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AN EFFICIENT WAY TO GROW JOBS: ENERGY 

UPGRADES THAT SAVE FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES MONEY, REDUCE POLLUTION, AND CREATE GOOD JOBS 

FIELD HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GREEN JOBS 

AND THE NEW ECONOMY 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013—PORTLAND, OR 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman 

MAX BAUCUS, Montana 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon 

KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana 

JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

ROGER WICKER, Mississippi 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

BETTINA POIRIER, Majority Staff Director 

ZAK BAIG, Republican Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GREEN JOBS AND THE NEW ECONOMY

JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon, Chairman 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

BARBARA BOXER, California (ex officio) 

ROGER WICKER, Mississippi 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana (ex officio) 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 

OPENING STATEMENT 

Merkley, Hon. Jeff, U.S. Senator from the State of Oregon ................................ 1 

WITNESSES 

Kitzhaber, Hon. John A., M.D., Governor, State of Oregon ................................. 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 

Colas, Andrew, President and Chief Operating Officer, Colas Construction, 

Inc. ......................................................................................................................... 15 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 17 

Smith, Derek, Chief Executive Officer, Clean Energy Works Oregon ................ 19 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 22 

Lopez-Dorsey, Berenice, Owner, Home Energy Life Performance Group, Inc. .. 24 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 26 

Dobhran, Sary, Energy Auditor and Home Performance Technician, Home 

Energy Life Performance Group, Inc. ................................................................. 29 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 31 

Barnard, Casey, Project Director, Emerald Cities Portland ................................ 33 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35 

Vonil, Tia, Electrical Apprentice, Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. ............................. 39 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 

Cox, Kenneth, Ph.D., Superintendent, Vernonia School District, State of Oregon ....................................................................................................................... 45 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 47 

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AN EFFICIENT WAY TO GROW JOBS: ENERGY 

UPGRADES THAT SAVE FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES MONEY, REDUCE POLLUTION, AND 

CREATE GOOD JOBS 

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON GREEN JOBS AND THE NEW ECONOMY, Portland, OR. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in the 

June Key Delta Community Center, 5940 North Albina Street, 

Portland, Oregon, Hon. Jeff Merkley, (chairman of the Subcommittee), presiding. 

Present: Senator Merkley (presiding). 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JEFF MERKLEY, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OREGON 

Senator MERKLEY. I’ll officially start this Committee hearing of 

the Green Jobs and the New Economy Subcommittee of the U.S. 

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. I welcome everyone. And for those of you who are in the back, we still have 

seats right up here in the front row if you’d like to join us. 

Thank you, everyone, for coming. This hearing is titled ‘‘An Efficient Way to Grow Jobs: Energy Upgrades That Save Families and 

Businesses Money, Reduce Pollution,, and Create Good Jobs.’’ 

There will be a lot of discussion about those components. 

I want to thank very much the staff members from the Environment and Public Works Committee who have come out to set up 

this official hearing, Steve Chapman and Andrew Dohrmann. 

Did I pronounce your name right, Andrew? OK. Very good. 

And Oregon State Representative Lew Frederick is here somewhere—right here. Thank you very much, and thank you for your 

service to our State. We’re delighted to be here in your district and 

to be here in this wonderful facility, which, in itself, is part of the 

story about green jobs and the environment. We’ll have testimony 

about that later. 

When you walk in the building, you don’t necessarily think about 

all the pieces and components. But here we are in the site of a previous gas station converted into a set of marvelous contributions to 

the green economy. 

So in terms of how this hearing will go forward, we’re very fortunate to have Governor Kitzhaber here, who will deliver the first 
2 

testimony. After my opening remarks, he’ll speak directly, and then 

we’re going to go to the testimony of our witnesses. 

Thank you all very much for coming here. 

Each of our witnesses has a piece of the story about the environment and the green economy. And the Governor has to be back in 

Salem and will have to leave somewhere close to 10:45 or 11, somewhere in there. So note in advance that he has other business he’ll 

have to attend to. 

After the official hearing, please stick around if you would like 

to talk with the witnesses or have other questions. We’ll have some 

unofficial time at the end. 

I’d also like to remind everyone that the Committee record will 

remain open for 7 days for statements and any other material that 

folks would like to submit. 

Creating good-paying jobs is one of the best ways to restore and 

strengthen the middle class. We’ve seen a tremendous loss in living 

wage jobs as manufacturing has changed. And, also, in this last recession, 60 percent of the jobs we lost were living wage jobs, and 

in the recovery, only 40 percent are living wage jobs. So that is a 

part of today’s conversation. And we’re here to talk about how energy efficient investments not only result in lower energy bills and 

less carbon pollution, but create those good-paying jobs. 

I was in a meeting where former President Bill Clinton came in, 

and he spent 20 minutes talking about how low-cost loans for energy saving renovations were the best bang for the buck in creating 

jobs, because you can’t outsource any of the labor, and the products 

that are utilized are made overwhelmingly here in the United 

States—90 percent-plus. 

I have two major bills in this area, the Rural Energy Savings 

Program, also known as Rural Star, and Building Star. I kept trying to send telepathic waves to the President for him to say, ‘‘Two 

of those bills that encapture this concept are Senator Merkley’s.’’ 

But I didn’t succeed. 

But one of those bills has now passed the Senate twice and has 

been in the House. And I’ll be talking at the end of today’s hearing 

about another concept, which is energy saving in the manufacturing process, for legislation that I’ll be introducing. 

So we’re seeing investments in energy saving across Oregon. Oregon is now a leader. In the second quarter of 2013, energy efficiency job postings totaled about 6,000 across the country. 

To be specific, these investments in energy efficiency support jobs 

in the construction industry, which is among the most labor intensive sectors and among the hardest hit sectors during this recent 

recession. The savings from the energy efficiency investments leave 

homeowners and businesses with more disposable income, which 

can be spent in other areas of the economy to stimulate economic 

growth and job creation. For businesses, this can also mean having 

more money available to hire more workers and become more competitive. 

Becoming more energy efficient does not have to be terribly painful. According to the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, their study 

on energy efficiency found that more than half the energy that we 

utilize in the economy is wasted, and, therefore, there can be a lot 

of savings that have short payback periods. 
3 

A separate analysis found that the U.S. can reduce non-transportation energy consumption by 23 percent without impacting our 

production ability. That alone would eliminate more than $1.2 trillion in waste. You can think of that as an injection of cash into our 

economy. 

Beyond the benefits of job creation and energy savings, energy efficiency also has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse 

gas emissions at low costs. In fact, if all cost-effective efficiency 

measures were implemented in the U.S. within the next decade, we 

would save 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is 

the equivalent of 18 percent of the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 

in 2012. 

Innovative efforts at the State and local level are helping to move 

the Nation forward. And Governor Kitzhaber has been a key leader 

in this area, from initiatives related to Cool Schools—he’s a very 

cool man—to support for the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard 

to the Small Energy Loan Program. But this issue, in terms of the 

goals of the State team in creating jobs and improving the environment and increasing savings—it all fits in. 

We will have many folks testifying after the Governor. I’ll introduce them after his presentation. 

I really appreciate, Governor, your leadership and your participation in this whole effort. 

Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN A. KITZHABER, M.D., GOVERNOR, 

STATE OF OREGON 

Governor KITZHABER. For the record, I’m John Kitzhaber, Governor of the State of Oregon. 

Senator Merkley, I appreciate very much the fact that you 

brought the Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy 

here to Oregon, and I very much appreciate the opportunity to 

share with you and your colleagues in the U.S. Senate some of the 

things that are going on here in Oregon, because I think that suggests what’s possible for the Nation. 

Clearly, to me, energy and climate are the issues of our time, not 

just globally but here in the Pacific Northwest. I can’t think of two 

issues that will have a more significant impact on our Nation’s 

economy, environment, and quality of life for the next few decades. 

So the central question is whether we are going to shape our own 

energy future through intentional development and policies and investment, or whether that future is going to shape us. And I think 

the urgency of answering that question is enormous, because the 

toll of our reliance on fossil fuel continues to grow. 

While I’ll try to highlight this morning some of the successes 

we’ve had in Oregon, this State and the Northwest, along with, I 

think, our country, are still struggling to make the difficult transition from a 20th century energy infrastructure to new business 

models that can unleash the job creation potential of low-carbon innovation. And every day we wait, in terms of answering that question, we face the challenges of outdated energy and transportation 

infrastructure, trade wars that try to lock up the market share for 

the newest innovation in energy efficiency, and these heated policy 

debates about leveling the playing field for renewable energy. 
4 

The fact is that we need to figure out a way to give entrepreneurs and investors the certainty that they need so that they 

can continue to innovate and continue to grow the green economy. 

As many of you know, and as Senator Merkley referred to, we have 

been undergoing a clean energy revolution here in the State of Oregon, a revolution in which energy efficiency is poised to meet 100 

percent of new energy demand and in which renewable energy will 

constitute a larger portion of our energy resource portfolio. 

We’ve been working very diligently to try to de-carbonize our 

economy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil and polluting 

coal and developing, in the process, a host of home-grown businesses and opportunities that are creating jobs, that are boosting 

our economy, that are reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and 

keeping the long-term cost of energy under control. 

With more regulatory certainty over the last few decades, billions 

of dollars have been invested in the State in energy efficiency, 

solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and wave energy, making Oregon 

a national leader in the sector. Oregon now has the most jobs per 

capita in the clean energy economy than any State in the Nation, 

and job growth in the clean energy economy is five times stronger 

than job growth in the overall economy. 

Last December, we released our State’s Ten-Year Energy Action 

Plan. Goal number one of that plan is to meet 100 percent of baseload growth through energy efficiency and conservation. Now, energy efficiency and conservation are clearly the least-cost ways to 

meet our State’s growing demand for energy. That also will allow 

us to reduce the need for investing in new generation and transmission facilities, to create local jobs which, as the Senator said, 

can’t be outsourced, and to save customers dollars on their utility 

bills. 

We currently rank fourth in the Nation in energy efficiency. 

Since 1980, households and businesses have realized energy efficiency and conservation savings that equate to about 8 to 10 power 

plants. The result has been lower energy bills for residents, industrial consumers, and commercial consumers; a cleaner environment; and also—and I think this is very important—the development of a thriving local energy service industry that’s beginning to 

export our expertise and our technologies around the world. 

Twenty-three thousand businesses have invested almost $2.5 billion in energy efficiency, including lighting, heating, industrial 

processes, and other measures. In the Energy Trust of Oregon’s territory alone, energy efficiency programs have saved about $1 billion 

for participants and created 2,500 jobs and spurred about $90 million in wages and business income growth, a very significant contribution to our economy in these difficult times. 

Nearly 425,000 people in Oregon have installed energy efficient 

appliances in their homes. In June 2011, we launched our Cool 

Schools program, which the Senator alluded to, which is an effort 

to audit and provide energy efficiency upgrades in every school district across the State. To date, that program has leveraged a very 

modest $185,000 State investment into $28 million in energy efficiency projects, retrofitting buildings in 140 school districts across 

the State of Oregon. 
5 

This program has identified another $120 million in shovel-ready 

projects, and we estimate that the total opportunity for retrofitting 

our public schools is about $250 million. We have also launched a 

similar effort to retrofit our State-owned buildings. We call that the 

State Building Innovation Lab. In addition to that, the Oregon Department of Energy has identified 4 million square feet of commercial office space that is ready for retrofit. 

And as the Senator said, these create good middle class trade 

jobs. These create a local sourcing and a local supply chain in a ripple effect, so it’s a tremendous economic multiplier in a time in 

which, as the Senator said, the recovery is not bringing back those 

well-paying jobs. There’s a huge opportunity here to save money, 

to increase our energy independence, and to put people back to 

work. 

We do have some problems. Although the projects provide multiple benefits for our schools and for public buildings, the adoption 

rate has not been as rapid as we would have liked. There are some 

reasons for that. Seventy percent of our schools currently receive 

utility capital that can be used for energy efficiency and conservation. But in many of these districts, the really easily accessible 

projects, like lighting and windows, have already been taken care 

of. 

Now, while other States continue to struggle to develop a financing mechanism for energy efficiency, Oregon has long had that tool. 

And, as the Senator mentioned, it’s called the Small Energy Loan 

Program, or SELP. Over the last 30 years, SELP has financed over 

$580 million of energy efficiency projects in the State. Yet for many 

of the school districts that are facing really tough financial circumstances, even the low interest rates that are offered by the 

SELP program continue to constitute a barrier. 

I believe, however, that a very modest infusion of capital could 

launch a significant wave of new projects that would help our 

schools and other public buildings and save us money. So to help 

reduce the cost of capital to retrofit these public schools and buildings, our goal is to identify and incorporate resources and capital 

from the Federal Government, from the State government, from 

community foundations and other entities that are interested in energy efficiency. 

These investments, in addition to the dollars that we’re already 

spending, have a very positive impact on our State’s economy and 

also provide a pathway to really speed up and ramp up energy efficiency across our entire environment. I think this is a significant 

opportunity for the State to partner with the Federal Government 

to leverage our shared resources and really unleash the next wave 

of high value energy efficiency projects. 

In addition to energy efficiency and conservation, it’s also important that we focus on incubating and commercializing the next 

wave of clean energy technologies. For example, last session, the 

Oregon legislature increased Oregon’s energy efficiency standards 

for appliances, including battery chargers, set top boxes and televisions, to meet those of California and British Columbia. And 

we’re working with Governor Inslee to bring Washington on board, 

the idea being to harmonize energy efficiency standards for appliances along the West Coast, which I think will dramatically change 
6 

the market of what is now the seventh largest economy in the 

world. 

Also in the last session, the legislature continued funding the Oregon Innovation Council, or Oregon InC, as we call it, which is 

dedicated to the global competitiveness of Oregon industries by 

helping innovators create high-paying jobs, entrepreneurs create 

new companies, and university researchers attract Federal and private research dollars into the State of Oregon. 

To date, Oregon InC has been a huge success story. They have 

created 30 new companies that are marketing innovative products, 

captured $350 million in Federal and private research grants, and 

raised $115 million in private capital to support these companies. 

Many of the efforts of Oregon InC are related to advanced energy 

applications in energy efficiency, transportation, and generation. So 

it plays a very, very central role, and other States might want to 

look at that to significantly take these breakthroughs and commercialize this critical technology, which helps build Oregon’s new innovation economy. 

As I mentioned earlier, these new companies that have developed 

through this effort are actually beginning to export their technologies and their expertise abroad. So it’s important to remember 

that the jobs and economic activity we create at home actually supports our traded sector industries, not just in manufacturing and 

technology, but also in things like architecture and green building, 

for which Oregon is increasingly becoming a global leader. 

We’re also seeing the effects, as Senator Merkley pointed out, in 

the production process, in the industrial process. In the food processing industry, for example, that cluster has been able to significantly reduce front-end costs by dramatically increasing their energy efficiency. 

So, Senator Merkley, those are just a few examples of the good 

work that’s going on here in the State of Oregon. While Oregon 

may be a relatively small State, I am convinced that it can be an 

extraordinarily important innovative State. 

I’m very thankful that Oregonians recognize clean energy as the 

economic engine that it is. I also believe that Oregonians recognize 

that to fully emerge from the economic downturn, we’re going to 

have to be very, very bold about our vision for the future. We know 

that there are no quick fixes to these challenges, but having the 

courage and the discipline to think ahead about where we want to 

be a decade from now, with economic opportunity for everyone, 

with responsible stewardship of our financial, human, and natural 

capital—that is the first step to actually getting there. 

So let me just end my remarks this morning with the way I 

started, with a question. And I think the central question still remains, whether this State, whether this Nation, will shape its own 

energy future, or whether that future will shape us. As William 

Jennings Bryan once said, destiny is not a matter of chance. It’s 

a matter of choice. It’s not a thing to be waited for. It’s a thing to 

be achieved. 

I am confident, with the leadership of Senator Merkley and his 

colleagues in the U.S. Senate and the many good people here in Oregon, that we are going to make our energy future a matter of 

choice, not a matter of chance. And I am confident we will choose 
7 

a pathway that leads to a bright, prosperous, and low-carbon future. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Governor Kitzhaber follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you so much, Governor, and embedded 

throughout your comments was a perspective that often we hear 

the opposite of. We hear folks believing that the economy and the 

environment are at war with each other. But, really, what we’re 

talking about here is how good environmental policy becomes very 

good economic policy as well. So thank you so much for all your 

work. 

I’m going to proceed right into the introductions of our folks who 

have come to testify. We’re going to ask everyone to stick to the 

time limit. The Governor would like to hear as much of the testimony as possible before he has to depart. So I will jump right in. 

I’m going to do all of the introductions at once, and then we can 

just proceed from one panel member to another. 

Andrew Colas is President and COO of Colas Construction. Andrew joined Colas in 1999, serving as an apprentice to his father 

in the field. A northeast Portland native and lifelong community 

activist, Andrew works tirelessly to promote investment and job 

creation in underserved populations through his role at Colas, the 

Colas Foundation Fund, and various boards and many community 

organizations. 

Derek Smith is CEO of Clean Energy Works and has been in a 

leadership role in triple bottom line ventures for more than a decade, with experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. 

Prior to Clean Energy Works Oregon, he was Policy Advisor for city 

of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. In the late 

1990s, Derek developed one of the first sustainability programs in 

the retail world at $225 million multi-channel retailer Norm 

Thompson Outfitters. 

Berenice Lopez-Dorsey is the founder and owner of Home Energy 

Life Performance Group and founding member of the Home Performance Contractors Guild of Oregon. After owning a general contracting business for years, Berenice became fully involved in 

weatherization services and now contributes to the success of a variety of energy use reduction programs in the region. 

Sary Dobhran is an Energy Auditor and Home Performance 

Technician for Home Energy Life Performance Group. Sary graduated from the University of Oregon in 2003 with a degree in environmental studies. She later enrolled in an apprenticeship program 

with Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., and picked up the skills she needed to work in the budding energy efficiency sector. 

Casey Barnard is Project Director in Portland for the Emerald 

Cities Collaborative, a national nonprofit network of organizations 

working together to advance a sustainable environment while creating greater economic opportunities for all. Casey operates as a 

convener, facilitator, and project manager and is a long-time advocate for social justice, environmental justice, and sustainable economic and community development. 

Tia Vonil is a second year electrical apprentice from Portland 

who worked on the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building 

retrofit. Tia entered the IBEW Local 48 apprenticeship after graduating from Oregon Tradeswomen’s pre-apprenticeship program. 

Kenneth Cox has served as the Superintendent of the Vernonia 

School District since June 2006. Ken has over 31 years in public 

education, 26 of those in Oregon, and helped lead the Vernonia 
15 

School District through the aftermath of the December 2007 flood. 

In response to the flood, he participated in the Oregon Solutions 

Project to help find a new location for Vernonia schools out of the 

flood plain. Architects designed a new sustainable K–12 school 

which serves as a model for a single building design for smaller 

districts across the Nation. 

Each of our witnesses will give a unique perspective of how energy efficient investments are helping small business, creating jobs, 

and saving homeowners and businesses money on their energy 

bills. 

Mr. Colas, you’re up first. 

STATEMENT OF ANDREW COLAS, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF 

OPERATING OFFICER, COLAS CONSTRUCTION, INC. 

Mr. COLAS. Well, thank you very much, Senator Merkley and 

Governor Kitzhaber. I’m very honored to be here today. First and 

foremost, I’d like to thank the members of the Delta sorority chapter here in Portland for hosting this event here. 

This building is very near and dear to our hearts. We had the 

opportunity to construct this project over 2 years ago, and it was 

just a great opportunity. So I’m going to tell you a little bit about 

our company and about what green jobs and opportunities mean to 

companies like ours. 

Colas Construction is a second generation family owned business. 

My father, Hermann Colas, founded the business over 16 years 

ago, and I am currently the president of the company. We’ve always prided ourselves on being a company that strives to inspire 

individuals and communities through exceptional construction, 

community involvement, the hiring of a diverse qualified workforce, 

and promoting sustainability while maintaining a positive family 

structure. 

When the opportunity arose for Colas Construction, Incorporated, 

to be involved in the construction of the June Key Delta Center, 

we were thrilled. We could not have imagined a project that better 

represented our mission. The goal of the project was to convert a 

former brownfield gas station into one of the first living buildings 

in the State of Oregon. 

In order to achieve this goal, the project incorporated a myriad 

of sustainable features, which included but were not limited to: incorporating cargo containers into the design of the building; 

reusing the existing roof structure; providing a solar panel ready 

system—and I’m excited to see that we’re getting those solar panels 

installed; a high efficiency heat exchange and heat cooling system; 

a grey water reclamation ready system. All the products had to be 

sourced within 200 miles of the site. 

The storm water system was designed to keep all storm water 

onsite. And there was an extremely high efficiency insulation system. A lot of the different products throughout the building were 

products that were reused or recycled from other buildings. So the 

incorporation of those products was a big part of the design as well. 

The project design and implementation was tremendously technical, making the sourcing of the subcontractor base very important. In an effort to reduce the risk to exposure, a lot of general 

contractors would have used the highly technical design as an ex-
16 

cuse to hire only the largest subcontractors in town. In contrast, 

our team saw this project as an opportunity to achieve true sustainability, which includes a multi-faceted focus on social, economic, and environmental impacts to our community. 

We look at sustainability as being something that betters our 

communities. If you’re not including every member of your community, you’re really not truly sustainable. So we looked at this 

project as an opportunity to be truly sustainable. 

The project was built during the height of the recession, which 

meant that several small businesses were not being granted opportunities to work. The Colas ownership team and the Delta team 

saw this project as an opportunity to really have an impact on our 

community. We agreed that if we truly wanted to achieve a sustainable building, we had to have a positive impact on the surrounding small businesses. 

As such, we designed a contracting plan to insure that more than 

50 percent of the dollars spent on the June Key Delta project would 

be awarded to minority, women, or small businesses. In addition, 

we provided for pre-apprenticeship opportunities through programs 

such as the Oregon Tradeswomen, so more communities could gain 

exposure and experience through this highly technical project. 

This project not only provided work opportunities for several 

local small businesses, but it also helped to enhance their resumes 

so they might be better considered for future projects. Too often, 

the highly technical nature of green projects can have the unintended impact of limiting opportunities for small businesses simply 

because they don’t have the resume experience to initially qualify. 

Our team’s goal was to achieve true sustainability through a 

dedicated pursuit of a triple bottom line. Today, I’m proud to say 

that this project created jobs for several small businesses around 

the local community, and it helped to grow their portfolios in a way 

that will allow them to seek future opportunities to work on 

projects similar to the June Key Delta project. 

This is not only a building that created jobs. It’s a place that now 

is nationally recognized as a neighborhood space for the community. This is just, to me, the epitome of what sustainability is, when 

you create opportunities for all those around and you don’t create 

barriers so that people can get to work. 

I think that’s the most important thing that we have to look at 

when we’re really looking at sustainability, and sometimes that can 

be forgotten in the myriad of technical aspects of these buildings. 

That’s something that, without an ownership team like the Deltas, 

I don’t think we would have been able to accomplish. So it starts 

with the owners and then working with a team that really believes 

in achieving true sustainability. 

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak here today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Colas follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you so much. I appreciate your comments, and I also think it’s very cool that the solar panels are 

going up. But today, construction was paused so we wouldn’t be 

hearing machinery on the roof as we were holding this hearing. 

And I know the leadership of the chapter is here, and they’re very 

proud, as they should be, of this building and this phenomenal undertaking. 

Representative Jules Bailey is here, I believe. Yes. Good to have 

you, Jules. 

Representative Bailey was very involved in the creation of Clean 

Energy Works strategy. It was a fair number of years ago now that 

we stood in a driveway during a rain storm, or at least a drizzle, 

an Oregon rain storm, and talked about the need for low-cost loans 

at the State level and at the Federal level, and Representative Bailey helped drive that program through. 

So well done, and it’s good to have you today. 

Mr. Smith. 

STATEMENT OF DEREK SMITH, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 

CLEAN ENERGY WORKS OREGON 

Mr. SMITH. Senator Merkley, Governor, for the record, my name 

is Derek Smith. I’m CEO of Clean Energy Works Oregon. I really 

sincerely thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this morning. 

And thank you, Senator Merkley, for your leadership on clean 

energy and economic development in Congress. 

Clean Energy works as a nonprofit public-private partnership. 

Our mission is to create jobs and reduce energy waste through the 

facilitation of deep home energy retrofits. We coordinate and deploy 

public, private, and utility dollars to scale up the residential energy 

efficiency sector. And it’s this aggregation and optimization of different sources of capital that are really critical to moving forward 

to the future that we want to shape. 

We were founded 4 years ago as a city of Portland pilot project 

seeded with Recovery Act dollars. I am here to report that this 

smart Federal investment, which you helped support, Senator 

Merkley, is proving that residential energy efficiency can create 

quality jobs and unlock private capital to create a vibrant and 

growing marketplace. 

To date, our statistics include over 10,000 Oregonians who have 

signed up and had their homes audited for energy efficiency potential; 3,200 homes upgraded in rural, urban, and suburban communities throughout the State; a 30 percent average energy savings 

per home, which has resulted in more than $1 million put back into 

the pocketbooks of Oregonians instead of being spent on energy 

waste. 

As for jobs, we know through our work that for every 10 homes 

upgraded, one job gets created. To date, we’ve enabled nearly 1,300 

workers to receive paychecks through Clean Energy Works; 377 

new hires in the hard-hit construction industry; $21 an hour average wages across multiple trades, from weatherization to plumbing 

to electrical to HVAC; 56 percent of work hours performed by 

women and people of color; 36 veterans working on projects; 
20 

$62 million in economic development. All of these numbers are continuing as we move forward. 

Before we began our work in 2009, this market was 200 homes 

per year throughout the entire State being upgraded for deep retrofits, and workers were paid piece-rate wages averaging around $9 

an hour. We are now lifting people out of poverty, off of public assistance, and into career pathway professions. 

How do we generate these numbers? First, it’s our partners in 

the community. I want to sincerely thank several folks who are 

here today, Connie Ashbrook, Barbara Byrd, Tony DeFalco, Maurice Rahming, who serves on our board, and many, many others in 

the community, and our contractors, like Berenice and Peter 

Tofalvi from Abacus. It’s really them that are helping us move this 

forward. 

Second, it really comes down to making it easy for citizens to upgrade their homes for energy efficiency. It’s a very complicated 

process. The way the Clean Energy Works program works for a 

homeowner is that they sign up at our Web site, and we arrange 

for an assessment of their home and then pair them with a vetted 

contractor. A scope of work is drafted and agreed upon by the contractor and homeowner. We arrange financing from a local lender, 

and then we provide quality control and customer service throughout the project. 

Currently, more than 200 contractors throughout Oregon are 

growing their businesses in the program, including 40 prime contractors like Berenice. Her company, H.E.L.P. Group, which employs excellent workers like Sary, is one of our best. 

Multiple private lenders are providing unsubsidized financing in 

Clean Energy Works. We use some Federal money to create credit 

enhancements that unlock that capital, and that capital is now 

flowing into the marketplace. The only thing that’s holding back 

that capital from moving is demand, and demand is helped by supporting these programs to move forward. 

These lenders include several credit unions, a regional bank, and 

a community development financial institution. Loan products include unsecured, home equity, and on-bill, meaning customers can 

pay back their loans on their utility bills. I want to thank Sunny 

and PGE for being very productive members on the on-bill repayment efforts, as well as Northwest Natural and Pacific Power. So 

private investment is happening, spurred on by smart public investment. 

As we look to our future, Clean Energy Works is moving beyond 

stimulus and into a self-sufficient business model, an innovative 

business model where we earn fees for the service we provide to 

homeowners, contractors, lenders, and utilities. The State of Oregon is providing follow-on investment, and I want to thank Representatives Bailey and Frederick for supporting us through the 

session. 

I would also like to thank you, Governor Kitzhaber, for your 

leadership on the 10-year energy plan, and for your commitment of 

going forward funding for Clean Energy Works. 

We are also looking to build off of the platform we built with 

public dollars so that we can integrate energy efficiency improvements along with seismic upgrades, radon mitigation, storm water 
21 

conservation, electric vehicle infrastructure upgrades, and more— 

more jobs, more investment, and more homes that are safer, 

healthier and more comfortable for our citizens. 

Thank you very much for your support. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Smith follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you. 

Ms. Lopez-Dorsey. 

STATEMENT OF BERENICE LOPEZ-DORSEY, OWNER, HOME 

ENERGY LIFE PERFORMANCE GROUP, INC. 

Ms. LOPEZ-DORSEY. Thank you, Senator and Governor, for being 

here and for your time this morning. My name is Berenice LopezDorsey. I am a founder of a small remodeling company, Move In 

Ready, LLC, and Home Energy Life Performance Group, also 

known as H.E.L.P. Group, Incorporated. 

Our company was born from a desire to build an organization 

that encompasses green job values, assistance to homeowners, and 

skilled jobs with a long-term future. Home Performance incorporates all three and includes building science education and certification for employees. 

I am an immigrant. I was born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, the 

youngest of nine children. My father supported us by fishing while 

my mom took care of us. Growing up with very little in a very large 

family, I learned self-reliance. My parents taught us the importance of hard work, commitment, and the value of integrity and respect, all of which became the core to the foundation of my businesses now. 

My story developed in Mexico 21 years ago, when I met my husband, a very nice gringo, fell madly in love, and moved to the U.S. 

and married him. Nine years later, I proudly became a U.S. Citizen, and I am still married. For me, our country truly is the land 

of opportunities, where I was able to work, to learn new social and 

economic roots, and finally to start a successful business out of necessity, having to support my family after my husband became disabled in 2001. 

I want to stress how important political understanding and support is to this process. The concept that anyone can conceive a 

startup, grow a profitable business, and provide long-term employment is symbolic of the American Dream. I am not saying it is 

easy. A lot of sacrifices have to be made along the way, for example, myself having to work 7 days a week, long hours, missing my 

daughter’s soccer games to secure the next sale, draining my personal bank account to make payroll because clients don’t pay on 

time. 

But if you ask me today, ‘‘Is it worth it?’’ and ‘‘Would you do it 

all over again?’’, my reply would be, ‘‘Absolutely,’’ although sometimes I have my doubts. The simple fact is that job creation is so 

possible in our Nation, especially in Oregon, where energy conservation has always been in favor, meaning you can dream in 

green. I and my entire team take pride in helping Oregon families 

to enjoy healthy, more comfortable homes and lower utility bills. 

By the end of this year, H.E.L.P. Group, Incorporated, will have 

created 20 full-time positions and mentored four other Home Performance contractors, generated over $7 million in energy retrofit 

sales, and reduced the energy consumption for more than 800 Oregon homes by an average of 34 percent. That’s 800-plus Oregon 

families who now live in more comfortable homes with indoor air 

quality, healthier and safer houses, and who have more cash in 

their pockets as a result of lower energy bills. 
25 

We also consistently provide work for more than a dozen subcontractors, who at some point were employees of either H.E.L.P. 

Group, Incorporated, or Move In Ready, LLC. Creating that ripple 

effect, these subcontractors are now generating additional reciprocal business. 

In addition, we rely on more than 20 local businesses for truck 

maintenance, equipment, signage, marketing, advertising, and the 

list goes on and on. H.E.L.P. Group spends hundreds of thousands 

of dollars per year on fundamental products like windows, insulation, appliances, and machinery. 

Now, I’d really like to tell you about the journeys of a couple of 

our team members. These are people I really want you to know 

about, because their transformation is a direct result of our ability 

to create jobs in a green and growing industry, where a trade can 

be learned and a promotion can be earned. 

I met Rodrigo, Jr., through his father, Rodrigo, Sr., who has been 

employed by me for 11 years through Move In ready, LLC, a sister 

company to H.E.L.P. Group. He had been released from prison in 

early 2011. In fact, he had actually reached adulthood while incarcerated. He had no skills and little ambition. I saw a strong and 

bright young man, and I believed that he had the potential to learn 

and master a trade. He needed an opportunity to contribute to a 

growing business who needed him right back. 

Today, Rodrigo, Jr., has earned his OSHA–30 certificate, his 

Lead-Safe Renovation certificate, and is a qualified Weatherization 

Installer. Today, he is a young father supporting his family and is 

playing a happy role in our community. 

Yulma is another, now a success story. Unfortunately, she was 

abused in her marriage. As a single mother of two, with no personal resources, it was unthinkable to consider leaving her marriage, even to escape abuse, until a job opening with Move In 

Ready, LLC, a growing company back in 2002, gave her the encouragement and opportunity she needed. 

Today, Yulma manages her own work schedule, directs others, 

and supports her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son. 

I am thrilled that you will get the opportunity to also hear Sary’s 

story, another team member who is also testifying here today. 

Like Rodrigo, Yulma, and Sary’s stories, our company philosophy 

is to create the opportunity, invest in training, and fully support 

employee growth without micromanaging. We have found that 

within that environment, employees thrive and businesses profit. 

We still need your help. We have come a long way, but our industry continues to need political understanding of our mission and 

goals, support for programs, and legislation that advances home 

energy efficiency. 

Oregon’s home performance industry is a leader in green job development, career-sustainable jobs with advancement potential, resulting in a skilled labor force with family supporting wages. 

Where once the industry consisted of single-skilled, low-earning 

workers, together we have created a labor force of multi-skilled 

professionals who have elevated the value of energy efficiency in 

Oregon. And I am really proud to be part of it. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Lopez-Dorsey follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you so much. And as you indicated, we 

will now hear from one of your contractors or employees, Ms. Sary 

Dobhran. 

STATEMENT OF SARY DOBHRAN, ENERGY AUDITOR AND 

HOME PERFORMANCE TECHNICIAN, HOME ENERGY LIFE 

PERFORMANCE GROUP 

Ms. DOBHRAN. For the record, my name is Sary Dobhran. I’m an 

Energy Auditor and Home Performance Technician for Berenice’s 

company, Home Energy Life Performance Group. I can’t tell you 

what an honor it is to be a part of this roundtable. My journey with 

my Environmental Studies degree tells me that if I’m here today, 

then I must have done something right and decided to share my 

story if it’s going to help the movement. So this is more or less a 

bio. 

If you had told me in 2003, when I graduated with honors, that 

4 years later I would be a single mom on welfare, I would have 

thought you were crazy. I was an emancipated young woman who 

had just completed a 4-year degree at the University of Oregon. I 

worked two jobs, studied full time and through the summers, because I was going to be the first person in my family to obtain a 

college education. I was going to be somebody. 

I wanted to improve people’s quality of life. My Environmental 

Studies degree was going to help people live more naturally and 

prevent disease and unemployment, rather than simply treating 

symptoms. I studied all of the world’s problems and a lot of solutions that really exist and are happening every day. 

I found it hard to get a job in my field at that time, so did my 

own environmental studies of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Turin, 

Italy, and, coincidentally, Oaxaca, Mexico. I learned two new languages, opened my eyes wide, tutored the head of energy in Turin, 

Italy, translated engineering documents for high speed trains, 

translated for international anti-globalization conferences, installed 

$50,000 of sustainable landscapes, participated in Eco building 

projects with the Zapotec Indians, and always wondered what I 

could do in my own country. 

In 2007, I returned to the U.S. from Mexico because I was a 

widow and expecting my first child. I did everything I could to find 

work, even if I had to wear the baby on my back, but there weren’t 

even jobs to fight over. I moved back to Portland in 2010 where I 

hoped I could get back on my path. I had a lot of interviews for 

6 months, but I was one of hundreds and sometimes thousands of 

applicants, sometimes over-qualified or not qualified enough. 

In my free time, I studied the Portland Plan and all the major 

players in the area of sustainability. When I learned about the Oregon Tradeswomen, a nonprofit that helps women prepare themselves for jobs in the trades, I knew that it was going to lead to 

something. My welfare counselor, persuaded by my passion, made 

an exception and approved it as an apprenticeship. 

I learned about the field of weatherization during that course, 

and I immediately knew it would marry my skilled background 

with my degree. Although I started out under the bus, or mobile 

home, rather, trained in low-income weatherization, it was a step 

in the right direction. I obtained a green career counselor at Native 
30 

American Youth and Families, applied for the Pathway out of Poverty grant through Worksource, and was hired by a nonprofit Clean 

Energy Works contractor. 

I was drawn to this career because I saw that I could only go up. 

In the next year, I gained priceless experience in my trade and all 

the certificates I needed with the Building Performance Institute to 

work as a Residential Energy Analyst. I now inspect homes and 

rate their energy efficiency and test their combustion safety and 

educate clients. 

All of my training was paid for by that grant. My current employer, H.E.L.P., has taught me how to generate home performance 

reports, make recommendations, and bid jobs. They also recently 

invested in me becoming certified to perform radon testing and 

mitigation, something that will bring them more business and me 

more growth and opportunity. 

I like to speak for the unemployed because, to me, they are not 

just a statistic. They are the faces I saw every week in the unemployment line and in group interviews and job fairs. Some of us 

had college degrees and excellent employment history and several 

interviews a week with no success. 

I would not be here today without the programs and organizations that create jobs and help the unemployed find their path to 

becoming productive, self-reliant members of the community. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Dobhran follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your story 

and congratulations on your success. 

Ms. Casey Barnard, Project Director, Emerald Cities Collaborative. 

STATEMENT OF CASEY BARNARD, PROJECT DIRECTOR, 

EMERALD CITIES PORTLAND 

Ms. BARNARD. My name is Casey Barnard, and thank you very 

much for your invitation to participate in today’s field hearing. I 

am Project Director for Emerald Cities, and we are part of a national Emerald Cities Collaborative, which is a coalition of organizations working together to retrofit building stock, create highwage jobs, and revitalize local economies. 

Today, I would like to speak with you about the Edith GreenWendell Wyatt Federal Building Modernization Project in Portland, 

Oregon. Emerald Cities Portland helped to spearhead the Edith 

Green Workforce Mapping Project, including research on construction workforce demographics, union apprenticeship and community 

training programs, and activities to recruit and retain a diverse 

workforce. 

The Edith Green Project involved the renovation of the General 

Services Administration’s Edith Green Building to create a high 

performance green building consistent with the American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act. The project was completed in May 2013 and 

is a great example of leveraging strong Federal investment to create lasting environmental and financial savings for the government, as well as good green jobs for the community. 

The 536,000 square foot Edith Green Project will provide an office building that will outperform all but the top few percent of office buildings in the country. The new building is projected to 

achieve 55 percent energy savings and 60 percent water savings 

over the original building. 

The Edith Green Project was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and employed more than 90 companies and 764 workers. These jobs created opportunities for new 

workers through the utilization of apprentices and historically underserved workers. This included 19.8 percent apprentice participation, 17 percent minority craft worker participation, and 7.7 percent female craft worker participation. 

In addition, $26 million in subcontracts also created opportunities for disadvantaged business enterprises and small businesses. 

This included 24 percent minority owned businesses and 12 percent 

women owned businesses. 

The GSA also piloted the use of a project labor agreement, otherwise known as a PLA, on the Edith Green Project. PLAs are prehire collective bargaining agreements with labor organizations, and 

they are intended to provide structure and stability and promote 

the efficient completion of construction projects by forecasting 

workforce needs, resolving disputes, and ensuring coordination 

among employers and labor unions. 

This proved to be more than accurate on the Edith Green Project. 

The PLA established fair working conditions and family supporting 

wages, and an oversight committee created open lines of commu-
34 

nication and allowed the project to be completed on time and on 

budget. 

The Edith Green PLA also established the community fund to 

support education activities and the Workforce Mapping Project. 

Emerald Cities spearheaded that project along with CAWS, Constructing Hope, Oregon Tradeswomen, Portland Community College, Portland Youth Builders, and the Urban League. 

The Workforce Mapping Project included interviews with construction trade unions, collaboration between community-based organizations and unions, a construction career guide for use in high 

schools, and assessments of demographic data and barriers to success for women and people of color. The project really highlighted 

the benefits of early community engagement by owners and contractors on large construction projects. 

Overall, the Edith Green Project really successfully leveraged 

strong Federal investment to create lasting environmental and financial savings as well as good jobs for community members. 

I would like to close by making a point about green jobs, in general. These green jobs are closely tied to the traditional construction trade and union infrastructure, allowing workers to use their 

existing skills and certifications, supplement their knowledge with 

green techniques and technologies, and continue to build strong careers that will be relevant for many decades to come. 

I want to thank you, Senator Merkley, the Governor, and the 

Committee for the opportunity to speak today and tell the Edith 

Green story. The Emerald Cities Collaborative really welcomes the 

opportunity to work with you and your colleagues to insure 

greener, more sustainable and reliant communities. 

And Tia will now speak a little bit about her personal experience 

on the project. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Barnard follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you. 

Tia, before you begin, the Governor has to head for Salem, so he 

has a few comments before he takes off. 

Governor KITZHABER. Tia, I’m going to get a copy of your testimony because I’ve been anxious to hear it. I’m sure you have a 

wonderful story to tell. 

I just wanted to very, very briefly say that one thing Andrew 

mentioned was the triple bottom line. When you think about the 

economic bottom line and the environmental bottom line, there’s a 

social bottom line as well. 

I’m struck that the First Lady is spending a lot of time working 

on the issue of poverty, and she talked to an unemployed young 

man not too long ago and said, ‘‘How can there be so much unemployment when there’s so much work that needs to be done?’’ And 

we have a Nation that has so much capital sitting on the sidelines, 

and there’s so much work that needs to be done. Part of it, we’re 

talking about today, keeping our forests healthy, taking care of the 

elderly at home, a whole host of things. 

I think what you’re a part of here today and what the green 

building and the green energy and the energy efficient movement 

really is about is trying to deploy the great wealth of this Nation, 

putting people to work at jobs that actually makes society better 

and builds families and builds communities. So I thank you all for 

your commitment, for all you’re doing, and, certainly, Senator 

Merkley, for your tremendous leadership on this. I’m honored to 

have been able to participate today. 

Thank you very much. 

[Applause] 

Senator MERKLEY. Thank you very much, Governor. I know that 

finding time in your schedule to do any gathering like this is challenging and just reflects on your commitment to energy and the environment and the economy. 

Ms. Tia Vonil, electrical apprentice, Oregon Tradeswomen. 

STATEMENT OF TIA VONIL, ELECTRICAL APPRENTICE, 

OREGON TRADESWOMEN, INC. 

Ms. VONIL. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank 

you for your invitation to participate in today’s field hearing. My 

name is Tia Vonil, and I am a Local 48 second year electrical apprentice. I have greatly benefited from participation in the incredible nonprofit organization, Oregon Tradeswomen, as well as the 

opportunity to work on the federally funded Edith Green-Wendell 

Wyatt Modernization Project. 

Before I began a career in the trades, I attended an elite university, joined the Navy via the United States Naval Academy, and 

traveled the world. Soon after I began college, I realized that the 

traditional path of university education was not for me. I desired 

a more independent, hands-on education where I could achieve tangible, practical results, rather than a theoretical degree in a major 

that would leave me few post-graduate job options and a mountain 

of debt. I also had trouble accepting a life in the Navy back during 

the dark ages of Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell. 

After living abroad for nearly 10 years, I returned to the U.S. 

with the dream of a career in the electrical field. When trying to 
40 

access this path in France, I encountered systematic blockades 

based on my gender. 

In comparison, after returning to the U.S., at my local electrician’s union, the application process was transparent and 

straightforward. I was excited to begin, but knew little about the 

intricacies of the electrical trade. 

Walking in my neighborhood in northeast Portland, I 

serendipitously stumbled upon an organization called Oregon 

Tradeswomen, a community-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting success for women in the trades. I signed up for the Trades 

and Apprenticeship Career Class, a free, 5-week pre-apprenticeship 

training class that helps women prepare for a high skilled career 

in construction. During the class, I learned skills that prepared me 

for a successful apprenticeship and introduced me to green collar 

career opportunities. 

Programs like OTI that benefit from Federal grants are crucial 

to the success of women in the trades, because they expose women 

to areas of expertise that they, unfortunately, are not normally exposed to. The work of this organization helps diversify the construction workforce, provides alternative perspectives, and encourages green building technologies and employment opportunities. I 

am proud to now sit on the board of this organization and work to 

help women excel in the trades the way they supported and helped 

me. 

As a Local 48 apprentice, I earn while I learn, and the training 

is paid for by the union. I get experiential as well as classroom 

education, and the career is active and rewarding, where the sites 

and tasks are ever changing. The Edith Green Project was a significant part of my training because it was my first project as an 

electrical apprentice. 

On the Edith Green Project, I performed standard electrical 

tasks such as wiring and conduit installation. This project also introduced me to energy saving installations and instilled in me an 

ever-present sensitivity to green electrical practices. 

As someone in the trenches, I can tell you that it is imperative 

that our government continue to invest in green building projects 

like Edith Green. This project was important because it was a stellar example that, contrary to common thought, commercial buildings can be energy efficient. The Edith Green Building also put 

skilled tradesmen and tradeswomen who had been laid off back to 

work and is reminiscent of successful public works projects in 

America’s history that revitalized an idle workforce. 

Since the Edith Green Building, I have been on several other 

green projects, including two newly constructed commercial LEED 

buildings. I have also worked on solar powered highway signs in 

Astoria and electrical vehicle charging stations in Clackamas. 

I strongly believe in the importance of green construction, and I 

look forward to more experience doing green electrical work. I 

know that the more training and experience I accumulate in this 

field, the more I can contribute to an increasingly energy resilient 

America. 

There is more work to be done, and Federal investments are essential to the task. Skilled tradesmen and tradeswomen across the 

country, like myself, are standing by, ready to build. 
41 

I want to highlight the importance of coalitions of labor, community, environment, and government, such as the Emerald Cities 

Collaborative. These coalitions help to promote construction 

projects that pay living wages and benefits, while supporting the 

environment and an equitable workforce. 

I would like to close by thanking U.S. Senator Merkley and this 

Subcommittee for the opportunity to share my story. I hope that 

my personal testimony gave you insight into the worker’s perspective on how green jobs support and enhance this new generation 

of the American construction industry. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Vonil follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you very much, and it does give insight. I appreciate it very much. 

To shift from one green project, the Edith Green, to another 

project, the new school in Vernonia, we’re so delighted to have Dr. 

Kenneth Cox, Superintendent of Vernonia School District. 

Welcome. 

STATEMENT OF KENNETH COX, PH.D., SUPERINTENDENT, 

VERNONIA SCHOOL DISTRICT, STATE OF OREGON 

Mr. COX. Thank you, Senator. We appreciate the opportunity to 

meet with you today, for this invitation. I’d like to thank you, the 

Governor, and our elected representatives for your ongoing support 

of the Vernonia project. 

In December 2007, a winter storm stalled over the Oregon coast, 

and 11 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. It inundated our schools with 

3 to 5 feet of water, and they were only 100 yards from the sewer 

lagoons, and so the water was tainted. We survived that. It was 

considered a flash flood. The next day, everything was all gone except for a thin layer of silt throughout the school. All three of our 

schools were flooded. 

As the result of an Oregon Solutions Partnership that Governor 

Kulongoski put together the following spring, we were able to find 

a location for a new school. And in September of last year, our students attended school there for the first time. The new school is 

135,000 square feet. It was much larger initially, but we said we 

can’t build that big of a school. We have to consolidate multi-use 

areas, and they were able to redirect the design. 

As I met with the architects prior to the building, we used the 

term, sustainability, over and over again, because the community 

had been flooded 10 years earlier. At that time, the water didn’t 

recede for 3 days. They wiped down the walls and went back to 

school a couple of months later. We found some results of that 

when we tore the walls down in 2007. 

But the idea was that if we’re going to rebuild this school, we 

have to rebuild the community. And we used the idea of sustainability as the foundation for that rebuilding. We knew that the 

school we tore down just this last summer was built in 1936, and 

this building needed to last well into the 22nd century, because in 

many districts, you build a building at a time—elementary, middle, 

high school—and you start over 20 or 30 years later—we don’t have 

that opportunity. 

This new building will be the first K–12 public school in the Nation to achieve a LEED Platinum status. This is done through a 

radiant floor system, where both heating and cooling is done 

through tubing in the concrete floors, and a biomass boiler that 

ARRA funds from the Oregon Department of Energy grant helped 

pay for that provides heating for that system. We have multi-use 

spaces. Over 40 percent of the building is space that can be used 

by the community, and it is used often. 

As we looked at the financial challenge we faced, the district 

passed a $13 million bond. We built a $40 million building. The gap 

was filled with funds from FEMA, and, as I mentioned, the results 

of support from the Oregon legislature provided some funding. We 

received two different loans from—the Cool Schools loan provided 
46 

over 5 percent there, and all total, the Department of Energy has 

provided 8 percent of the funding for that school. 

One of the questions that sometimes comes up is: ‘‘What difference does it make if you have a new school?’’ Before we had the 

new school, I talked to the staff and said, ‘‘We need to focus on sustainability.’’ And 3 years before we got into the school, we turned 

around our curriculum so that all classes at all grade levels, K–12, 

focus on natural resources. 

We have sustainability days twice a year, when students go out 

and plant trees. We are going to be a site for the Bureau of Land 

Management Native Plant Nursery, where we will grow plants that 

will be used in local and regional stream restoration. 

All these things were done with the idea that we have to look 

to a different future. Oregon is timber country, and Vernonia was 

the heart of it, at one time boasting the largest electric sawmill in 

the world. But when 3-foot-diameter trees ran out, the mill closed 

down. 

The difference it has made is that we’re now seeing families 

move back into the community. Before the flood in 1996, we had 

over 800 students. When I came in 2006, we had 720. Today, we 

have 550. Hopefully, next week, when we get back into school, we’ll 

have a little bit more than that. I know that there are a number 

of families moving into the community. 

We did a study last spring to determine what the difference was 

between students’ behavior at the old site, where they were in 

modulars, and the new school. We found a full 50 percent reduction 

in student referrals across the board at all grade levels. 

So it has made a difference. It has made a difference to the students. It has made a difference to the community, and the community has a future because of the impact of these kinds of programs 

and this kind of forward thinking as to what needs to happen in 

the future. 

I thank you for this opportunity. 

[The prepared testimony of Mr. Cox follows:] 
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Senator MERKLEY. Thank you very much, Superintendent Cox. 

I thank all of our witnesses. I’m going to ask some questions of 

all of you to enhance this conversation. Then we will officially wrap 

up and adjourn and then continue with a more informal conversation. I’m going to proceed in the same order that the witnesses presented their information. Each of you presented a particular lens 

on the green jobs economy, and I appreciate it very much. 

Andrew, one of the things that I was curious about is did your 

experience from this building, with the various green building technologies, translate into other opportunities in the construction 

world, or do you anticipate that it will down the road? 

Mr. COLAS. I would say yes. I think the biggest thing that we 

were able to get from this opportunity was exposure, and I think 

that’s key for small businesses, for people to be able to see that 

even if you’re a small business, if you’re willing to put in the hard 

work, like Miss Berenice said, you can do a good job. So I think 

it was something that we were able to showcase, that we could 

work on projects like this. 

And we have worked on several other projects. We worked with 

the Portland Community College in Newberg. We built a LEED 

Platinum net zero building out there, and we’ve been able to work 

on more projects. But I think the big emphasis that we still continue to push forward is that when we’re on projects, we want to 

be able to take other businesses along with us, to help small businesses get opportunities. If small businesses aren’t getting opportunities on these types of projects, then it’s really not sustainable. 

Senator MERKLEY. Which building was that in Newberg? 

Mr. COLAS. The Portland Community College’s new facility out 

in Newberg. It’s a LEED Platinum net zero building. 

Senator MERKLEY. It was not that many years ago that LEED 

Platinum was just a twinkle in our eyes, and now we hear about 

building after building achieving that status. 

We’ve heard about some of these projects and the involvement 

with minority contracting and with women and so forth. Do you 

have any insights on things we should do to engage minority communities and minority owned businesses more in similar types of 

projects? 

Mr. COLAS. Yes. I’m actually in another role. I’m the president 

of the National Association of Minority Contractors, and it’s a 

group of minority contractors that have come together. We have 

really good, qualified members as a part of that base. 

I think, again, if you can really push and instill the triple bottom 

line of sustainability, the social, environmental, and economic impact, and every time you look at a project, you ask what social impact it’s had, I think people will start to resonate that. When you’re 

talking about green projects, it’s not just about solar panels. It’s 

about putting people to work, and I think if you start pushing that, 

it will become synonymous with sustainability. 

That’s, I think, something that’s lacking right now. It’s not because people want it to be, but it’s just because of the highly technical nature of this type of work. But as we’ve seen from all the 

different people that have testified here, clearly, there’s women’s 

businesses out there and there’s minority businesses out there that 
61 

can do a good job. And there’s minority women that are in apprenticeships that can do a good job on these projects. 

So I would say if you can push that and ask that question each 

time somebody talks about a LEED Platinum building, I think then 

we’ll start to see a real change. 

Senator MERKLEY. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Smith, you mentioned in your testimony that before Clean 

Energy Works, there were about 200 homes per year that were 

going through substantial energy-saving renovations or retrofits. 

But I didn’t catch—so how many homes per year now across Oregon? 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the question and for 

the honor to be here. We project that we’ll do about 1,300 homes 

this year. What we have now, thanks to the Federal investment, 

is an asset that’s been built that can actually crank out retrofits 

on jobs in a scalable fashion. So without much additional investment in the core operating infrastructure, we can actually double 

our production. We just need a little more support from a program 

operating standpoint. 

One of the challenges that this industry has faced with deep 

home energy retrofits and deep retrofits, in general, is that utility 

dollars, rate payer dollars, are constrained in their ability to value 

job creation, equity outcomes, health and safety. Really, what they 

focus on is the lowest cost installation as a matter of what is considered cost-effective. 

We really need to look at that policy as we move forward. We 

really need policy that insures that rate payer dollars can mingle 

effectively with public dollars that want all these outcomes we’re 

talking about here today and the private dollars that are, as the 

Governor mentioned, sitting on the sidelines, ready to play. We 

need all these sources of capital to be working productively together, and we need policy to enable that. 

Senator MERKLEY. By the way, that 1,300 per year—is that just 

the Clean Energy Works? 

Mr. SMITH. That just in Clean Energy Works, yes. I would suspect that the entire marketplace is probably—we’re probably close 

to three-quarters of the market. So I would suspect it’s in the 

neighborhood of 1,800 this year. 

Senator MERKLEY. So that’s a 9-fold or maybe more of a 10-fold 

expansion in terms of this part of the economy. 

Mr. SMITH. That’s right. 

Senator MERKLEY. In terms of geographic range around Oregon, 

is the work spreading? Is it still primarily urban? Have we got a 

good rural component going or plans to do some? 

Mr. SMITH. Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the question. Eightytwo percent of the State’s population has access to Clean Energy 

Works right now. The majority of the work—largely because the 

population and the areas that started first were close to Portland— 

is still urban. We have coverage everywhere. 

There are some unique challenges in rural communities, both on 

the workforce side and the contracting side, as well as the utility 

framework, where EPA serves the local utilities. And we have the 

same challenges there with utility funding and rate payer dollar 

deployment. 
62 

But there’s a lot more skill building and capacity development 

that needs to take place in rural communities. Actually, in the Columbia-Pacific region of the State, we helped contractors get— 

paved their way to get all the way through the training that’s required that Berenice spoke of—had the mentor, I believe, you and 

other Clean Energy Works contractors—to help them get ready for 

capacity that could lead to scale. And then what we want to do 

once we’ve built that capacity is come in and really crank up the 

demand and get that job creation going. 

Senator MERKLEY. Great. Thank you. Now, one more piece of this 

puzzle—one of the goals has been to develop as much on-bill lending as possible, where people repay through their electrical bill or 

their natural gas bill. Have you forged partnerships with that? Is 

there more potential to forge partnerships? How well does that 

work when you’re able to do that? 

Mr. SMITH. Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the question. We have 

forged great partnerships with utilities. I gave Sunny and PGE 

some credit previously and Northwest Natural and Pacific Power. 

Legislation was useful in enabling that. 

But I think we’ve found a way to make it minimal, in terms of 

impact on utilities. Costs are covered. We have scalable engagement with capital who values the low default rates that come when 

you enable folks to pay back these projects on their utility bill, and 

it’s a really important part of the equation. Customers do value the 

ability to pay back on their utility bill. 

There are other forms of loan repayment that are also useful. It 

doesn’t solve all the problems, but it is a very useful piece of the 

puzzle. 

Senator MERKLEY. The thing that I really like about that is that 

folks see the energy savings on their bill, and if their loan is on 

there as well, they realize they were able to upgrade their home, 

often practically paying for it with energy savings themselves. 

Thus, it’s a win-win all the way around. Thank you very much. 

Berenice, thank you for sharing your story and your entrepreneurial efforts. And I loved that ‘‘absolutely, except for every now 

and then.’’ These are the challenges of building a small business. 

How have you seen the size of your company grow, say, over the 

last 5 years? 

Ms. LOPEZ-DORSEY. Well, H.E.L.P. Group started off in 2008. 

When everybody was laying off people, we were organizing ourselves to qualify for stimulus money. And thanks to President 

Obama, Oregon ended up with $20 million. That helped pay the 

Clean Energy Works Oregon. 

So since then—I think you were at my first project 5 years ago, 

and there were four of us. Now, we have 20 and mentor a lot of 

contractors. So it’s been a tremendous help. I’m hoping that out of 

the 1,300 homes that is estimated next year, we get at least 200 

so we can keep the jobs. 

It’s been great. It’s been favorable for job creation and being able 

to bring people into that triple bottom line economy. We definitely 

need to do a little bit more in being able to understand that the 

contracts shouldn’t always go to the lowest bidder, because that’s 

the difference between paying 100 percent health insurance for an 
63 

employee and having the employee take money to pay for their own 

health insurance. 

So you guys have been tremendous in supporting this type of situation, but we need more work. But we thank you for your support. 

Senator MERKLEY. And, Berenice, you said in your testimony 

that the average savings, I believe, were 34 percent. Do you have 

someone go back in an do an evaluation? Is it your own company, 

or is it a third party? How do you calculate the impact? Is it from 

actually looking at real bills that folks received down the line after 

the changes were made? 

Ms. LOPEZ-DORSEY. We do a pre-test prior to the retrofitting, and 

then once the retrofitting is done, we go back and do a post-test, 

and we are able to quantify the energy savings. And that’s just— 

what we’re able to quantify is the kilowatt hours reduction. It 

doesn’t even include the health and safety of the house, which also 

has tremendous value. I hope that at some point in the near future, 

we’ll be able to put a value to that and be able to see that. 

Senator MERKLEY. Thank you. 

And, Sary, we appreciated very much your story. You said you 

have two children? 

Ms. DOBHRAN. I have one. 

Senator MERKLEY. You have one child. So as you have become invested in this line of work—obviously, a strong connection to your 

interest in environmental efforts back when you were in college— 

do you see this as a family sustaining career, a strong financial 

platform, if you will, for raising your child? 

Ms. DOBHRAN. I do, and I would like to speak to that, first of all, 

how it affects my relationship with my child and the way he views 

me, and, second, how it affects my relationship with his community, his school, my community and what role that I play there. 

But my son is extremely proud of me. I am really honored that I 

got the time, albeit on welfare, to be one-on-one with him. 

And I did wear him on my back. I was an organic farmer. So he 

has a lot of my same social skills from, you know, selling organic 

produce or being part of the community and what-not. But even 

when I have hard days and I don’t want to go to work, he always 

pats me on the back and says, ‘‘I’m proud of you, Mom. You’re 

doing good.’’ 

And when people say, ‘‘What does your mom do?’’, he says, ‘‘She 

crawls under houses.’’ But that’s because I have long days where 

I say, ‘‘I spent all day under a house.’’ But that means a great deal 

to me, not only as—you know, when I became emancipated, I 

proved that I could take care of myself, and I put myself through 

school. And I was not going to fail there, not in front of my child, 

especially. 

So he sees that women are strong and they’re powerful and we 

can do it. I’m able to be the head of the household and provide for 

him. When people say, ‘‘What do you want to be when you grow 

up?’’, he says, ‘‘I want to be a worker like my mom, and race cars.’’ 

[Laughter.] 

Anyway, really interesting is that not only do I take care of me 

and my son so I’m not reliant on welfare, but I also am able to support his school, which is a nonprofit. It was a struggling school, and 

he was the first student. So for me to go to work full time means 
64 

that I needed somebody, you know, employed full time, and that 

person is actually who put me in touch with the Oregon 

Tradeswomen. 

I have put in an organic farm there at the school, and I recently 

helped them write for a North Portland Small Business Development grant in order to upgrade the buildings. His school is now expanding from a small, inefficient house that I found has asbestos, 

and it’s not actually—it’s got some safety hazards. They’re going to 

expand from that to the basement of the church. 

So I was able to go in and inspect it and we did the job for radon 

testing, quick retrofitting, energy upgrades, all of it. That was just 

recently submitted. But I’m very excited at how it all comes full circle, and it expands in its revolution. 

Senator MERKLEY. Well, there is nothing like a living wage job 

as a foundation for a family, so that is terrific. 

You mentioned, I believe, in your testimony, that you were the 

first in your family to go to college, as was I. Did you have a significant challenge with college debt? 

Ms. DOBHRAN. I still do. I’m kind of proud of myself. I was able 

to pay for three-quarters of my degree by myself. I worked two jobs, 

sincerely, especially the first 2 years, and then I qualified for 

grants and scholarships. 

A lot of my grant writing experience comes from advocating for 

myself and finding ways to fund my education. So I came out with about $25,000 debt. And, you know, you plug 

away at that. 

Senator MERKLEY. Well, that’s right at the average for students 

who are coming out with debt. And for many, it does become a millstone, and it’s a part of the challenge of getting life on track. But, 

anyway, you’ve overcome many challenges, and thank you. You’re 

an inspiration. 

And, Casey, you talked about this green Workforce Mapping 

Project. Was that solely a project within the context of the Edith 

Green-Wendell Wyatt Building, or was it related to a set of projects 

that might happen down the line? 

Ms. BARNARD. Well, initially, the Workforce Mapping Project was 

just related to the Edith Green Project. So I’d like to highlight the 

Project Labor Agreement, which was a really important part of the 

Edith Green Project, but also the community component, and that’s 

a piece that I’d like to see made even stronger on future public 

projects. It allowed the funding for the Workforce Mapping Project 

to pay for Emerald Cities’ participation along with other community groups. 

But it really gave me the time to go and sit down with apprenticeship coordinators, business managers, and most of the regional 

trade unions and get a better sense of how their system works from 

within. That is a really big asset to our community and one that 

many high schoolers out in the world don’t know much about. 

So that’s the main—Emerald Cities wants to see how we can tap 

into the existing resources and bring resources to the community 

groups that help educate community members, train them, and get 

them into that pipeline that results in, you know, no college loans 

at the end of the day. But we are actually working with some community partners on an ODOT, Oregon Department of Transpor-
65 

tation, and Bureau of Labor and Industries project, where we’re expanding on the energy work we did for the Edith Green Workforce 

Mapping Project, really digging into what the experience is like for 

an apprentice on the job. 

Senator MERKLEY. So that term, workforce mapping, was relatively—well, it was new to me, not relatively new. It was new. I 

looked at your statistics that you cited in your testimony of the 

level of apprentice participation, minority craft worker participation, and also minority and women’s businesses. Essentially, are 

those the outcomes from the Workforce Mapping Project? 

I was trying to understand what contractors, subcontractors— 

how do we bring a diverse workforce to bear in an effective manner? Is that essentially what we’re talking about when we talk 

about workforce mapping, conscientious or thoughtful planning related to participation? 

Ms. BARNARD. I wish I could take credit for all of that. But, really, I would say that the outcome of the project labor agreement 

would set goals for those utilizations, and then establish the ongoing oversight committees. The oversight committees spearheaded 

my work on the Workforce Mapping Project, but also met regularly 

and came up with creative solutions. 

So, you know, when you’re trying to drive apprentice utilization, 

there’s a limited number of apprentices currently in the pipeline. 

Groups like Oregon Tradeswomen and Constructing Hope help feed 

that pipeline, and so being connected to them, forecasting, ‘‘OK. In 

6 months, this project is really going to need more workers from 

the electrical union or another trade. Where do we find those workers? How do we start looking for them and driving that pipeline?’’ 

Senator MERKLEY. I believe that Emerald Cities is also involved 

in assisting Hacienda Community Development Corporation in developing more energy conservation strategies for their work. This 

is of great interest to me, because I used to develop affordable 

housing, and I have seen kind of that community take up this goal. 

But could you share a little bit about that project? 

Ms. BARNARD. Yes. We are really a community partner among 

many that are supporting Hacienda’s work. But they are rehabbing 

their Clara Vista buildings, and so beginning in October of this 

year, they’ll be breaking ground on the initial 35-unit rehab, as 

well as an office space. That’ll be about a 9-month project. 

And then beginning in 2015, they’ll break ground on those remaining 108 units. So that’ll really turn those affordable housing 

units that are already a community asset into really livable, efficient spaces. I believe Colas Construction is actually involved in 

those projects, and we’re looking at trying to apply community benefits to those projects to make sure that they utilize minority and 

women businesses and get more women and people of color on the 

job. 

Senator MERKLEY. Terrific. Thank you. 

And, Tia, I mispronounced your name the first time. Is it Vonil? 

Ms. VONIL. Vonil. 

Senator MERKLEY. Vonil. I’m delighted to have you share your 

story. I was intrigued as you said you were walking down the 

street, and you stumbled into the Oregon Tradeswomen. Do they 
66 

have a storefront, or did you walk into somebody carrying some 

tools? Tell us a little bit more about that. 

Ms. VONIL. I was new to the neighborhood and was walking 

down MLK and saw the storefront that said Oregon Tradeswomen. 

As someone with ambitions of entering the electrical trade, I said, 

‘‘Well, hey, I’m soon going to be an Oregon tradeswoman’’ and just 

literally knocked on the door. 

Senator MERKLEY. And that led to a path that got you into the 

IBEW apprenticeship program, or were you already aware of that? 

Ms. VONIL. Yes. I had already started the application process. 

But the timing was so great that before my final interview, I was 

able to complete the trades and apprenticeship class, and that really helped me prepare for the math test and an interview. 

Senator MERKLEY. Tremendous. Now, how long is your apprenticeship? When will you finish it? Do you see a sustainable family 

living wage job as you participate in this trade? 

Ms. VONIL. The apprenticeship is a 5-year apprenticeship, 8,000 

hours of on-the-job training. So I’m on my second year. I’ve still got 

a ways to go, but I know that it’s going to work out. And, absolutely, the wages will be livable for me. I don’t have a family, so 

that makes it even more livable. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator MERKLEY. Before I had children, I heard people with 

children say you’re never so well off as before you have children. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator MERKLEY. I didn’t really understand what they meant 

until we had our children. And, by the way, you mentioned and put 

more detail in your written testimony about the challenges of Don’t 

Ask-Don’t Tell, and I was proud to help in that policy for our Nation. I think the military is doing very well with the new strategy. 

Ms. VONIL. Well, thank you for that, for your support on that 

issue. 

Senator MERKLEY. You’re welcome. Thank you. And best of luck 

as you pursue this trade. 

And, Superintendent Cox, the school is a phenomenal school, and 

I encourage anyone here to consider visiting it. When I went to see 

it at the ribbon cutting, and I saw it—I went to see the space before a shovel had been put in the ground, the vision that was being 

put together by so many different partners. But to see it constructed, it embodies this powerful connection between the community and the timber industry. 

As you may be aware, my father was a millwright in a Myrtle 

Creek mill when I was born. It’s so much a part of our Oregon heritage, in general. 

But there were a tremendous number of partnerships in making 

that vision come to reality. Have you continued to see those partnerships play a role in shaping the community after the construction was completed? 

Mr. COX. We continued those partnerships. I heard a number of 

people say that the Vernonia Oregon Solutions was the first time 

that all of the Oregon university systems came together to see how 

they could help support that project. We still have relationships 

with them through extension agents. 
67 

There’s a greenhouse nursery that we’re looking at. We’re hoping 

that these partnerships will continue to grow as we look for ways 

to finalize the project and move it forward. A lot of the partnerships are still there. We’re still continuing to work with corporations, meeting almost every month to look for the final funding for 

the program. But it has been a unique opportunity to bring people 

together that you never thought would show up at the table. 

Senator MERKLEY. Thank you. I just want to do a little advertisement for Vernonia, because I thought when I saw the school and 

what it brought to the community—and you mentioned all the common rooms and the focus on the energy. If my children were very 

young, I’d be thinking about moving to Vernonia. 

You mentioned that you have a larger student count this coming 

year, and if you do, I’m sure it’s in part attributable to the incredible spirit that was developed in the community along with the infrastructure related to strengthening the education system. You 

said that you see less measures for truancy, and that that kind of 

student behavior is changing. So that is a positive all the way 

around. 

You also mentioned that LEED Platinum status is being sought. 

Has that already been secured? What are the steps that remain in 

that process? 

Mr. COX. The LEED Platinum status—you have to have so many 

points. Fifty-eight is the benchmark, and we currently have—or 

we’re trying to make sure that we have 59. We’ve submitted our 

application. They’ve come back with some questions, and we’re just 

finalizing responses to those to get that certification. 

Senator MERKLEY. Let me ask specifically about your biomass 

boiler. This helps symbolize the connection to the timber community. 

This is a situation where the Environmental Protection Agency— 

a conversation I’ve been having with them since I came into office 

was over the difference between carbon recirculating in a surface 

cycle between air and trees—the difference between that and fossil 

fuels that collect and add to that carbon cycle. In fact, the EPA has 

been doing scientific studies that back this up. That is a very different component. 

Is it a pellet system or a brick system? How is it working? Can 

you recommend it to others? 

Mr. COX. Well, we do use a pellet system. We have a 35-ton silo 

out in back of the school, and the pellets are augured into the biomass boiler. We used that throughout the year last year. This year, 

we have a backup gas boiler, and we’ll be using both to determine 

which would be the most cost-effective. We were able to get an excellent price from a local pellet supplier in Columbia City, so that’s 

really helped us in that regard. 

Senator MERKLEY. Well, I’m going to make some closing comments. Thank you very much, Superintendent. 

Much of this discussion has been around energy efficiency in 

buildings, which is appropriate, because we have three very sizable 

contributors to energy issues, one being transportation, and one 

being electricity generation, and the third being buildings. And in 

the past, people kind of overlooked how important buildings were 

in this conversation. Obviously, that’s changing, and it’s good for 
68 

the environment and certainly good for the economy as we’ve heard 

today. 

There is another sector where a lot can be done, and that’s in 

manufacturing. We do have some examples around Oregon where 

companies have made significant changes in their manufacturing 

processes that save substantial sums. Gunderson, which builds and 

repairs railroad cars, has had quite a transformation—Warn Industries, Darigold, Portland Hospital Service Corporation, Boise Cascade Company’s pilot rock mill, which I visited the other day. 

I won’t go into details here, but much more could be done, because there’s no national focus on this. So I’m going to be introducing a bill this coming month that focuses on energy savings in 

the manufacturing process. This, too, would be good for our productivity and our cost competitiveness, good for the environment, and 

help to sustain and grow our manufacturing sector. 

Certainly, if we don’t make things in America, we will not have 

a middle class in America. So it’s well worth focusing on. I’ve been 

very struck by the companies I have talked to about how the savings have been so tremendous with very short payback periods. 

And I keep hearing comments like, ‘‘If only we had paused and 

thought about doing this 10 years earlier, because we see the dollars that would have been saved over those years.’’ So I think it’s 

an area well worth adding to our current work on buildings. 

So thank you, each of you. This is a process we hope to keep 

growing. There is huge potential to expand through the Rural Energy Savings Program, which would create a whole new set of rural 

electrical co-ops as partners. They have been terrific collaborators 

in my Rural Energy Savings Program bill, a bipartisan bill, as I 

mentioned at the outset, that passed the Senate twice. We hope to 

get it through the House and have it for the President. 

I hope that this hearing and you all sharing your stories will 

help to continue the momentum. All of you who have come to attend today—this is an unusual hearing. We don’t often get to hold 

field hearings. This is actually my very first hearing as chair of the 

Subcommittee on Green Jobs. So I was delighted to be able to do 

this. 

When you first come into the Senate, you don’t get to chair a 

subcommittee. But now that I’m a couple of years down the line 

here and have a little bit of seniority, I had the opportunity to do 

this. This particular Committee is very close to my heart because 

of how it reverberates in helping to build the middle class and a 

better world at the same time. 

So thank you for attending the inaugural meeting, for me, as 

chair of this Subcommittee. I hope this conversation will continue 

and the momentum will continue. 

The Subcommittee is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:42 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

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