EX-NJ GOV SAYS YES TO NEW ENERGY

Ex-N.J. Gov.: Americans are in denial on energy; Christine Todd Whitman says too many options get ruled out…
Jon Birger, June 15, 2009 (Fortune via CNN Money)

"When politicians and businesspeople get together to discuss energy policy, it's usually the politicians who talk like dreamers and the private-sector folks trying to inject a little cold, hard realism into the conversation.

"But the tables were somewhat turned today when former EPA administrator and New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and oilman-turned-wind-investor T. Boone Pickens both argued that the U.S. needs to invest in renewables and expand domestic energy production. And it was Whitman who warned that the American public doesn't yet appreciate the costs involved…"

The EPA says the costs won't be too steep. (click to enlarge)

[Whitman, co-chair, Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a nuclear-energy advocacy group:] "If we get a cap on carbon, everything is going to be more expensive…"

"Whitman [nevertheless] supports the cap-and-trade legislation moving through Congress to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. She also urged policy makers to undertake an education campaign to overcome public opposition to new energy infrastructure like electric transmission lines, nuclear-power plants and even natural-gas pipelines…"

[Whitman:] "I've been on the other side of that as a governor…They were trying to locate a pipeline, and if you want to see pushback... It's like nuclear. We transport nuclear [material] all over the country, and yet because people know about it from The Simpsons, they're scared to death."

New Jersey has tremendous offshore wind assets. (click to enlarge)

[Whitman:] "[On energy, Americans] are very good at saying no…We don't want to import foreign oil for a whole host of reasons. We don't want coal because it's dirty. Natural gas, we don't want a pipeline anywhere near us because it might explode or something. We won't talk about nuclear. Even the environmentalists get upset with wind power at times because it's visual pollution and because birds don't look the same coming out of a windmill as they do going into it…We have got to get over this no, no, no and say we are developing new technologies, we're getting smarter about how we're doing it, it's going to take a mix of energies, and we're all going to have to be part of it…"

"Asked about the cap-and-trade bill, Whitman expressed support but urged lawmakers to give special considerations to companies that have already been leaders in reducing CO2 emissions…"