It hasn’t been very long, as these things go, that this World Cup class assemblage of players has been in place. Many of the top deputies at the agencies and staffers at the White House are still in the pipeline. Yet, as we’ve seen, they are moving and, dare I say it, grooving. They’ve definitely got their mojos working. (Okay, this isn’t an Austin Powers movie, but you know what I’m saying.)
At Interior, Ken Salazar, is making his mark. In U.S. seeks to spur renewable energy on public lands, Reuters reported last week that Interior “…has created a special task force to speed the development of renewable energy projects on federal lands.” The Wilderness Society, among others, was over the moon: “Secretary Salazar has laid the foundation for our nation’s entrepreneurs to harness the planet’s wind, sun, heat and other renewable energy sources in a manner that safeguards the wildlife and natural resources that help keep American communities healthy, safe, and prosperous.” A grand slam by any other name.
The order by the Secretary should galvanize the department’s resources and personnel. This press release characterizes some of the truly breathtaking resources that we, the people, own. In just one example, we learn that “….there is significant wind and wave energy potential offshore. The National Renewable Energy Lab has identified more than 1,000 gigawatts of wind potential off the Atlantic coast, and more than 900 gigawatts of wind potential off our Pacific Coast.”
I met Bruce Babbitt more than 20 years ago when he was running for President. He talked then about “primarily public use” for the federal lands and waters. I was astonished then by the vision he had – I mean the guy was a politician running for high office. He later became, as you know, Bill Clinton’s Interior Secretary. Here is a great little article, from “Sierra” (courtesy of “bnet”) that I remember on Babbitt meeting David Brower.
The point of this is that Salazar is in Babbitt’s class as an environmentalist. But he’s got an administration that really wants what Babbitt, in the end, could only dream about in his days at Interior. Salazar is very much the right guy in the right place at the right time.
In another extra-base hit, Interior announced this week that the jurisdictions for regulating wind and wave power offshore have been decided. The “WaPo” reports here that FERC will oversee wave, tidal and ocean-current projects while Interior’s Offshore Energy and Minerals Management (OEMM) group will continue to manage wind, oil and natural gas. Here’s the release on this for further reference.
Meanwhile, another power hitter, Steven Chu at DOE, is continuing to put up some big numbers. Chu has been having a lot of substantive conversations with various worthies, from Algeria to the UK, who are intimately involved with their countries’ approaches to energy and climate change.
Meanwhile, his agency’s excellent weekly “EERE Network News” has two key stories. DOE to Invest $8 Billion in Weatherization and State Energy Grants is the first. These programs will create approximately 87,000 jobs and “…help families save hundreds of dollars every year on their energy bills…” (I’ve talked about the manifest benefits of energy efficiency many times, but here’s an item from September that also references a similar weatherization program in Britain.)
The other story from DOE this week was Appropriations Act Provides Nearly $2 Billion in New Funding for EERE. This is on top of the stimulus money which “…provided a one-time injection of $16.8 billion into the EERE budget. Combining that economic stimulus funding with the FY 2009 budget yields a total budget of $18.73 billion for EERE, an 11-fold increase above FY 2008 funding levels.” (For more on weatherization, see this from EERE.)
As Winston Churchill was wont to say: Action This Day.
