OLYMPIA – Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, fresh from a landslide re-election victory, is in China to promote clean energy technology.
The senator, a member of the Senate energy panel, arrived in Beijing on Friday. She is leading a women’s delegation that hopes to foster closer trade ties and to promote energy technology developed in the Pacific Northwest. She be the keynote at a gathering of U.S. and Chinese business leaders Monday.
Cantwell is wedging the visit between her post-election celebration and the lame-duck session of Congress that begins next week.
She said reauthorization of sales tax deductions will be her top priority for the upcoming brief session, and she’s optimistic that the tax break will pass. She’ll work with Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and colleagues in states with the same goal, including retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
In an interview with The Associated Press before her departure, she said the China trip squares with her second-term emphasis on greater use of alternative fuels and clean-energy technology.
“China is emerging and has enormous energy needs, and they’re talking about adding a huge number of coal-fired plants,” she said. “We can offer them an alternative energy policy. This is an incredible opportunity.”
Cantwell said persuading China to develop a smarter energy future can ease the impact on pollution and global warming and benefit Northwest companies. Former Vice President Al Gore underscored that point when he campaigned for her in Seattle recently, she noted. Gov. Chris Gregoire also is pursuing that angle.
In a statement released by her staff Friday, Cantwell said, “Our state is the most trade-dependent in the nation, and by staying on the path to positive engagement (with China), by enhancing our energy cooperation, and by increasing the products and technologies we export to China, we can create good jobs in our state and give our local economy a boost.
“Our region is poised to become a global leader in new energy technologies, and China’s growing energy and infrastructure needs present us with an incredible opportunity to export technologies and biofuels developed right here in our state.”
Cantwell mentioned software for managing power grids, “smart meters,” new power transmission technology, and biomass and biofuel-related innovations.
Cantwell said she wants to push her own country to “get much more aggressive” on alternative fuel. Democrats hope to roll back subsidies to big energy companies. Cantwell says the subsidies undercut investment in renewable energy.
The China visit is sponsored by the Stellar International Networks and the delegation is being hosted by the All China Women’s Federation, one of the largest women’s organizations in China, and the Chinese Association of Women Entrepreneurs.
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