Another major Cabinet-level policy shift.
Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior:
“We’ve already done a U-turn from the place where the previous administration was taking the country with respect to climate change and energy.”
In addition to the 2,500 square kilometers that Interior is evaluating for solar power potential, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab estimates that wind farms off the east coast could ultimately produce 1,000 gigawatts of power.
“That’s more power from wind alone than is needed to power the entire electrical needs of the US.”
He called for generating at least 20 percent of U.S. power from such wind resources by 2030—following in Denmark’s footsteps—and noted that 5,300 megawatts of new renewable energy projects, including geothermal, refitted hydropower, solar and wind (on- and offshore), are currently being evaluated by his department for public lands, along with the transmission corridors to go with them.