Unless S.B. 61 Passes, We’ll be buying China-made Light Bulbs

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, June 10, 2011
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. I thought surely Senator Loudermilk’s S.B. 61 would pass, but it didn’t. If it doesn’t pass in 2012, we’ll have about 18 months to repeal the federal ban on incandescent light bulbs. Beginning in 2012, 100-watt bulbs will be phased out and manufacturers will stop making 75-, 60- and 40-watt bulbs in 2014, when the federal ban takes effect.

It’s downright un-American to abandon Thomas Edison’s invention and force red-blooded Americans to use China-made compact fluorescent bulbs that contain dangerous mercury. They produce a sickly light, are slower to reach full brightness and cost about $3 for a 25-watt bulb, compared to the much less expensive, more satisfactory 100-watt incandescent bulb that’s not harmful to your health. It makes no sense to replace great bulbs with less-efficient inferior bulbs that cost more and interfere with radios, TVs, wireless phones and remote controls.

While the failure of S.B. 61 is disappointing in Georgia, imagine how people felt in Arizona last year when their governor vetoed a bill declaring incandescent bulbs manufactured entirely within the state exempt from federal regulation. That’s the same language in Georgia’s S.B. 61 that didn’t pass this year.

If a bill now being debated in South Carolina passes, it could allow that state’s American Light Bulb Company to continue making incandescent bulbs in Marion County where it employed 50 workers on three production lines before the federal energy law passed in 2007. Now the plant is down to one line with 15 workers and Sylvania is its only U.S. competitor. GE made its last incandescent bulb in the U.S. last fall and has established a plant in China.

While S.C. and Georgia have introduced bills to manufacture incandescent light bulbs, the issue is being considered in Texas and Minnesota, but neither has passed a law. S.B. 61 is in Representative Amerson’s committee. It’s imperative that he is called, repeatedly, at 404 657-8443 from now until the session begins in 2012. He should be reminded that incandescent light bulbs are a wonderful American invention, a time-tested product that should NOT be phased out. Abandoning American manufacturing for foreign-made products is the reason so many Americans are out of work. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.