Font ResizeInterior Secretary Ken Salazar's "moonshot" is all about the sun.
Instead of merely talking about the possibilities of solar energy and waiting for private entrepreneurs to propose projects, Salazar is wisely jumpstarting development on public land by mapping areas with the most potential and conducting environmental studies.
His goal is to have 13 "commercial-scale" solar-energy projects under construction by the end of next year. Eventually, he predicts, solar power produced on the 700,000 acres his department has designated for study in six states will reach 100,000 megawatts. That's enough to supply 88 percent of the West's electricity needs.
And it's important that Salazar's plan would not target sensitive areas where solar power stations could harm wildlife habitat or conflict with other land uses. The Bureau of Land Management, under Salazar's direction, has identified 24 tracts in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico that offer the best geography and climate for solar production as well as proximity to transmission lines or designated corridors.
Once the environmental studies are done, developers who man the projects will be ahead of the game, ready to begin harvesting the natural energy from the sun on those parcels that make the cut.
Utah, under Gov. Jon Huntsman, is already greasing alternative-energy development by mapping appropriate zones and identifying the types of renewable energy projects
But Utah is losing Huntsman to a White House appointment as ambassador to China. We can only hope that Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert maintains Utah's leadership position in renewable-energy development. His recent statement that there is not scientific consensus on human-caused climate change is worrisome.
But we are encouraged by Salazar's go-ahead approach to renewable-energy development, acting on his promise in March to launch a "moonshot for energy independence." If Western governors, including Herbert after he takes the reins of state government, follow Salazar's lead, America can move to the forefront of controlling carbon emissions and eventually end our dependence on greenhouse-gas-producing fossil fuels that are the main cause of global warming.
