Letter to the president from John Podesta, T. Boone Pickens, and Majority Leader Harry Reid on the need to rebuild our economy on the foundation of clean, domestic, renewable, and efficient energy by rewiring the national transmission grid.

This event honed in on the key decisions facing Congress and the Obama administration as they took up the challenge of rebuilding America’s electricity infrastructure.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, T. Boone Pickens and John Podesta Release Letter to President Barack Obama Urging Action on Clean-Energy Infrastructure

“The next generation that’s coming after us will look back and assess what we did or didn’t do” said former Vice President Al Gore Monday at the National Clean Energy Project held in Washington, D.C.

Major leaders from government, business, labor and non-governmental organizations agreed today on four key recommendations to reform U.S. energy policy. These principles would boost new renewable energy production, transmission and distribution and reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. These leaders included Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, energy executive T. Boone Pickens, Center for American Progress Action Fund President John Podesta, and Vice President Al Gore among others.

NCEP Building the New Economy: Press Conference Video

April 1, 2009

Related Links: Letter to the President, Event Video, Policy Report

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), energy executive T. Boone Pickens and Center for American Progress Action Fund president and CEO John Podesta, released a letter on April 1st to United States President Barack Obama, thanking him for his leadership on clean energy and urging him to, “recommit your efforts to rapidly build the infrastructure for a new energy economy – using all the policy and leadership tools at your disposal.” The letter was accompanied by a policy research paper, written by Bracken Hendricks and published by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, entitled “Wired for Progress 2.0: Building a National Clean-Energy Smart Grid.”

“Wired for Progress 2.0” hones in on the key decisions that Congress and the Obama administration face as they take up the challenge of rebuilding America’s electricity infrastructure. The updated report builds on the themes of February’s original 1.0 version, focusing on the four major hurdles to building a national clean energy smart grid—planning, siting, cost allocation, and ensuring the low-carbon attributes of the electricity. It also examines three broader policy imperatives—grid intelligence, physical and cyber security, and job training and workforce development—that must also be part of modernization efforts.

The original version of the report, titled “Wired for Progress 1.0” and published by the Center for American Progress Action Fund in February 2009, assessed the urgent need to build a national clean energy smart grid to power an innovative, low-carbon 21st century economy that combats global warming and creates millions of good jobs. Based on an extensive stakeholder outreach process undertaken in partnership with the Energy Future Coalition, the report detailed the reasons why we need to build this national clean energy infrastructure quickly, and outlined key policy measures to move this complex project forward.

In just a few short weeks since the February release of the original report, Congress made rapid progress, drafting concrete legislative language and building the political will to turn these policies into law. It was critical that the essential features of the Wired for Progress proposal remain clear within the context of the rapidly progressing debate in Washington.

Featured Speakers:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

T. Boone Pickens, founder and chairman, BP Capital Management

John D. Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress Action Fund

Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund

Related Links: Letter to the President, Event Video, Policy Report