USA - Clean energy summit brings together national leaders

At a roundtable event in Washington, D.C., AWEA CEO Denise Bode joined an A-List of prominent leaders — ranging from Bill Clinton and Al Gore to Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens — to strategize on how to build a new energy infrastructure in the U.S. that would maximize energy efficiency, send renewable energy to population centers, and educate and employ a skilled labor force in the process.

Among the participants at the National Clean Energy Project Summit, which was organized by the enter for American Progress Action Fund, were Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (DNev.) businessman T. Boone Pickens, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Energy Secretary Steven Chu, former Governor George Pataki (R-N.Y.), former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Green For All President and Founder Van Jones, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Glenn English, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, AFLCIO chief John Sweeney, and Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern.

While acknowledging that their shared vision for renewables and renewables-enabling infrastructure will require teamwork across multiple levels of government as well as citizen support, participants voiced confidence that this vision can be realized. At a press conference following the event, Reid expressed how significant it was “to see Vice President Gore and Boone Pickens speaking from the same sheet of music.”

The participants voiced a remarkably unified vision. Pelosi spoke of the connection between clean energy and urgent national concerns: growing the American economy, creating new jobs, protecting national security, and preserving the environment. “The electric grid is central to all that we do,” she said. “Renewable sources will mean nothing if there isn’t a grid to transmit their power.”

Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) agreed that there would be a multitude of issues to sort through in order to expand the transmission grid. Dorgan spoke of a great “stranded capability” with respect to renewable resources in the U.S., and particularly in his home state of North Dakota. “We need a modern system to produce electricity from renewable resources and move it to where it is needed,” he said. “But we will need to resolve all three
issues of planning, siting, and pricing to move forward.”

More specifically, such issues include, among others, who (i.e., the states, federal government,
etc.) has authority over where transmission lines are sited as well as how their costs are allocated.

Bode highlighted the “unbelievable” opportunity for wind energy development in the U.S. today; she noted that 8,300 MW of wind energy were installed in the U.S. last year, while 70 new manufacturing facilities were opened, expanded, or announced in the past two years, adding many
thousands of jobs to the U.S. economy. She also agreed that the policy barriers currently impeding the development of a green interstate highway system for electricity need to be eliminated. AWEA’s vision of how that could be accomplished is described in the recently released white paper, “Green Power Superhighways: Building a Path to America’s Clean Energy Future.”

Acknowledging the difficult economic times over the past several months, Clinton said, “One of the best things that’s happened [is that] no one in this coalition changed their minds—we need to build a new economy.”

Reid said that in the coming months Congress would be moving forward with energy legislation, including a national renewable electricity standard as well as legislation that would help enable
development of an interstate transmission highway.

The participants were unified in their agreement that there is cause for unprecedented optimism
that the nation will tackle its most pressing energy challenges. “We are going to have an energy
plan for America,” said Pickens. “This time something is going to happen. This is the time to solve the foreign oil problem.”

“What really makes me so optimistic is that the United States is stepping up to the plate,” said
Gore, referring to the need for the U.S. to take its leadership position on the climate-change issue.

The event is available in its entirety at nationalcleanenergyproject.org