thank you. >> again, my name is jerome ringo. i am the chief business owner for an allergy harvesting and extraction project that is creating advanced technologies as alternative energy and pharmaceutical resources. my thanks to the chairman and members of the committee for inviting me to speak on this important subject. i spent over 25 years working in the louisiana petrochemical industry as a member of the oil, chemical, and atomic workers union, both in construction and operations. i spent 13 years on the board of directors of the national wildlife federation, where i became chairman. i also was the president of the apollo alliance, a 17 million member coalition on alternative energy. i am currently with barred holdings. i would like to offer long-term perspective. i understand our need for energy and economic stimulation. it is important we meet this demand with smart choices for our economy while minimizing adverse impact on the safety of the water, the air, and the land we depend on. in fact, american workers have proven ag

thank you. >> my name is jerome ringo. i am the chief executive officer for an all g project that -- algae budget that is creating alternative technologies. my thanks to the chairman, the ranking member, and those of the committee to inviting me to speak on this most important subject. i spent over 25 years working, in the louisiana petrochemical energy as a member of the oil and atomic workers union. i spent 13 years on the board of directors on the national wildlife federation. i became chairman of that organization. i was also president of the apollo alliance, a coalition on alternative energy. i would like to offer a long- term perspective on america's energy choices. understanding america's growing appetite for energy and our need for economic stimulation, it is important we meet this energy demand with smart choices for our economy while minimizing adverse impact on the safety of the water, air, and lands we depend on american workers have proven again and again that we can create jobs by pursuing environmentally sma

my name is jerome ringo and i'm the -- officer of [inaudible] >> would you do me a favor, sir. sorry to interrupt. will you pull your microphone a little closer to you? and is it on? >> is this better? very good, thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. again my name is jerome ringo and i'm the chief business officer for bard holdings, an algae cultivation, harvesting and extraction project creating advance technologies as alternative energy and pharmaceutical resources. my thanks to the chairman, the ranking member and members of the committee for inviting me to speak today on this most important subject. i spent over 25 years working in the louisiana petrochemical industry as a member of the oil, chemical and atomic workers union both in construction and operations. i spent 13 years on the board of directors of the national wildlife federation where i became chairman of that five million member organization. and i also was the president of the apollo alliance, a 17 million member coalition on alternative energy, and currently with bard holdings. i would like to offer long term per

jerome ringo who's the chief business officer of bard holdings incorporated. and then we have ms.ne kleeb, executive director of bold nebraska. so once again, we welcome all of you. we're going to recognize each one of you for five minutes for your opening statement. on the front, in the middle of the desk is a little light. when it goes red in your five minutes are up. so we will try to get to these opening statements before we have boats on the floor, and i don't know if we will be successful or not, but mr. pourbaix, i will recognize you for five minutes for your opening statement. >> be sure to put your microphone on. >> transcanada is a $50 billion energy infrastructure company with more than 60 years of experience and responsible to feldman and reliable operation that north american energy infrastructure. we employ over 4200 employees with half of those employers in the united states. in addition, we operate the largest gas pipeline system in north america, over 40,000 miles, with the capability transport 20% of the natural gas produced in north america every day. keystone w