Reports that President Obama is poised to nominate MIT
professor Ernest Moniz to be the next head of the Department of Energy
is raising serious concerns for those worried that the administration
will betray its promise to take on the threat of the climate crisis by
making a major domestic push for natural gas drilling using the
controversial practice known as fracking.
MIT professor Ernest Moniz
The choice of Moniz, known for his adamant support for fracking—which he's called "paradigm-shifting"—seems to confirm
reporting
last week that a major part of Obama's plans for energy creation in his
second term will be to "initiate widespread gas fracking in the US."
“Mr. Moniz is affiliated with the industry-backed MIT Energy
Initiative, so we shouldn’t be surprised about his favorable position on
fracking," said Mitch Jones from
Food & Water Watch. "But President Obama could do a lot better."
"Appointing Mr. Moniz," Jones continued, "would be a nail in the
coffin for one of his most lauded inaugural speech promises: a
commitment to focus on climate solutions.”
“Moniz is a status quo pick at a time when we can’t afford the status quo."
And speaking with
The Hill newspaper, Public Citizen's Ty Slocum said: “Moniz is a status quo pick at a time when we can’t afford the status quo."
Obama is expected to nominate new heads for both the Dept. of Energy
and the Environmental Protection Agency as early as next week. Topping
the expected list as the EPA's next head is Gina McCarthy, who currently
heads the agency's Office of Air and Radiation under the outgoing Lisa
Jackson.
McCarthy, whose focus on air quality and pollution from traditional
coal and gas-fired plants will make her a target of the fossil fuel
industry and its allies in Congress, appears cautiously agreeable to
environmental groups though most have to weigh in strongly for or
against the longtime Massachusetts energy regulator.
But for Moniz, coupled with the growing controversy over the dangers
of groundwater pollution and climate impacts of the methane released by
fracking, the most serious opposition will likely come from those who
challenge the idea the natural gas is a "clean energy" or that a
investing in a so-called "bridge fuel" is a better alternative than the
swift transition to a truly renewable energy system.
“Mr. Moniz's appointment to the DOE could set renewable energy
development back years," concluded Jones. "If we pursue our fossil fuel
addiction by expanding fracking, which Mr. Moniz will likely advocate,
the oil and gas industry will thrive while true energy efficiency and
renewable solutions languish. Our water, public health and climate would
suffer."
And
The Hill adds:
A major 2011 study the MIT energy program released said that
environmental risks of developing gas from shale formations, which is
achieved through fracking, are “challenging but manageable.”
Bill Snape, the senior counsel with the Center for Biological
Diversity, said he’s concerned that Moniz’s support for natural gas
could bring a shift in focus away from the development of renewable
electricity and smart-grid technologies.
“The concern I have with him is, he has the veneer of this MIT PhD
scientist, that somehow he is going to be objective, and in reality he
could very well be a political hack for the natural gas industry,” Snape
said.
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