter. It was basically 

a gym/auditorium/cafeteria combination, multi-purpose room, and 

the entire second story, the masonry there was many tons and that 

all fell on the adjacent rooms, also. 

So that has been cleaned up now. They have shored up the adjacent areas. We did have the serving line for the children back into 

the gym down at the other end of the building and that was up and 

operational for the return of school when we finally got the streets 

cleared in Seaford. 

Senator CARPER. OK. What a challenge, on top of everything 

else. Thank you. Please proceed. 

Mr. WHITAKER. You are welcome. Although everything seemed to 

be running at the school, the technicians discovered a glitch in the 

controls program, probably very similar to what we have in this 

building here, Johnson Controls. We use the Metasys, and it was 

keeping the main circulation pump running 24 hours a day, 7 days 

a week. Where the glitch came from, we never know, but as we are 

all very well aware, computers can have a glitch from time to time 

and you will never understand how or why it broke, but they do. 

This single error was wasting electricity and a significant 

amount of heat. If we are not looking for these types of things, 

meaningful energy savings will not be maintained over time. In 

conjunction with ongoing upgrades to our ENERGYSTAR Portfolio 

Manager data in tracking the effectiveness of our newer mechanical improvements and engineering test applications, which we do 

from time to time, it is also very reassuring to observe the documented energy savings by using that free service. 

I thank everyone for making it possible to share some of our successes with our energy program and invite anyone to tour our facilities or contact me with questions. 

Senator CARPER. Thanks for a great story. 

Each of you have talked a bit about the partnerships that you 

have entered into and the ability to use scarce county resources or 

school district resources in order to get a much bigger bang for 

your buck and to drive down your energy costs. Would you just 

come back and just talk with us a little bit. Our County Executive 

talked a good deal. He mentioned the firm Ameresco and a couple 

of others, as well, as private sector partners and all. But just talk 

with us about how you have explored the possibilities for partnerships, how you entered into these, how you feel about them, any 

points that you would suggest to other counties or States keep in 

mind as they look for those partnerships, as well. 

One of the partners obviously is the Federal Government. You 

have referred to how we sought to be a good partner through some 

of the provisions of the stimulus package, but feel free to talk about 

that, as well. 


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Mr. COONS. We have benefited enormously from several different 

partnerships, as you heard from Mr. Whitaker. The Seaford District benefited a lot from what the Department of Energy put up 

in their ENERGYSTAR program, their online resources. We also 

relied on that and learned a great deal from it. 

Previous to my service in the county, my work in the private sector with a local company, we also reached out to the Department 

of Energy and found that their resources, both in person and online, made an enormous difference in getting on top of our energy 

costs, the Portfolio Manager software, the ENERGYSTAR building 

ratings were very helpful. 

The National Association of Counties, which I am also active 

with, has had a Green Government initiative that had a very energetic staff person, Kelly Zonderwick [ph.], who convened facilities 

managers and purchasing people to talk about green purchasing, 

energy initiatives, investments in facilities, and that has been quite 

a helpful learning opportunity for us. 

We also, frankly, had to invest in upgrading the caliber and 

training of our staff. We have a new person, Barry Nane, who is 

running all of our facilities and is, himself, a master electrician and 

somebody who I am going to refer to Mr. Whitaker for some partnership and ongoing learning. 

Ameresco, we entered into a long-term work relationship with 

through a RFP process. Honeywell is also a great company that we 

have worked with in the past. Honeywell has had and continues to 

have some of the operating responsibilities for the City-County 

Building, a building that was jointly built, owned, and still operated by the city and county governments, and Honeywell has 

played a central role in trying to manage it more efficiently, and 

I know the Mayor, when he comes, will talk about Honeywell’s role 

in helping the city score and manage their investments. 

We have also done a fair amount of outreach to the local contractor community. There are local businesses, PTM Manufacturing, for example, is one that just opened in the Newark area 

that is making products that are energy efficient. These are insulated HVAC ductwork. Where we are trying to create business opportunities for them and jobs in our county, by introducing them 

back, by getting them familiar with Honeywell and Ameresco as 

companies that have billions of dollars in contracting opportunities 

at the State and county level regionally. 

We also have, in the University of Delaware, a great resource for 

all of us. They are a national leader in solar energy, both in research and in implementation, and we have got some strong local 

companies that have innovative installation and servicing systems. 

I was just talking to Scott Johnson of SolarDock earlier today 

about their rooftop solar mounting systems. So I think as long as 

we continue to work together, with your leadership, we will be able 

to learn from each other and do a better job at energy efficient installations. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you. And, Mr. Whitaker, do you want to 

talk a little bit about the partnerships that Seaford has had with 

the State or with the private sector, the Federal Government, and 

with a mind on what could we do better. Particularly at the Federal level, what can we do better to enable you to do more. 


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Mr. WHITAKER. One of the most interesting things from the chart 

you showed earlier was cogeneration or combined heat and power. 

The Seaford School District is very actively looking at a possible 

combined heat and power project. 

Senator CARPER. Who would the project be with? 

Mr. WHITAKER. With multiple players. The City of Seaford actually has their own power company, one of the nine in Delaware 

that are part of DMEC. So the municipal company has rates that 

are maybe not as competitive with some other areas and our costs 

are very high for the electric for the taxpayers. In conjunction with 

that, the electricity use profile of a high school, middle school, elementary school is completely opposite of the average home. So 

when the folks at home are going to work, our schools are just 

starting to turn and use electricity. As the school shuts down in the 

afternoon, everyone is now starting to come home. The air conditioning goes on. People are cooking dinner and electric usage goes 

up. So our load profile matches very good with the average residence. 

The City of Seaford has six megawatts of generating capacity 

that are called antique design, old diesel recipocating engines 

receps, that are very, probably, inefficient and also high-pollution 

factors. They have shut those down due to the pollution concerns. 

But those generators, one of the things they also do is produce excess heat. If we had excess heat in our school buildings, in the wintertime, instead of maybe keeping a classroom at 70 degree, maybe 

we could keep it at 72, 73, if it is waste heat. 

So we are looking to actually form a partnership with an investment company maybe to own the turbines, maybe even the City of 

Seaford could own them or run them through a third party. The 

school district could do a power purchase agreement. We could buy 

the electricity off of those turbines at a discount. 

One of the biggest things with electrical consumption was this 

electricity had to be made at a power plant somewhere and half of 

the power that these lights are burning right now is lost just getting here. So the distribution loss, the pollution due to that is very 

problematic and that is what makes cogeneration so good. 

So we have a very good fit there, very quick payback, and we 

could take the waste heat and put it into the classroom or run air 

conditioning off the waste heat. So it is a very large win-win. Efficiencies are very large. Cogeneration saves approximately 25 to 30 

percent. It is more efficient than having it shipped in over the 

wires. 

So we are trying to put a large amalgamation together now. This 

is rather difficult for a school district with six schools, myself responsible for so many areas. So if there is any kind of a pilot 

project, we are looking for it. I know the Federal Government had 

some combined heat and power (CHP) cogen projects that were in 

the stimulus package. We have not actually figured out a way to 

get access to any of those funds, but with some proper hard-core 

engineering, there is a tremendous win-win that could be put in 

place at the Seaford District and could be a model for the State, 

maybe for the country, and would work very effectively, saving the 

taxpayer money, reducing pollution, and being a good fit with the 

grid overall. 


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Senator CARPER. I am going to ask, when the hearing is over, if 

you would just spend a few minutes with members of my staff who 

are right behind me and talk with them about how we can help you 

better access some of those monies in the stimulus package. That 

would be good. 

Mr. WHITAKER. Thank you. 

Senator CARPER. I know there are national organizations in 

which school districts participate and superintendents of school districts participate. I am not sure what opportunities there are for 

someone who has learned so much, done so much in the school district, provided great leadership, for you to infuse your experience 

on to your counterparts in other schools, other school districts 

across the State and across America. 

But with that in mind, let me just ask each of you, what lessons 

could you pass on, or what lessons are you passing on to other government leaders or to other school leaders to motivate them on how 

to follow up, really, on your successes? 

Mr. COONS. More than anything, what I tried to convey, in partnership with several members of the County Council, one who has 

now gone on to serve in Governor Markell’s domestic team—— 

Senator CARPER. I saw her just this morning. 

Mr. COONS. You may have seen her. Stephanie McClellan now is 

a policy advisor to the governor and took a real lead role in County 

Council on the building codes and energy, also, in partnership with 

other county executives. It is to just try and convey the message 

that investments in energy efficiency are the most productive investments we can make. The most efficient energy we generate is 

the energy we save, that we don’t ever have to generate. 

And so, frankly, it is both good environmental stewardship, good 

economic stewardship, and good politics to invest in energy efficiency. So if there is one simple message I have tried to convey 

through organizations of county-elected officials, it is that. 

Senator CARPER. We have been joined by Mayor Jim Baker. I am 

going to ask you, Mayor, if you will, just come on up and join Mr. 

Whitaker, from the Seaford School District, where they have done 

great things in energy conservation. Welcome. We are delighted 

that you are here. 

I am going to ask Mr. Whitaker to respond to one more question. 

He has given inspiring testimony as to what is being done in the 

Seaford School District to reduce energy consumption, to save 

money, and to improve the environment for employees and for constituents and for students and teachers. 

What lessons can you pass on to other folks, other school districts 

across Delaware and across America? How do you go about doing 

that? 

Mr. WHITAKER. The message has gotten out. Due to our participation with the ENERGYSTAR program, we were also the 2007 

ENERGYSTAR partner of the year. I have spoken both in Washington, DC several times and throughout the State. As a matter of 

fact, next Saturday, I will be at the Blue Ball Barn giving a brief 

presentation, much more detailed than what I am doing here. 

The third point, though, in my presentation was that it really 

takes the oversight and dedication of people who are interested in 

the topic to bring it to fruit. I don’t believe myself showing up on 


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1The prepared statement of Mr. Baker appears in the Appendix on page 46. 

anyone’s doorstep would be effective. They really have to want it 

from within. 

So it was reassuring last December, I was in Washington, DC for 

the EPA Tools for Schools Symposium on the indoor air quality. We 

have practiced the EPA Tools for Schools for about 8 years now and 

I spoke on another topic on air quality there just briefly, and one 

of the fellows came up to me afterwards, ‘‘Oh, I am from Pennsylvania, a school district there. We actually went to your website. We 

copied your energy policy and we are doing the things that you are 

doing.’’ And they were having great success with it. 

So the sharp young people, or sharp old people, were picking up 

on those things. They are going to have success. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you. 

We are going to wrap up in about 10 minutes or so. I want to 

spend most of that time just hearing from our Mayor. I enjoyed so 

much over the years as governor, now as a Senator, having a 

chance to work with the Mayor, to work with the City of Wilmington. We appreciate his testimony before a field hearing in 

Philadelphia a year or so ago on the census, as we are gearing up 

for the Decennial, and we thank you for that input. 

We just welcome your comments here today. The County Executive has talked a little bit about the challenges that you faced in 

the City-County Building and how to take a very old building and 

try to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. But thank you for joining 

us and please proceed. 

TESTIMONY OF JAMES BAKER,1 MAYOR, CITY OF 

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 

Mr. BAKER. Thank you very much, Senator. It is good to be here. 

Sorry to be late, but I was talking to a bunch of kids, and when 

they start grabbing you, you can’t get out. 

But I think that we have worked with the county on the whole 

issue of the Louis Redding City/County building and how to make 

it a LEED-type building eventually, but we can’t do the whole 

thing all at once so we have to do it piece by piece, which takes 

forever, but we are doing it, and we have had this cooperation. 

I think the other thing is joint cooperations between the governments from the Federal, State, and local level makes a lot of difference in what happens. Educating the public, I think, is critical. 

We signed onto the registry, the Climate Registry, some time ago. 

We also signed onto the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement where we pledge to beat the Kyoto Protocols target 

of a 7 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and we are 

trying to reduce ours accordingly by 20 percent instead of 7 percent 

by 2020. I think it is 2020. It is hard for me to talk. I am still in 

the 1900s. 

[Laughter.] 

But anyway, we have done a lot of things and I think you have 

our statement as to the various programs that we have already set 

in place in terms of the Executive Order which I issued and the 

things we are trying to do with our fleet and with all our facilities, 


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and thanks to the money from the stimulus package, we were able 

to do a major program with Honeywell and—— 

Senator CARPER. Would you talk just a little bit about that, 

please? 

Mr. BAKER. Yes. It is such a great project because it has so many 

great elements to it. One, it obviously got us some money to be able 

to do that. But it will save us, like, 25 percent of our costs at our 

Porter Water Filter Plant. The solar panels that were put up will 

help us do that. But we needed help from the State. We got the 

stimulus package money. Honeywell did certain things with us. 

There were actually people from the neighborhoods that got hired 

to City Council Member Hanifa Shabazz’s program. I think there 

were six that got hired out of that program to work in this project. 

We are also going to do our new municipal complex where the 

public works and parks departments operate. We are going to do 

solar there. We are doing LEDs for all our traffic lights. We are 

changing our fleet where we are going to use hybrids. I am actually 

driving a hybrid right now because we are trying to make sure that 

we do everything possible. We have the business community in a 

roundtable talking about what they are doing, what we are doing, 

what we can do to change our building codes and things like that. 

DuPont Company has been very helpful. They have a lot of great 

products that could save us. We are doing about 1,000 units of 

weatherization through the stimulus package in our city, which 

will be great once we really get the thing full roll, and a lot of people are going to get employed and companies are going to be working. 

So I think that the obvious answer from me is that the cooperation and education are—and, of course, the finances to do a lot of 

this makes so much difference. We are doing a reverse osmosis system on our water system to clean our water to where we will have 

one of the best water systems in the country. We are also improving our combined sewer overflows (CSOs), to prevent contamination. We are using a Real Time Control System which only three 

cities in North America are using—I think one in Kentucky, and 

one in Quebec, are using the system, but it controls the water, not 

letting the bad stuff go back into our waterways. 

So we are going to do a major thing to make this a real interesting place. We can’t save the world, but we are really going to 

do the best we can. I think you realize, too, the jobs that can be 

connected to the whole issue of the environment. We call it greening, but it is really way beyond just ‘‘greening.’’ 

I think the most important thing was that you saved, by the 

Congress acting on the stimulus package, you saved a total collapse, I think, economically of the country. I know all the arguing 

and the gridlock and the stuff in Washington, DC, but those of us 

that have to put up with that understand what you have done, 

which is great for the country and its future. And looking at education and putting the money there for our children is just critical. 

So I think in the long run, we are going to come out a stronger 

Nation. Yes, we are going to go through the bad times. I mean, our 

money is just as bad as New Castle County’s money and the State’s 

money. I mean, we have deficits we have to work with and all the 

pain of that. But if we really teach our children why this is so imVerDate Nov 24 2008 12:28 Dec 01, 2010 Jkt 056841 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\56841.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT

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portant and what they can do for their future, we have a greater 

Nation and we will be greater than we have ever been if we really 

have the faith and the belief. 

And all the politics of conservatism, liberalism; I don’t care about 

that. It doesn’t matter to me. What are the best ideas for the country? Because when we pass away, I would hope we are leaving a 

better Nation to our children than what we have right now and 

that we are not able to stand before God and they say, well, why 

in the world didn’t you guys take care of your country when you 

had it? I wouldn’t want to be in that position. 

So I thank you for what you have done and also this hearing of 

just discussing how we can work together. But we have done, I 

think, pretty good on—— 

Senator CARPER. I am struck in your testimony and also what we 

heard from our County Executive and from Mr. Whitaker of the 

value of partnerships, enabling you to leverage relatively scarce 

public resources through working with the Federal Government, 

through working with private companies. A number of you mentioned Honeywell, for example. It is just very encouraging to me to 

hear that. 

I would like to spend the next 4 hours, frankly, just having a 

conversation. Unfortunately, we can’t. Our First Lady, Michelle 

Obama, is going to be up the road in a suburb of Wilmington that 

is Philadelphia. 

[Laughter.] 

As I am sure you know, she is leading a national effort to combat 

childhood obesity. 

Mr. BAKER. This is great. 

Senator CARPER. I am going to go up and be with her for that, 

so I need to—— 

Mr. BAKER. Well, you are luckier than we are. 

Senator CARPER. I feel very lucky to have been with you and to 

have heard all the wonderful, encouraging things that you are 

doing. 

Let me just ask from each of you maybe a final take-away. 

Again, just to reiterate, for me, maybe the greatest value of this 

hearing is to hear what is working in terms of what we have done 

at the Federal level with the stimulus package, with the other 

pieces that we have done. But let me just ask for you again, what 

do you see from our perspective, the work that you are doing with 

the Federal Government, what seems to be working and what could 

we do differently or better to enable you to be more effective as we 

try to conserve energy and save money? 

Mr. COONS. On the energy efficiency side, I mean, the EECBG 

program was actually enacted several years prior to the stimulus. 

It was the stimulus that made it possible for funding and flowing 

those funds down in a way that allows municipalities and counties 

and school districts to directly benefit, but to partner with each 

other, is something I would encourage you to continue to do. 

Finding ways to release the funds and share learnings from the 

use of those funds more quickly is something I would support. And 

ensuring that we are spending those funds locally and giving us 

some support in disbursing them locally in a way that creates and 

sustains green jobs, training for green jobs, the infrastructure for 


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green jobs locally would also be helpful, because, frankly, our own 

procurement codes sometimes get in the way of that. So those are 

three things I would suggest. 

Senator CARPER. All right. 

Mayor, do you want to add to that, please? 

Mr. BAKER. I agree with what Mr. Coons has said, but I think 

the other thing that would really help, I know there has been 

money put aside to help companies and colleges with research and 

to produce. I think we really have to save the small business community and also increase the small business community and increase new industries. We have people here who have come up with 

a great idea about putting the emergency lights at the lower level 

instead of the upper levels like they are today, and it is a big potential industry where we have it right here in Delaware. We have 

the people who now can change all of our street lights to solar rather than what they are today. 

So, I mean, there are businesses out there that have great ideas 

and capability, but may not have access to the money or the necessary research to bring it to fruition because we can’t depend on 

the old industries to pull our economy up. 

The other thing I would say is, get the banks to loan more 

money, because if the money doesn’t circulate in our economy, what 

do we think is going to happen? I know a lot of people who have 

great projects and they can’t get loans. Of course, if the credit card 

companies want to give me more money, I will take that, too. 

Senator CARPER. As it turns out, as you know, a lot of small businesses, especially entrepreneurs who are just getting started, use 

those credit cards to help get their funding. 

Mr. BAKER. Bills. 

Senator CARPER. That is their source of working capital, at least 

initially. 

Mr. Whitaker, do you want to close us out, please? 

Mr. WHITAKER. When I worked at Siemens Telecommunications, 

I was a mechanical engineer in a firm that did electronics, full of 

electrical engineers. Right now, I am a facilities man and now responsible for public education. We are kind of the odd man out. 

The importance of that is, if we can’t get the outside resources 

that the Federal Government or other agencies can provide, public 

education can’t move forward because we are probably the exceptional facility group. So it is just important, I guess, to continue to 

spread the word, continue to raise the bar for efficiency, raise the 

bar on the engineers, hold them to the highest standards, and 

make them think out of the box, but thinking has to change. 

Senator CARPER. Well, great. I am going to ask you, Mr. 

Whitaker, if you can stay around for a few minutes. I am going to 

ask you to spend a few minutes with our staff, who are behind me. 

I want to thank them for their work. They are doing great work 

on these fronts, not just here in Delaware, but really for our Nation 

through the work we do in the Senate and I am grateful to them 

for their support and energy that they bring to these tasks. 

Thank you for being the sermon, not just talking about what you 

are doing but actually showing us all what can be done and accomplished through collaboration and a lot of creativity. So we thank 

you for that. 


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1The prepared statement of Senator Carper appears in the Appendix on page 31. 

I appreciate especially the points that you have made here at the 

end as how we can be more effective going forward and how the 

Federal Government can be an even better partner as we go down 

the road. 

With that, I bid you hasta luego until the next time we get together. Thank you again for joining us today. 

I have a closing statement here. Given the time constraints, I 

don’t think I am going to use it. We will just enter it for the 

record.1

Thank you very much, and with that, this hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:02 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 


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