Google’s Schmidt Would Bring Climate Activism To Obama Admin
The Daily Caller By Patrick Howley 12/06/2012
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Excerpt:
Google CEO and reported Obama Cabinet prospect Eric Schmidt is also a climate-change activist that has advocated for the complete termination of the oil, natural gas, and coal industries, records reveal, and once predicted that Washington, D.C. will soon be completely underwater. His past statements may shed some light on what to expect from his possible future in the Obama administration.
Schmidt is a leading candidate to join President Obama’s Cabinet in Obama’s second term, the Washington Examiner reported this week. Schmidt is reportedly being considered for either the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, or Secretary of Business positions.
“Nobody’s better positioned for a Cabinet job, if he wants one,” a Democratic strategist told the Examiner.
But Schmidt’s past statements on climate change and his ideas for the future of the energy industry could raise concerns during his potential confirmation process.
Schmidt outlined many of his ideas during a presentation at a November 2008 Natural Resources Defense Council [A Sorosd operation] event called “Partnership for the Earth: Strategies and Solutions for Energy Security,” held at Google NYC.
Schmidt discussed proposals to build “very, very sophisticated” solar transmission systems in the Western United States, which he said “are currently on a fast track to occur in ten years.”
“We don’t have ten years, guys,” Schmidt said. “Look at the math of climate change. If you want to be in a hurry, look at the compounding. Look at the math. We don’t have time.” (16:03-16:48 of Video 1)
Schmidt proposed replacing the U.S. natural gas and coal industries in their entirety and replacing them with green energy alternatives.
“Is there a way to take all the fossil fuels that are currently being used – roughly seventy percent of the electric power being used in the United States – and replace it?” Schmidt asked the audience.
“Remember, these plants die. They have to be replaced and so forth. There’s new demand. So with some assumption, including holding energy consumption per citizen constant — which has been true in California since 1973 and not true in many other states — we’re able to take the money that’s saved from that single idea and plow that into the construction of solar, wind, and enhanced geothermal.” (9:15-10:03 of Video 1)
WATCH VIDEO 1:
Schmidt also suggested that new car efficiency standards could be used to take revenge against the oil industry.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to cause the demand for petroleum to drop dramatically, after everything that’s happened to us and been done to us?” Schmidt asked. “Let’s get back at this. Okay? I remember.” (12:40-12:55 of Video 1)
*snip*
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