Speech to the Energy Transmission Forum
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
National Press Club
September 30, 2009
Thank you, George. And thank you to Energy Daily for organizing this event. It is great to be at the National Press Club.
I am here today on behalf of President Obama to talk about our clean energy future and the progress we are making on a national transmission grid for the 21st century.
It has been eight months since I left the Senate to serve in President Obama’s Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior.
A lot has changed in a short period of time.
In January, we were in the throes of the greatest economic recession since the 1930s. Credit was frozen. 700,000 people were losing their jobs every month. Five trillion dollars of Americans' household wealth had evaporated in just three months. It seemed the nation was heading off an economic cliff.
Now, just eight months later, thanks to the President and Congress’s leadership, we have steered away from what could have been an even greater economic disaster.
The emergency actions to help people save their homes, to shore up credit, to put people to work, and to restore confidence in our economic system were the right actions at the right time for the right reasons. We are now on the path of recovery.
But make no mistake: full economic recovery will take more time and more work.
We must continue to implement the measures needed to bring our country back from the brink. But we must also lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity in America. We must tackle, head on, the two signature domestic issues of our time: health care and energy.
On health care: the status quo is simply not an option. Health care costs are spiraling. The value people get from their health care dollars is low compared to other countries. And the health care system we have now is a drag on the economy. We need reform, and we need it now.
The same is true for energy.
Every year, we export hundreds of billions of dollars to buy the oil we need to power our country.
We are falling behind the world in the energy technologies that will shape this century.
Our aging transmission grid was designed for decades long passed.
And the rising costs of our failed energy policy have been unchecked for too long. Climate change is affecting water supplies for cities and farms; leading to more severe droughts, hurricanes, and floods; contributing to more intense forest fires; and putting coastal communities at risk.
We are on a course we cannot sustain. Our energy policy is a liability to our economic security, our national security, and our environmental security.
We now face a choice between two energy futures. As President Obama says well, we will either remain the world’s largest importer of oil or we will become the world’s largest exporter of clean energy.
Millions of clean energy jobs ride on the choice we make.
I believe, and President Obama believes, that we can harness our clean energy resources. We can lead the world in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. We can bring our electrical transmission grid into the 21st century. And we can inspire a new era of ingenuity and investment.
But to reach this new energy frontier, we need a new approach and new priorities.
That is why I am so proud of the work we have done in the last eight months at the Department of the Interior.
At Interior, we manage one-fifth of the nation’s land mass and 1.7 billion acres of ocean off our coasts, including many of the best locations for large-scale renewable energy projects. We are also the Department that is – and will be for years to come – on the front lines of our nation’s response to the impacts of climate change on our land, water, wildlife, and tribal resources.
To meet these new challenges we have already begun to change how the Department of the Interior does business.
Yes, we are continuing to responsibly develop our nation’s oil and gas resources - in the right way and in the right places.
Some critics would have you believe otherwise. They want you to believe the Obama Administration is “anti-this,” or “anti-that.”
The truth is: we are developing on all fronts, but responsibly.
We have held 21 onshore lease sales and two offshore auctions, offering more than 55 million acres for oil and natural gas development. Those sales have generated more than $875 million in revenues.
But there is also a reality that we have to recognize. America’s oil and natural gas resources are limited. We consume 25% of the world’s oil, yet we sit on only 3% of its oil reserves.
That’s why we are managing America’s public lands not just for balanced oil, natural gas, and coal development, but also – for the first time ever – to allow environmentally responsible renewable energy projects that can help power President Obama’s vision for our clean energy future.
These changes to how we do business are vital. In large measure, the vast deserts, plains, forests and oceans that belong to every American have – until now – been largely unexplored for their vast renewable energy potential.
But now we know the extent of the possibilities. The wind potential off the Atlantic coast alone is greater than our national electricity demand. And more wind potential is blowing across the Plains, solar potential is shining over the Southwest, and geothermal possibilities are bubbling up across the country.
In these first months of the Obama Administration we have been busy finding ways to develop this renewable energy potential in an environmentally responsible manner.
And I am proud of our progress.
We have created the first-ever framework for offshore renewable energy development.
We have cleared out bureaucratic red tape between FERC and Interior that was creating unnecessary confusion for potential offshore renewable projects.
We have awarded the first-ever exploratory leases for renewable wind energy production on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore New Jersey and Delaware.
We are creating Renewable Energy Coordination Offices in western states to help swiftly complete reviews on the most ready-to-go solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass projects on public lands.
We have set aside 1,000 square miles of public lands in twenty-four “Solar Energy Study Areas” that the Department of the Interior is evaluating for environmentally appropriate solar energy development across the West.
And we have invested $41 million through the President’s economic recovery plan to facilitate a rapid and responsible move to large-scale production of renewables on public lands.
We believe that of the solar projects and wind projects currently proposed, more than 5,300 megawatts of new capacity could be ready for construction by the end of 2010. That is enough to power almost 1.8 million homes. And project construction will create over 48,000 jobs.
We are making great progress on the new energy frontier. But as you well know, capturing more clean power is only part of the equation. We need to get that power from where it’s produced to where it’s used.
President Eisenhower, as he pushed to modernize America’s infrastructure in the 1950s, once said: “Our unity as a nation is sustained by free communication of thought and by easy transportation of people and goods.”
Today, America’s future prosperity depends – yes, on the free movement of people, goods, and ideas – but now, too, on the movement of energy around the country.
Unfortunately, America’s electric transmission grid – in its current state - isn’t up to the task.
It is inefficient.
It is geographically fragmented.
It is vulnerable to cyber attack, brownouts, and other disruptions.
And it simply isn’t designed to move large amounts of power from areas with high renewable energy potential – such as the upper Great Plains or the southwest – to the areas of highest demand.
Can you imagine what it would be like to have to travel from North Dakota to New York City on dirt roads? It’s unthinkable today. But that’s the condition of our electric grid in 2009.
Our transmission infrastructure is long outdated. It is time for a 21st century electric transmission grid that can deliver clean, renewable energy to American homes and businesses across the country.
President Obama has made it a priority, and we will deliver on that promise.
I am proud to say that in the first eight months of the Administration, we have gotten off to a fast start on transmission.
The President’s economic recovery plan makes an unprecedented $11 billion federal investment in building the better and smarter electric grid that we need. Over $3 billion is going straight to investments in smart grid projects across the country. And over four and a half billion is going to a nationwide effort to modernize the grid, improve security and reliability, and meet growing demand.
These investments are a huge first step toward expanding the grid. But we also need a new set of policies and priorities for transmission in the 21st century.
For too long, our nation’s electric transmission policy has been disjointed, fragmented, and – frankly – a low priority across a federal agencies
For this reason, we have assembled a Cabinet-level working group focused on developing a coordinated approach for moving energy around the country.
In the regular meetings we now hold with the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Energy and Climate Change, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and others, we are assembling a unified, forward-looking strategy for siting, cost allocation, and coordinating the permitting for proposed transmission projects.
As you who follow transmission policy know well, it can take years to secure the permits needed for a multi-state transmission project. The process often involves several state agencies, local regulators, and federal land management agencies – each with the power to block a particular project.
So: how do we build a national transmission strategy with these challenges? And how do we align a national need with local interests and concerns?
First: we need to get the federal house in order.
A permit applicant with a project that would cross, for example, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, should have the benefit of a coordinated federal review of the proposal. I am confident that, under existing authorities, we can dramatically improve the federal permitting process.
Second: we need to map out electric corridors that meet the needs of the clean energy economy. We must connect the solar power of the southwestern deserts and the wind of the High Plains to major metropolitan areas.
At Interior, we are mapping these corridors in collaboration with other federal agencies, tribal nations, and stakeholders. The Bureau of Land Management has identified over 5,000 miles of energy transport corridors on public lands in the West. These corridors are a work in progress; we’re continuing to work with stakeholders to identify the best places on the landscape for transmission facilities, especially as renewable energy generation comes on line.
In particular, we are working with the Western Governors’ Association’s Renewable Energy Zone (WREZ) effort. This is a regional transmission planning and coordination effort that is helping align federal, state, and local interests.
We are also improving coordination on transmission with tribal nations. Tribal lands have some of the highest renewable and conventional resource potential in the country, yet many tribes have been left out of the nation’s energy infrastructure. We are working with tribes – on a nation to nation basis – to identify opportunities to site transmission projects where they could most benefit tribal communities.
Finally, to get our grid under construction as soon as possible, we must focus on fast-tracking the projects that are ready to go.
Especially now, with millions of Americans out of work, we have to get moving on the transmission proposals that can get online the quickest.
BLM is currently processing 30 applications for major transmission rights-of-way on public lands we oversee.
Seven of these are “fast track” projects in Idaho, California, and Nevada. We anticipate these projects will clear the permitting process before the end of next year, in time to qualify for the incentives in the economic recovery act and to put people to work as soon as possible.
The major projects range from 115kv to 500kv. Together, they will add over 1,000 miles of new transmission.
They include the Barren-Ridge project.
The Devers-Palo Verde Two Project.
Hooper Springs.
The Hemingway Butte.
The Palisades-Goshen.
The Southwest Intertie Project.
And the One Nevada Line.
These projects are good news for the future of our clean energy economy
They are also good news for the people who will be going to work on the grid. Engineers. Surveyors. Welders. Machinists. These are good jobs right here at home.
Of course, it will take time to transition to a clean energy economy. And we will not build the needed transmission infrastructure overnight.
But Americans have a proud tradition of recognizing the opportunities of a coming era, and of retooling our economy to meet the challenges.
Think how a national postal system connected a young nation. Remember the tens of thousands who sacrificed to connect the country with a transcontinental railroad. Think of the entrepreneurs, investors, and engineers who launched the IT revolution that put America out front.
Today, with the prospect of a clean energy future before us, we are called again to a great project.
This time, our goal is to move American energy cleanly, efficiently, and safely to our homes and businesses.
We will succeed in developing a 21st century electric grid for America. We will succeed because President Obama is committed to the task and because our country is ready for the new energy frontier. We will succeed because we have a once-in-a generation opportunity to transform a moment of crisis into a foundation for lasting economic growth.
We will repower, we will rebuild, and we will recover.
Thank you.