Freudenthal calls for energy innovation
By Dustin Bleizeffer
Star-Tribune energy reporter Tuesday, October 09, 2007
TETON VILLAGE --The U.S. must launch a massive research and development effort to spur the kind of innovation needed to resolve the seemingly competing demand for energy and the need to address man's contribution to global warming.
And Wyoming, with an abundance of both carbon-based and renewable energy, is the perfect proving ground for such an effort, according to Gov. Dave Freudenthal.
"What we need is a program parallel to putting a man on the moon," said Freudenthal.
The U.S. spent about $24 billion on its program to put a man the moon, which translates to about $110 billion in today's economy. It would take about $11 billion annually to spawn the research, development and commercialization of energy technologies with carbon capture and sequestration, according to Freudenthal.
No individual state efforts toward the these goals will be successful "unless there is a rational federal policy," Freudenthal said. "One that encourages private industry to invest in innovation."
Freudenthal addressed a crowd of about 200 here on Monday night to kickoff the "Finding the Balance: Energy and Climate" summit sponsored by the University of Wyoming.
In recent years, Wyoming has invested in a new School of Energy at the University of Wyoming. It activated the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute. It's spearheaded efforts to revitalize energy delivery systems through the Wyoming Pipeline Authority and Wyoming Infrastructure Authority. As the current chairman of the Western Governors' Association, Freudenthal pledged to keep energy and environment at the top of the group's agenda.
Yet those efforts, and similar efforts among other states, are not enough to prepare the country for the inevitable rising cost of energy, according to Freudenthal.
Freudenthal said that at the federal level, Democrats seem to talk a tough game, but won't commit to a realistic game plan; one that fosters energy development as well as energy conservation. And Republicans, Freudenthal said, still pretend the issue doesn't exist.
Another problem is that energy industries engage in touting one resource over another. At the same time, states like California like to brag about the virtues of using natural gas over coal, but conveniently fail to acknowledge that it leaves an environmental footprint in Wyoming.
Freudenthal said all this hyperbole and lack of a cohesive national energy policy leads to uncertainty among the public, and gives unclear signals to private industry.
"There's plain old politics on this issue, and both of them (Republicans and Democrats) seem determined not to do a damn thing," Freudenthal said. "The dirty little secret nobody wants to address are the modifications in lifestyle and the modifications in energy cost."
Freudenthal said the U.S. Department of Energy's budget for research and development has declined by about two-thirds during the past decade, and that trend needs to reverse.
"Frankly, it hasn't been a priority (for the federal government)," Freudenthal said.
Lord Ron Oxburgh, former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, also spoke at the event. He predicted that within 10 years world oil demand will surpass world oil supply. That situation should force nations to deal with the energy and climate conundrum internationally.
"What looks like an insatiable demand for energy comes at the same time as declining reserves for oil and gas," Oxburgh said. "And they're not making oil and gas and coal anymore. Those are finite resources."
Oxburgh, whose daughter was a graduate student at the University of Wyoming, said Wyoming is especially well-endowed with both the natural resources and academic gumption to help drive the next generation of technologies needed to resolve energy and climate issues.
"There are few states as well-equipped as Wyoming to play an important role in this debate," Oxburgh said.
Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffercasperstartribune.net.
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