{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/bipartisan-group-of-pacific-northwest-senators-announces-40-million-for-first-us-wave-energy-test-facility", "Bipartisan Group of Pacific Northwest Senators Announces $40 Million for First U.S. Wave Energy Test Facility", "2016-12-21", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Ron Wyden", "W000779", "www.wyden.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Wednesday, December 21, 2016\n            \n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C.\u00a0\u2013 U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Patty Murray, D-Wash., today announced funding will be awarded to build the United States\u2019 first open-ocean, power grid-connected wave energy test facility at a site off the Oregon coast.\r\nThe U.S. Department of Energy will provide up to $40 million to build the wave energy test site about six nautical miles off the coast of Newport, Ore. A partnership made up of Oregon State University, the University of Washington, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and renewable energy innovators applied for the federal funding earlier this year. The senators, along with Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., urged the Energy Department to award the funding to the Newport site in an October letter.\r\n\"This is great news for OSU and its partners and will launch a new level of local job creation and clean energy innovation,\u201d Wyden said. \u201cOregon will use this opportunity to build on its solid position nationally and internationally as a leader in renewable wave energy.\"\r\n\u201cThis is a huge success story for Oregon State University, and I thank the Department of Energy for helping us harness the enormous potential of wave energy off the Oregon coast,\u201d Merkley said. \u201cThis test facility will make Oregon the leader in bringing wave energy to the United States, which will create good-paying local jobs, and strengthen our coastal economies.\u201d\r\n\"Given the important role that current and wave energy innovation can play in Alaska's energy future, it is great news that a consortium of universities, including the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has been awarded with this opportunity to test and develop marine hydrokinetic devices,\u201d Murkowski said. \u201cThis should help advance renewable energy technologies that hold great promise for our coastal communities.\"\r\n\u201cThis is an exciting step forward for the Pacific Northwest, which continues to be a leader in developing renewable energy sources,\u201d Murray said. \u201cThis investment has the potential to create jobs and move our country away from the devastating effects of fossil fuels, while also ensuring minimal impacts to the environment and existing uses.\u201d\r\nThe funding award will allow the universities to build infrastructure, such as open-water test berths and undersea cables, which private companies would then use to test their wave and tidal current energy innovations. Companies seeking to test their designs at the site will not have to undergo separate permitting and installation processes \u2013 lowering the cost and speeding up the process for developing new wave energy technologies, while bringing business and jobs to the area.\r\nThe Newport-based site will be the first open-water test facility for wave power connected directly to the power grid in the U.S.\r\nThe clean, renewable energy found in waves and tidal currents holds the potential to deliver up to one-third of our nation\u2019s electricity needs, according to the DOE.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/bipartisan-group-of-pacific-northwest-senators-announces-40-million-for-first-us-wave-energy-test-facility"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5701339580118656, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}