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A 4-Point Plan for Responsibly Expanding Renewable Energy Production on America’s Public Lands and Oceans

A 4-Point Plan for Responsibly Expanding Renewable Energy Production on America’s Public Lands and Oceans

Full Title: A 4-Point Plan for Responsibly Expanding Renewable Energy Production on America’s Public Lands and Oceans
Author(s): David J. Hayes and Nidhi Thakar
Publisher(s): Center for American Progress (CAP)
Publication Date: August 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

In less than seven years of the Obama administration, an unprecedented collaboration between private-sector innovators, federal policymakers, and forward-thinking stakeholders has sparked a renewable energy revolution on America’s public lands and waters. Whereas coal, oil, gas, and hydropower resources on taxpayerowned public lands have been the primary focus for both developers and regulators for much of the past century, the Obama administration has, for the first time, facilitated the permitting and construction of large-scale solar, wind, and geothermal projects that are delivering clean, affordable power to American communities.

To help meet rising demand for renewable energy, President Barack Obama’s Department of the Interior has permitted more than 50 utility-scale renewable energy projects on public lands since 2009. When fully constructed, these projects will deliver approximately 15,000 megawatts of new, clean renewable energy— enough to power more than 2 million homes.1 With some of the world’s largest solar and wind projects moving forward on public lands, the partnership between the federal government and renewable energy developers has contributed to the nation’s twentyfold increase in solar generation and threefold increase in wind generation since 2009.2

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