Secretary Salazar Highlights Role of Interior Department in
Developing Renewable Energy, 21st Century Transmission Grid
February 18, 2009
Music/Announcer: This is a podcast from the U.S. Department of the Interior
Ron Tull: On Monday, February 23, 2009, the Center for American Progress Action Fund will be hosting a forum entitled "The National Clean Energy Project: Building the New Economy" that will be in Washington, DC. But today, at the Department of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar participated in a teleconference to discuss the summit's agenda and goals. He said the Department of Interior has an important role in the nation's energy future.
Ken Salazar: The Department of the Interior has a major role as we move forward with the new energy frontier. First because we will be working very hard to make sure that we are creating opportunities for citing renewable energy facilities, both onshore as well as offshore. And secondly, that we are moving forward with the citing of the transmission lines that will allow us to get the energy from the places it is produced to the places where it is consumed.
Ron Tull: Secretary Salazar and President Barack Obama know full well the task at hand is a large one. They have taken to using an expression "moon shot." Secretary Salazar explains.
Ken Salazar: In the 1960s, John Kennedy described to the nation a vision of getting America to the moon within 10 years. We were able to do it in less than 10. In the same way that the Apollo project worked then, today we're going to take our "moon shot" of the 21st century, which is getting us to energy independence. The Department of Interior will play a keystone role in getting us there. I'm excited to be part of this energy team and help to be one of the players moving us forward to getting us back on the moon on energy.
Ron Tull: The half-day event will bring together a select group of high-level government, business, labor, and advocacy group leaders with a focus on developing a plan and key guiding principles to lead the transformation of US Energy Policy and to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
Ken Salazar: The National Grid is going to be very important as we deal with the new energy frontier for America. We know we have great potential of developing new energy sources and we have to figure out ways of getting the energy from the places where it is produced to the places where it is going to be used. This summit that will take place on Monday, which will include Former President Clinton and Former Vice President Al Gore and others, will be a good point for us to begin this debate as we move forward with the administrative actions that we'll have to take to create the new energy grid, as well as whatever legislation might be required to be dealt with by Congress.
Ron Tull: This has been a podcast from the United States Department of the Interior Radio News Service. I'm Ron Tull, Washington.