Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The President also directed EPA to work with state and local
governments, industry, nongovernmental organizations, tribal officials and
others in designing the programs, and to use market-based elements where
possible. These instructions might be consistent with new standards and
guidelines that take innovative forms, such as proposals put forward by policy
analysts.
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Some call for state-specific guidelines for existing power plants
with flexibilities in state implementation plans to allow compliance in flexible
ways, including use of generator and consumer efficiency, renewable
mechanisms, rate averaging, and additional options. The President's
announcement specifically indicated that the EPA standards should ―provide
flexibility to different states with different needs, and build on the leadership
that many states, and cities, and companies have already shown.‖
Electricity Generation from Renewable Energy:
The President set a goal
to double electricity generation from wind, solar, and geothermal energy from
current levels by 2020. Electricity generation produced from wind, solar,
geothermal, increased 80% from 2009 to 2011, from 90 million megawatt-
hours to 161 million megawatt-hours.
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Including biomass fuels, the increase
of non-hydro renewable electricity was 52% from 2009 to 2011, from 144
million megawatt-hours to 219 million megawatt-hours. The President
proposes to accomplish the doubling goal by
instructing the Department of Interior to issue permits for 10
gigawatts (GW) of renewable electric capacity on public lands by
2020;
encouraging expansion of hydropower generation at existing dams,
including the Red Rock Hydroelectric Plant on the Des Moines River
in Iowa as a high priority permitting project.
deploying 3 GW of renewable capacity on military installations by
2025;
aiming to install 100 MW of renewable capacity for federally
subsidized housing stock by 2020; and
directing federal agencies, through a June 2013 Presidential
Memorandum, to streamline siting, permitting, and review of
electricity transmission projects across federal, state, and tribal
government processes.
Consider Climate Impacts in the National Interests of Keystone XL:
The
State Department faces a pending decision of whether to grant a Presidential
Permit for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Keystone XL would transport
