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AoC Blog
Secretary of Interior talks the talk, but does he have a heart of coal?
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 12 December 2009 17:31
- Last Updated on Monday, 14 December 2009 18:20
- Written by Odette Mucha, COP-15 delegate
Despite some excellent pro-climate change action sound bites, Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, still supported the use of coal.
Addressing a limited crowd, Salazar was one of many Obama administration cabinet members to come to Copenhagen. His speech was very rosy and filled with all the things us COP-15 delegates wanted to hear. Salazar reminisced oh his youth growing up on the wide expanses of his family’s farm in New Mexico, where he learned for a young age the importance of preserving wild lands and our natural resources. He discussed the importance of the wild lands that – get this – sustain us.
Like all Obama officials I’ve heard so far, he spoke about the importance of addressing climate change and starting the clean energy economy. He talked about bringing the US “out of the darkness” and toward a potential agreement. He mentioned the glaciers in Glacier National Park are melting, and may be gone altogether by 2020. He even quoted the native American adage about borrowing the Earth from our children.
But, when it came time for questions, it was just another typical politician up there. He skirted around all the tough questions like a pro. He dodged a question about stopping mountain top removal mining. Instead, he talked about how important coal is to the US because it’s an “abundant resource,” and therefore we need to commit to making it less dirty when we burn it. He also ignored questions about off-shore drilling in Florida and calls for following “science-based targets” for the US Congress.
Climate targets in the US Congress? He said he’s working with Congress everyday to pass through climate legislation, which in the House, of course, is only 17% below 2005 levels. Not exactly strong enough to reach 350 part per million.
He did give a shout out to US Youth here at COP-15 for making climate change action a priority, but he didn’t agree that we need science based targets, aka to aim for 1.5 degrees or 350ppm.
So, is Salazar a nature loving climate change action hero or just another coal-hearted American politician? See below for more details on his speech, and I’ll let you decide..
A. Obama Administration is working to build renewable energy sources on public lands.
- Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab assessed that there’s potential of 1,000GW of offshore wind here in the US- enough to power the entire country
- New goal of achieving 20% wind by 2030. Achieving this goal would create 250,000 jobs
- Cutting the red tape to make siting renewable power generation on public lands is easier
- 1st ever exploratory leases for off-shore wind in NJ and Delaware (don’t know exactly what they need to explore!)
- Set aside 1,000 square miles for solar on public lands
- $41 million for rapid move to large scale solar
- 5300MW of wind and solar ready for construction (I believe he said on public lands) by the end of 2010. Enough energy to power 1.6million homes and create 50,000 jobs. It’s the equivalent of 15 coal fired power plants at 350MW each.
- Also important to achieving these goals is to upgrade the grid. US currently working to fast-track 1,000 new miles of transmission projects.
- USGS survey recently found that 90billion Metric Tons of Carbon is sunk by US lands. It’s the equivalent of 30% of US CO2 emissions per year.
- US needs to protect and restore ecosystems, and protect areas from development. 3 million acres of land lost to development each year in the USA.
- US needs more landscape management, education initiatives, partnerships to protect wild lands, climate change impact data, etc.
- Coal is an abundant resource and therefore is important for the US
- Don’t ask when we’ll stop using coal, but ask how we can reduce the pollution and carbon emitted from coal when it’s burned
