US commits to renewable development

The US Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced plans to make the development of renewable energy a central priority of the organisation.

In a statement issued this week, secretary of the interior Ken Salazar said he had issued a secretarial order to promote the creation of solar, geothermal and wind energy projects on the one fifth of the country's landmass managed by the department.

“More so than ever, with job losses continuing to mount, we need to steer the country onto a new energy path,” Salazar said. “One that creates new jobs and puts America out front in new, growing industries, one that promotes investment and innovation here at home and one that makes wise use of our domestic resources.”

Salazar said that his department would establish a task force to push through the renewable agenda and identify specific areas of US public land where large-scale solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy plants could be established and then connect them to cities and towns. “We have to connect the sun of the deserts and the wind of the plains to the places where people live," he said.

According to the DOI, it currently manages about one fifth of the country’s landmass and has identified about 21 million acres of public land with wind energy potential in western states, and about 29 million acres with solar energy potential in southwestern states. The organisation added that there are also about 140 million acres of public land in western states and Alaska that could be used for geothermal energy.

But despite the explicit commitment to renewables, the DOI said it will continue to develop oil and gas projects on public land. “In the past six weeks we have had five major oil and gas lease sales onshore, netting more than $32m (£23m) in revenue for taxpayers. And next week, I will be travelling to New Orleans to participate in a lease sale for the Central Gulf of Mexico. These will add important resources to our domestic energy production,” said Salazar.