E-Newsletter

Virginia Tech’s Energy Harvesting Workshop

In front of experts from across the country and around the globe, on Tuesday, August 7, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote speech at Virginia Tech’s Seventh Annual Energy Harvesting Workshop in Blacksburg.  Like in years past, VT’s workshop is designed to bring these experts together to discuss and review past developments, current challenges, and future goals pertaining to energy harvesting.  As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I spoke about our efforts in Congress to create energy jobs in the region, state, and country.  As I’m sure many of you already know, my vision for the nation’s energy policy is straightforward – drill, dig, discover, and deregulate.  In line with my vision, the experts at the workshop play a key role in ‘discovering’ ways to keep the world charging ahead toward energy development.  I want to commend Shashank Priya, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech.  Professor Priya organized the conference and directs the Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems. 

Technology Abounds at DISH Network in Christiansburg

Last week I also had the opportunity to visit the DISH Network facility in Christiansburg.  In addition to being very impressed with the DISH facility and its employees, I think one of the most intriguing parts of the visit was the demonstration of upcoming HughesNet technology.  For those of us looking for faster internet, reasonable downloading capabilities, and the like, I hope we’ll finally see some relief in the coming months. 

In an effort to demonstrate the bandwidth capabilities, a HughesNet employee streamed a movie, surfed the internet, and placed a phone call all at the same time.  The video that was streamed on the TV was flawless – there were no lags, the audio and video were synced, and there were no pixilation problems.  The phone and internet were also fast with no problems.  This was all possible thanks to cutting edge satellite technology.  For those of you concerned about daily limits, I’m also pleased to report that the company is said to be moving away from daily limits to monthly limits.  At this point, the company is still undergoing some testing, but they expect to launch a consumer product within the next few months.

On August 5, 2012, I was honored to join the members of the Lee County Local 1405 at their annual picnic in Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, VA.  Over the last year, I’ve been working with the prison guards and officials at the U.S. Penitentiary (USP) in Lee County to secure a pepper spray pilot program in federal prisons.  Thanks to the persistent efforts of the brave prison guards, the leadership team at the USP in Lee, and some help from my colleague Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons has finally allowed for a pepper spray pilot program to go forward in federal prisons.  It was a true joy to get to celebrate this victory with these brave men and women and their families.

As always, if you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office.  You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.  To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.

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