Bill Richardson: Primary Energy '08

Ladies and Gentleman, good evening and thank you all for coming here to our event "Primary Energy '08" my name is Gal Luft, I am executive director of the Washington based institute for the analysis of Global security which is an energy security think tank. I am also a founding member of the Set America Free Coalition which is a coalition of National Security, environmentalist labor unions, religious groups, evangelicals etc etc or as one of our members Jim Woolsey called it "a coalition of tree huggers, do-gooders, sod-busters, and cheap hawks and evangelicals and all of us are concerned about the Nations dependence on oil, what does it mean for a National Security, what does it mean for economy? What does it mean for the dollar? What does it mean for the environment? And we have think that there can't be policies that we can all agree on as opposed to banging our head against a wall trying to fight battles that don't get us anywhere. So we decided as part of the Presidential campaign to allow Presidential candidates to give televised remarks, we will post this on the web at setamericafree.org and I am glad that Governor Richardson agreed to come here tonight and give us his vision about what should we what should we do about our energy dependence - oil dependence that is let me just thank our partners and collaborators first of all the Keene State College that is hosting the event with us - I would like to thank our sponsors that primarily the Rockefellers, brother's fund, the energy foundation and the Hewlett foundation and a special thank you to our Ambassadors, Set America Free's Ambassadors in the State of New Hampshire, Lorrie and Bruce Henry where's Lorrie?. There she is, they have been doing terrific job here in the State of New Hampshire trying to promote the vision of reducing Americas energy dependence and another thing I would like to mention here is that the coalition does not endure support or opposes any candidate. We want to give everybody the the privilege to tell us how they are going to fix our energy problem. With that let me introduce tonight's speaker Governor Richardson, several months ago the Governor proclaimed himself to be the energy President, and he called for a 90 percent cut in Green house gas emissions by 2050, and a cut in US oil dependence by 50 percent by 2020 and these are very very ambitious goals and under normal circumstances you know we would say "well yeah we have heard that before but in the case of Governor Richardson I think that such proclamations need to be taken seriously not only because he is known as somebody that walks the walk but also because he knows the energy terrain very well as you know Governor Richardson's accomplishments as an international negotiator, secretary of Energy under President Clinton and most recently and still is the Governor of New Mexico were he implemented tough emission standards that I believe exceed those of even the Kyoto protocol. So he is a very interesting candidate to those of us who were interested in energy and the environment and we look forward and eager to learn how we are going to accomplish these goals. Just to show a few things that I learnt about the Governor, I was browsing on the Internet in various campaigns and candidates trying to learn more about the others and I noticed that all of that candidates when you look at the the website and the issues, energy comes may be number five or six, when you go to the Richardson website its right at the top second only to the war in Iraq and I think it's very telling. The other thing that literally blew me away was that I heard that in addition to running for president and running a state like New Mexico, he found time to write a book that will be out the next month and it's called "Leading By Example: How We Can Inspire in Energy and Security Revolution" which is up on this topic. Now being a writer myself, I can assure you that selling books is not the best way to finance the campaign which tells me that probably he wrote this book because he really believes that this is the issue of our time and I look forward to reading this book and I look forward to hearing your remarks without further ado lets give run an applause to governor Richardson. Thank you very much. Thank you so much Gal, thank you I appreciate that very nice introduction, the first thing I want to say New Hampshire is a big state. You know I have been all over the last three days and I was asking - I was asking I have a great state police - a New Hampshire state police friend who helps with driving us around the security and I said well I got to fly to New Mexico tonight you know I am still governor and how long is it going to take, this is an hour and forty five minutes from Keene, the Manchester is he is he telling the truth because it seems that we were - an hour and a half - well he is a great driver and a great friend but this is a wonderful state and I am going to talk about energy in a moment but I want to I want to thank Keene State College I have been here several times I have been in the town - beautiful town square, this is a great school, this is a great idea Gal that you have put together. Get all the candidates talk about energy especially today you know why? $90 per barrel today the highest ever they wanted they wanted - when I was secretary of energy they wanted to tear my scalp off when it was 22 - 22 so it's a historic high which is a huge signal policy wise to this country. Lorrie Henry from Set America Free, thank you so much for putting this event together, besides as I thank Gal, this guy knows his energy and I hope he doesn't ask me too many questions but I wanted to thank again the students and and all of you for hosting this event and I understand after I speak I have amended my speech my speech to about an hour and a half what time does the Red Sox start? I will be finished up with plenty of time but I mainly want to engage in ideas from you. This is this is I think with citizens the first point I want to make, it's for citizens bring the best ideas in my state when It came to becoming the clean energy state and we compete with California you know who is the clean energy state, who has done the most on global climate change and who has done the most on renewable portfolio and you know we are we are got to be up to 20 percent in my state we have got tax free hybrids, we have got solar, wind, biomass incentives, we have got a renewable portfolio with authority which enables us to export wind energy to utilities to other states well you know the governor of California will also professes to be the clean energy state and I want to declare that when we were together because he is a larger size than I am, I say California is the clean energy state but what I am not like here, New Mexico is. So what I wanted to say, first of all when it comes to energy policy point number one, the best ideas are not coming out of Washington, they are coming out of city halls, they are coming out of states, they are coming out of national movements, they are coming out of New Hampshire where you have a a global climate change initiative. For the last several years since 1985 there has not been an affective energy policy in this country and I can also say to although I was the energy secretary, we made some strides and I will talk about it. Both the both democrats and republicans have not come up with a coherent and comprehensive energy strategy mainly because they are too many special interests involved ,mainly because there has been presidential leadership and mainly because when a president takes a position like this last one it's strictly a policy that is for oil - for oil for oil occasionally for coal for nuclear and that's it and so we have to shift. This is why I am proud to be a governor because I believe that its movements like this Set America Free that we are talking about how we here going to change energy policy and the way we live in a planet that is getting dirtier, in an economic situation where one third of our trade deficit is caused by what we paid for a barrel of oil $80 for barrel, one third of that trade deficit goes through that huge huge increase in what we pay per barrel for oil mainly to sources that are not necessarily friendly to the United states and so what is the solution? You know a politician will comment, everyone has their eight point plan or six point plan, I want to talk extensively what I believe we need to do because I think it's going to take an energy revolution. It's going to take citizens, it's going to take an Apollo program, not dinky little bills coming out of the congress every few years that are that are not only insufficient but they are not bold enough and it's going to involve citizens and this is where I believe that you need to play a role because it can't be done by national leadership and legislation, it's also got to be national movement. So what I am calling for is what is called a new energy revolution to set America in the world free and you can read about it in my book "Leading By Example". It's going to be published in November, Putnam Books, 17.99- nevermind, nevermind, you will see it you well see it. Here is here is this energy revolution we are buying up to $300 billion worth of foreign oil every year and we are spending billions more transporting and defending oil around the world. Now, of our oil how much is imported? 65 percent 65 percent and it's countries that are not necessarily our friends that compose a good part of that percentage and what happens if they decide to conduct an oil disruption on us or they get mad at us. the Venezuelas, Irans, the OPEC countries that generally have been sort of our friends but I can tell you as energy secretary, I used to travel around the OPEC countries and tried to get them to increase production so that the price would go down and and countries that that are consumer countries - and the united States both are consumer and producer country, could could deal with the oil price as an inflation the European union or Japan enormously vulnerable because have no oil resources. Now a- a successful terrorist attack on critical oil infrastructure could drive prices up to $100 or 120 or even a $150 per barrel. Some kind of disruption may be not necessarily self motivated, but a terrorist attack, an accident that that's what what happened. With $80 per barrel some are saying the the price will go up, gasoline may be 11 cents on the average in this country you got to see that happening. Now what do we need to do about it? We need a national plan to fight global warming and provide energy security. You look at every scientific study and this is what it says, global warming is there, it is destroying crops, it's effecting oceans, wildlife, the icecaps, it is there and it is determined by science that it is real and what we need to do is recognize that the science has proven that it's caused by two factors one, man made pollution and the second, fossil fuels that's what causes. Manmade pollution and fossil fuels so we need a national plan to become energy independent, to provide energy security and to fight global warming. Now you know Al Gore - Nobel peace prize - now he had been talking about this for years, I remember in the cabinet meetings and people look at him. He was right, the guy was right I mean he was a visionary now all he has to do is stay out of the race and I am totally happy. Now what do we do to develop this national strategy, we have to take advantage of our regional strengths in this country. From the wind and Solar or the mountain west to the biomass and coal of the mid west, the potential for wave power on both coast and I believe that those regional strength will allow our country to meet the two great challenges of our era, one is energy security, the second is global warming. First before I outline what I would do, here are the principles that guide my thinking, Our new energy policy which by the way has to be bipartisan and everyone that tells you we can do it as democrats, you got to make it bipartisan, you got to involve citizens, you got to involve independents, you got involve republicans, young people, the bit - you can't just do it, you know this the party will do it no, party before hasn't done it, so let's face that. So here are the principles that guide my thinking first, our new energy policy has to fight global warming and the human and the ecological and economic catastrophe that it will cause, we have to set forth that this is a real National security challenge and if you look at the National Security challenge combined with the moral challenge of cleaning up the planet and if you consider also the economic consequences of not reducing our dependence on foreign oil or our trade deficit, you have a trio of challenges that make probably energy policy one of the top issues in in the country and I consider it number two, Iraq has won because it's divided us so much in and the cost is human and and the urgency is huge. Next number two, our energy policy must wean us away from fossil fuels, it has to do that we have to shift, it doesn't mean you replace oil or you terminate oil, our natural gas, it means there is got to be a comprehensive and incredibly fast strategy to wean us away from oil. Number three, we must help the people, the communities and industries who today are being hurt by soaring prices and tomorrow could be hurt by careless transition. Now what we also need to do as a matter of National principle is keep the United States at the forefront of Science and technology development which we are not we are not a Nation of research any more. Into into cancer, in the space, into research, into fuels, bio diesel, into solar wind technology, these technologies need to be developed they need R&D, they need our best scientists on them, and our commitment to science, biomedical, those budgets are flat and involves having a new innovation policy in this country that is got to study how to make these technologies accessible, you know solar just to be a solar manufacturing panel, an average price 40,000 bucks that only the rich can use, it's got to be used in in minority neighborhoods, that's got to be used in cities, that's got to be used with affordable housing, we can't just make the province of of the business community in the very rich, these are my bedrock principles and we have to keep the United States at the fore front of science and technology development, exploring frontiers, finding solutions to energy and climate challenges they got to take R&D and innovation. And they got to take citizens that some times have the best ideas, as a governor we got a water problem in my state you know what the problem is? We don't have any and so you need policies that involve a reuse technology and conservation but it's individuals that come up with the best ideas on how to conserve water. We did a contest in the State it wasn't the bureaucrats or the state water engineer that win those contest, individuals that on their own with some kind of a capital are are bridging some of these frontiers and this is what we need to do with energy. The innovation of individual citizens but we need more than any thing what is called an Apollo program, a man on the moon program to end our addiction, the foreign oil, now you know these are this is some times cheap talk - for every politician that has a marshal plan or an Apollo program, there are lot of them but this one this one is real and this is got involve the congress, the industry, the energy industry, the Public and and it's important to recognize that it has to happen and it has to be fairly immediate. It has to be fairly immediate because if we don't if we just put it off if we don't act if we don't if we just leave it to local communities and states yeah there will be good constructive change but there has to be Presidential and National leadership. As I mentioned to you, in our state we have renewable energy requirements in the into place, solar tax initiatives, we are eliminating sales taxes on hybrid vehicles, we comply it to the Kyoto treaty, we have renewable portfolio standards I try on my own I drive or my security drives a Ford Hybrid, an ethanol vehicle we have at the Governor's residence. Lighting and and air conditioning and water drip systems that are energy efficient, so you got to lead by example although I could do a lot more in person that needs to happen. When I was energy secretary, we did try to have a renewable portfolio standard, we tried to make it 10 percent, it didn't happen, we couldn't get the congress convinced to do it. I remember trying to push a fuel efficiency standards by a cooperative invention with the big three that involved saying let's have more fuel efficient gasoline, let's work together to achieve it and and some of the big three companies - the first year I found that we were fighting you know why they didn't include Toyota you know you can't do that, a lot of people drive Toyotas and it's got to be everybody, it can't just be the big American manufacturers, but we persuaded them to to at least start the program we did get energy efficiency standards, I did by an executive order, make air conditioning 30 percent more efficient, a week before we left office the Bush people sued us the air-conditioning people sued us, it took four years to beat them but we finally got that 30 percent but we lost we lost four years. I push for conservation, if you remember the California electricity crisis I said we are not going to protect you from big black outs unless you have conservation, as I mentioned the renewable portfolio standard, the new vehicle technology. Gal mentioned, I have been a negotiator a lot of this that involves American National security policy involves negotiation, some of that we have not practiced in our foreign policy, it's called diplomacy it's called talking to people instead of shooting at them first, it's called for negotiation it's called you know negotiating - you remember what Yitzhak Rabin said, when he won the Nobel Prize, he said "you don't make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies" and some times it means having tough discussions with those that you don't agree with. You know I have President Clinton used to say Richardson negotiated with with North Korea, with Sudan, with Cuba, with Iraq, and he used to say bad people like Richardson, so well sent them out there. So it's got to take not just domestic policies, it's got to take National security negotiations to deal with weaning us from this energy insecurity. So here are the five steps that I would take, first by the year 2020 we must dramatically reduce oil consumption by as much as 10 million barrels through several measures. Now what does that mean that means a 50 percent reduction in oil consumption by the year 2020 - 50 percent, we must do it and I believe it is doable. How do you do this? You do it by several ways, one you get low and zero petroleum plug-in cars into the market place 100 mile per gallon, they're out there, you plug them in I believe that the American people would buy them and their technology is increasing every day, secondly you got to reduce our carbon emissions from our electricity sector that has to happen, third we got to move to fuel efficiency standards fuel economy standards to 50 percent per gallon by 2020. Here is the congress, you know they - they have this energy bill, they are very proud of it. The first thing they do is they give Nuclear power plants you know the ability to start a bunch of new ones, we haven't figured out what we are going to do with waste but you know let's start a bunch of new ones, let's have a bunch of new dirty coal plants. Wind energy tries to get additional credits and tax extensions oh no we can't do that they put in a very modest one, we push a renewable portfolio standard, how about a modest one? 10 percent of all electricity or 15 percent by the year 2020 oh no no that's too rigorous, it didn't pass you know I think we need to go and I will explain. So 50 miles per gallon by 2020, not the 35 the congress wants. We need to reduce all oil consumption for transportation, for ships, trains, trucks, Planes there are new technologies in renewable fuels. So that's how you reduce oil consumption, first by mileage standards, by using fuel efficient vehicles, plug in hybrids, by reducing the carbon emissions from the electricity sector. Number two, create new efficiencies and energy sources in the electric sector - in electricity. What does that mean? That means that you know the electricity we get, whether it's coal, natural gas, whatever is generated, it needs to go to 30 percent renewable by 2020 and 50 percent by 2040. You know my state is already at 15 and we pledge to go to 20 by 2010, other states have these renewable portfolio standards, it has to be a national standard and a president has to push it. Number two, we have got to have a law too that says 20 percent energy efficiency. Every building, every sector has to have a 20 cent improvement in energy efficiency by the year 2020. Now goal number three, you go to the Kyoto Treaty, green house gas emissions green house gas emissions that are emitted from energy plants, coal plants, polluters etc. You need to reduce green house gas emissions by at least 20 percent by the year 2020 and 90 percent by 2040, now that's going to take drastic measures, that's got to take mandates, not you know as the president wants goals that we got to have goals, we are got to get business together to do goals, yeah right that's going to happen. It's got to take legislation that mandates what is called a cap and trade system that has very specific goals and the specific goals are 20 percent by 2020 and 90 by 2040 and we start with what I said is a market based cap and trade system. In other words by the year 2020, utilities in industry would be allowed to emit 80 percent as much global warming pollution as they do today - 80 percent combined with transportation sector saving, these changes well reduce green house gas emissions by 30 percent by the year 2020. Some have said, why don't you like a carbon tax? I don't believe it's the answer. Large Corporation shouldn't be able pay their way out of pollution, with the carbon tax they will they won't be forced either to reduce emissions. Cap and trade is better because it's a mandate. Cap and trade is better because under a tax, guess who is going to be assessed the effects of those corporations paying a carbon tax - consumers you know people driving. We need to move those carbon clean coal using safe long term carbon disposal or sequestration and deploy these carbon clean coal technologies, what does this mean? This means that all these new coal companies that want to start up you know what I say to them? Yes, you can however only if you have clean carbon coal and only if you have 60 percent clean sequestration otherwise you can't do it and this happened to me in my state when I had a company called Desert Rock and they said "hey governor we have got a great idea to to end unemployment on the Navajo Reservation, we have got 2000 jobs but we want a coal plant" and I said okay great, is it going to be clean? You got to go 60 percent carbon sequestration "oh no we cant afford that, you know we will - we well have like a ten year plan" I said "well you got to have" - so my answer is "you got to have a ten - I am going to give you a ten year plan to meet 60 percent carbon sequestration" so we didn't have it. Sometimes it's important to say no and we have that technologies for carbon clean coal, you just have to use it it's got to cost more but it's there and it's important that we recognize that we are got to have to take these steps. Number four you know capital capitalize and invest that America's strengths in science and technology. We need to establish what I mention energy innovation fund that that funds people and and institutions to develop clean energy, research and technology support and then lastly America has to lead and that basically means that we go back to Kyoto and we say "we are sorry international community that we didn't sign the Kyoto Treaty and now we are going to sign a new Kyoto Treaty but it's going to be tougher and we are going to make up for the eight years that we left behind. Why is it that America that produces 25 percent of the world's pollution then only has four percent of the world's population says that the science isn't there there were not go to its going to hurt our industry and jobs, that is fallacious, that is the argument that the administration has been using and you have got energy and and other ministers from around the world wanting America to lead and Europe is leading, the the the new prime minister of Germany Angela Merkel four months ago wanted to get the European union on a more modest green house gas emissions reduction, the president said "I have got a plan and the plan is that a year from now, we will meet again to set goals and we will study it for another year" guess when - October of '08, he is a month out of office. That is not American leadership and what we need to do is support mandatory limits on pollution, keep atmospheric carbon below 450 parts per million and it means saying to - it mean saying to India and China who have refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty, who are with us or the worlds big polluters, that they have to join too, but they are not going to join unless we join. So it's called the international leadership, it's called making this national security priority and and my point here is that this war in Iraq and I mean I know this is on energy, this has diverted us from focusing on the real challenges effecting our national security. One, international terrorism, second, nuclear terrorism, nuclear proliferation, third becoming in to energy independent and reducing green house gas emissions. Now here is an invitation I have to the oil companies. I want them to become energy companies, not oil companies, invest and thriving in our energy future. You know to the oil companies, in the last energy bill they had huge subsidies with coal and nuclear I think that those subsidies need to be spread around in fact if I am bold enough, I would shift them to renew renewable and I am going to say that the energy industry, it's important that you invest in new technologies and renewable fuels in in sensible efforts to drill in America not in ecosystems, there are plenty of places to drill. You don't have to drill overseas, drill in this country but do it in an ecological sensitive way that have refining capacity, that is sensible and environmentally clean. So that's my plan, we need bold action and here is where you come in. I well close with this. You know politicians have told our public in in America that we are going to give you a war that is not authorized, we are going to give you tax cuts that even if you don't want them, we are going to give it to you especially to the very wealthy, we are going to pile up a debt of nine trillion dollars, we are not going to worry about balancing the budget and and the priorities at this country needs - we are not going to ask any American to sacrifice a little bit, we are not going to ask any American to come together. We had an opportunity after 9/11 and we squandered that opportunity to unify the country in an effort to become energy independent and and to deal with - reaching out with diplomacy to resolve the huge problems that we have, instead we went to Iraq and where are we today? So this is what I would ask you, I would level with you, I would say you know what? If we are going to achieve all these goals, it's not just the president, the congress and the government, it's you too and I am going to ask you to sacrifice a little bit I will and that's not a popular word in - you know with pollsters, my pollsters say don't use that word but here is what I am using it, I am not saying "wear a sweater" or you know turn off the lights in you house, I am saying just if everybody pitches in, every single human being in this country and we are more sensitive through appliances, we are more sensitive to the way we drive and the vehicles we drive and mass transit instead of having in these big pork bills of highways it it invest more in land use planning and commuter rail and light rail and - and more efficient energy efficient transportation you - compared to other states, New Hampshire you are pretty good at it although you are getting a traffic problem here. You guys I am not running for governor or mayor here but I think this needs to happen and so I will say you know when it comes to appliances, when it comes to how you live, you get back and forth and set a driving 30 days to work, you don't do 29 and go mass transit one day. Be more - buy energy efficient appliances, look at vehicles that are more energy efficient consistent with the needs of you family. You know find ways to give incentives to building so that they become green and retrofit homes that are green and we find ways to make them affordable for every American anyway I have gone too long but what I want to do is Gal I take questions now? Thank you.