U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, visited the Lamar University campus and toured the Advanced Fuel Cell Research laboratory Friday, July 6.
Accompanying Hutchison were U.S. Reps. Ted Poe, R-Humble, representative for District 2, and U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, representative for District 8.
President James Simmons welcomed them and said, “Lamar University is indeed fortunate to have such stellar support from Senator Hutchison and Congressmen Brady and Poe for the innovative research being performed here on Lamar’s campus.”
Lamar’s Fuel Cell and Energy Research Lab is conducting frontier research to meet the needs of the U. S. military by developing clean and efficient energy systems for its strategic missions.
This includes the generation of chemically stored energy in systems that produce hydrogen from conventional and renewable sources. Along with military applications, advanced fuel cell research holds the promise of utilizing non-polluting hydrogen energy that will eventually allow energy independence for the United States while reducing environmental stresses.
This ongoing research by the new Lamar University energy laboratory and its numerous collaborating partners places Southeast Texas, and the Gulf Coast region, squarely at the forefront as leaders in developing sustainable and renewable energy for decades to come.
"A comprehensive strategy to unleash the power of free minds and free markets so we can explore and produce energy in America will strengthen our national security and solidify our global economic leadership," Hutchison said. "With its renowned research institutions and vast supply of untapped renewable energy resources, Texas is poised to invent the breakthrough sources that will help fuel the world in the 21st century."
She is sponsoring a new sustainable energy related project, Senate bill S.1020, the Creating Energy through Science and Technology Act (CREST). Hutchison introduced S. 1020 March 28. CREST directs the National Science Foundation to create a Council on Renewable Energy (CORE) comprising the Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce, state agencies, industry representatives, and laboratories.
CORE will advise Congress on national renewable energy development, strategy, research, and the marketability of renewable technologies. The most important function of the CORE will be its responsibility to report to Congress on the required funding levels for each of these areas as well as make policy recommendations. Ultimately, the goal of the CREST Act is to lessen and shrink the time needed to develop these renewable sources for the marketplace.
CREST will focus on five areas of renewable energy: offshore wind, wave, solar, geothermal, and alternative feed stocks for ethanol, particularly cellulosic ethanol.
Hutchison is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and is the ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee for Space, Aeronautics, and Related Sciences. She is also a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is the ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee for Military Construction, Veteran’s Affairs and Related Agencies.
After a career as a criminal court judge in Houston, Poe authored the Child Predator Act of 2005, which created a national database to track sex offenders, closed loopholes in current sex-offender notification requirements and provides law enforcement with the funding and latest technologies to deal with internet crimes against children. He has been a staunch advocate for and supporter of Lamar University.
Brady holds the leadership post of deputy whip and serves on the Ways and Means Committee. His many legislative accomplishments include spearheading the successful House effort to secure $4 billion in disaster recovery funding to help Texas recover from the devastation of Hurricane Rita. It was through this effort that Lamar was able to quickly resume classes after the hurricane.
