Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today chaired a "summit" to discuss how the Senate can move forward to address energy issues. All 100 senators were invited to attend.

Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, helped organize the event, which featured energy and environment experts as well as representatives from the automotive and airline industries.

"The purpose of today's Energy Summit was to foster a bipartisan dialogue on how we achieve a more secure, reliable, sustainable and affordable energy future for the American people.  And, obviously, this is indeed a challenging goal," Bingaman said.

"Transforming our economy from one based on fossil fuels to one based on clean energy will not happen overnight.  It will require investments in the range of $45-to-$50 trillion is the estimate we hear.  Our goal is attainable if we encourage private sector investment in clean energy today; if we prioritize and sustain support for energy technologies over the long term; and if we ensure that the technologies that we develop are manufactured and deployed here in this country," he added.

Bingaman has been developing energy legislation and expects to have a bill prepared by Monday, September 15.