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Going Udall the way
Kate Sheppard, Gristmill
New Mexico Democrat Tom Udall is battling for a vacant Senate seat in a race that enviros are watching closely this year — just like his cousin in Colorado.
… Udall cosponsored a measure to create a national renewable electricity standard, which passed in the House in 2007 but stalled in the Senate. He is the cofounder of the House International Conservation Caucus, and has been active on domestic public-lands and conservation issues. He co-founded the Peak Oil Caucus, which works on measures to reduce oil consumption and develop renewable alternatives, and introduced the Keep America Competitive Global Warming Act in 2006, which included a cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and increase investment in renewables.
Both political and environmental activism run in the Udall family. Tom’s father, Stewart Udall, served as the Interior secretary under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. His uncle, Rep. Morris “Mo” Udall, was a legendary environmental champion in the House. Prior to his time in Congress, Tom Udall served as the attorney general of New Mexico for eight years.
“Those who say we can’t protect our environment and our jobs at the same time are just plain wrong,” Udall says on his congressional website.
(22 October 2008)
Related:
The West Will Rise Again in the March 2008 Outside magazine:
Their fathers were titans. Their family defined conservation in the West. Now, with two Senate seats up for grabs, cousins Mark and Tom Udall have the chance to bring green leadership to Washington when it’s needed most. Can the boys man up the way their dads did a generation ago?
New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States
Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging in the United States. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even a year ago.
Consider Texas. Long the leading oil-producing state, it is now also the leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California two years ago. Texas now has nearly 6,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity online and a staggering 39,000 megawatts in the construction and planning stages. When all this is completed, Texas will have 45,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity (think 45 coal-fired power plants). This will more than satisfy the residential needs of the state’s 24 million people, enabling Texas to feed electricity to nearby states such as Louisiana and Mississippi.
After Texas and California, the other leaders among the 30 states with commercial-scale wind farms are Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, and Colorado. And other states are emerging as wind superpowers. Clipper Windpower and BP are teaming up to build the 5,050-megawatt Titan wind farm, the world’s largest, in eastern South Dakota. Already under development, Titan will generate five times as much electricity as the state’s 780,000 residents currently use. This project includes building a transmission line along an abandoned rail line across Iowa, feeding electricity into Illinois and the country’s industrial heartland.
… Wind appears destined to become the centerpiece of the new U.S. energy economy, eventually supplying several hundred thousand megawatts of electricity.
Solar power is also expanding at a breakneck pace. The nation’s wealth of solar energy is being harnessed by using both photovoltaic cells and solar thermal power plants to convert sunlight into electricity. For solar cell installations, California, with its Million Solar Roofs plan, is far and away the leader. New Jersey is also moving fast, followed by Nevada.
… The new energy economy will be powered largely by electricity from renewable sources. Electricity will light, heat, and cool buildings. As we shift to plug-in hybrid cars, light rail transit systems in cities, and high-speed electric intercity rail systems like those in Japan and Europe, our transport system will also be powered largely by electricity.
It is historically rare for so many interests to converge at one time and in one place as those now supporting the development of renewable energy resources in the United States.
… To ensure that this shift to renewables continues at a rapid rate, national leadership is needed in one key area—building a strong national grid. Although private investors are investing in long-distance high-voltage transmission lines, these need to be incorporated into a carefully planned national grid, the electrical equivalent of President Eisenhower’s interstate highway system, in order to unleash the full potential of renewable energy wealth.
(15 October 2008)
Contributor Gil writes:
Background Data for this story can be found at: http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update77_data.htm
Good news to see renewables expanding so rapidly despite the market distortions (i.e. more generous government subsidies) that favor fossil fuels and nuclear power. How fast would it be expanding if such distortions were removed?
Former EIA chief Hakes talks about road to energy independence, economic stability (video & transcript)
Monica Trauzzi, OnPoint, E&E TV
How can we look to the decisions of past presidents to help define how we should proceed with energy policy and climate change legislation now?
During today’s OnPoint, Jay Hakes, former head of the Energy Information Administration and author of the book “A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy, and the Environment,” explains how he would advise the next president on energy issues to help the United States achieve energy independence and boost economic growth.
He discusses how declining oil and gas prices may affect the urgency to act on energy and climate, and highlights the key technological hurdles that need to be overcome for the country to attain energy independence.
(22 October 2008)
