Synergy on energy

New Jersey, more than most states, understands the benefits of technological and economic cooperation between American companies, universities, and municipalities and their counterparts in Israel. The New Jersey - Israel Commission has fostered notable joint efforts in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries and in emergency response and homeland security training.

Imagine such cooperation on a national scale and you have the idea behind the United States-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, an effort in Congress to foster private sector and academic research on alternative energy and to help increase research on energy-efficient technologies. According to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the legislation would enable Israel and the United States to work more closely together to increase America’s energy security, move toward energy independence, and combat global warming.

The Forward reported last week that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave new life to the stalled legislation in his May 24 speech to a joint session of Congress. A JCPA spokesperson said that Olmert’s remarks “really gave our efforts momentum both on Capitol Hill and within the Jewish community.” Jewish activists say Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist promised to sponsor the bill in the Senate, and the number of cosponsors of the bill has risen to 82 in the House and 12 in the Senate.

Jewish groups have done the math and are gradually coming to realize that energy policy is a Jewish issue, growing organically from our concern for the environment, our devotion to science, and the international implications of America’s dependence on oil imports. This bill, HR 2730, also serves as a vote of confidence in Israel’s technological prowess and as a reminder to America and the world of the Jewish state that thrives and innovates beyond the conflict.

JCPA is urging supporters of the bill to call their representatives and ask them to cosponsor HR 2730. It’s the Jewish, and Jersey, thing to do.