We have to do what Congress Can't Do

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Congress has been struggling for several years to convert the Power Plant for Congress to a clean energy. They figure that they have cut down and conserved all they can, they can't make things any more energy efficient. Right now it uses mostly coal and have trouble converting because of the cost and the economic impact. To convert to Natural Gas, which costs 4 x what coal does, is extremely expensive and not cost effective. To put CO2 recovery system is also expensive and you have the additional problem of where to put the recovered CO2 and coal by products. There are several options open to congress: 1. Convert to 100% Natural Gas a much cleaner fuel but very expensive, estimated $6 to $7 million to convert and 4X the cost of fuel. It is estimated that it will cost $2,000,000 (Million) a year, to convert for just the House Portion the Senate is above and beyond this cost, at today's costs. This will increase as fuel costs increase. 2. They could convert to Wind Power and cover several thousand acres of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virgina and Virgina with Wind turbines and High Tension transmission lines. The cost of wind is about 27X the cost of Coal to produce plus the cost of construction of the wind turbines and the Transmission lines. What would the environmental impact be of cutting all the trees necessary to put up the Tribunes and Transmission lines. 3. They could convert to Solar Power. This is slightly more expensive than Wind Power and would require similar amounts of land be used for the construction of solar panels and again transmission lines. You would fact the same environmental impact plus you have the additional costs of replacing the panels every 10 years and the cost of disposing of the Hazardous Waste on the panels. Bing located in the mid atlantic states you would need workers to clean the panels after a snow storm to keep them working. With both the Solar ans Wind you would need a back up system for those days when nature does not cooperate. 4. There is a fourth option that congress will never consider. It would be shutting down the House and Senate from December 24th to March 15th and from June 15th to September 15th. There would be a saving in energy use as no one would be around and you could reduce the temp in the winter and not cool it during the hottest months in the summer. They would also receive a 50% pay and benefits cut and their staff would also receive a cut in pay and benefits. This would mean that they would have to get a real job and maybe, like Senator McGovern, would discover that many of the laws, rules and regulations are truly burdensome and hurt our country and the workers. I would like to see Congress meet the standard they will set for everyone else but they need to do it with in their existing budget just like individuals and businesses will have to do. Maybe then they will learn the true cost of their wild ideas and good intentions.