Obama Progress Report Shows Success In Clean Energy Development and Foreign Oil Reduction

This month the Obama administration published a report highlighting its accomplishments over the last year in developing domestic clean energy and reducing foreign oil reliance. 

Image courtesy of environmentallysustainable.info.

In its “all-of-the-above” policy approach to reducing reliance on foreign energy, the Obama administration’s one-year progress report runs the gamut from advances in renewable energy projects, increasing domestic oil and natural gas production, and cutting imports on foreign oil.

In renewable energy, the administration said that the first solar project on public land will be a 50 megawatt facility in Nevada that is anticipated to be fully operational and delivering power to the grid by May 2012.

Since 2009, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has approved 29 onshore renewable energy projects, including: 16 solar projects, five wind farms, and eight geothermal facilities.

In 2010, the DOI also issued a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to support the financing of a new nuclear power plant in Burke, Ga. – the first new nuclear power plant in over three decades.

The Georgia nuclear power plant received regulatory approval last month, and will bring online two Westinghouse AP 1000 reactors. “When built, the plant will provide clean electricity to nearly 1.4 million people,” said the administration’s report.

The administration also said that, “To support the continued manufacture, development, and deployment of clean energy technologies, the president’s FY (Fiscal Year) 2013 Budget includes $5 billion in tax credits” that are expected to stimulate investments in those clean energy technologies.

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