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Leading by Example – Making the Federal Government More Sustainable

Yesterday I had the opportunity to co-convene a meeting with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and leaders from across the Federal community who are helping to make sustainability a reality for the Federal government.   Following up from President Obama’s announcement on Friday when he set a government-wide greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 28 percent by 2020, I can speak for all who were there when I say there is a lot of excitement in the air!

So what does this goal mean?  Achieving this 28 percent reduction will reduce Federal energy use by 646 trillion BTUs, which is equal to 205 million barrels of oil, or taking 17 million cars off the road for one year.  And this is also equivalent to a cumulative total of $8 to $11 billion in avoided energy costs through 2020 based on current energy prices.  Now that is impressive.

The next step towards Federal Sustainability is an important one: each agency is developing a “Sustainability Plan” that defines how they’ll meet their GreenGov goals, reduce energy use, drive long-term savings, save taxpayer dollars, and help create local clean energy jobs.

Cities, states, and American businesses have helped to forge the way by showing that greening their operations is not only good for the environment, but good for business; we have ample best practices and lessons to look to from our colleagues around the country.

And Federal Departments and Agencies are already taking actions to achieve greenhouse gas pollution reductions, such as installing solar arrays at military installations, tapping landfills for renewable energy, putting energy management systems in Federal buildings, and replacing older vehicles with more fuel efficient hybrid models.   You can view examples of projects that are underway here.

The 28% Federal target announced on Friday is the aggregate of 35 Federal Agency self-reported targets.  For example, the Department of Defense announced it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from non-combat activities by 34% by 2020  and the Department of the Treasury will reduce its emissions by 33%.

We are very excited by the progress that is already occurring, and will continue to watch these developments in the future.  Moving forward, implementation of the Executive Order will focus on integrating achievement of sustainability goals with agency mission and strategic planning.  The goal is to optimize performance and minimize costs.

You will all be able to chart the Federal government’s progress through “scorecards” that will grade each agency on how well it is meeting its performance targets.  And to ensure transparency and accountability, annual progress will be reported online to the public.  I’m looking forward to sharing more updates in the months ahead!

Nancy Sutley is the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
 

One Step Closer to the Future on High-Speed Rail

It's not often that the President and the Vice President get together for a town hall, but the occasion yesterday was something special for Vice President Biden. They were in Florida, one of the sites just announced for a massive down payment on high-speed rail, the future of transportation, and a great source of jobs in the here-and-now. See a map of the full web of high-speed rail, and emerging high-speed rail projects being funded by the nearly $8 billion investment in the Recovery Act.

• View the Full Interactive Map of Rail Grants

You can also read more from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in his blog post from yesterday.  It's probably fair to say that both he and the Vice President, were fired up and ready to go:

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Ladies and gentlemen, we're determined to restore America to its rightful place at the leading edge of innovation, with bold ideas that will create jobs immediately and serve as the foundation, a new platform -- (applause) -- a new platform to build this economy on that will serve not just our immediate needs but future generations; ideas like wind power, solar energy, a smart grid, broadband -- (applause) -- and high-speed rail.  And that's why we're here today.  (Applause.)
 
Having made over 7,900 round trips, literally, on Amtrak, 250 miles a day, I am very familiar with rail.  (Laughter.)  And today you have no idea how pleased I am to talk about the announcement that we made yesterday awarding -- in total, nationwide -- nearly $8 billion from the Recovery Act, funding to move us in the direction of developing a high-speed rail service in 13 travel corridors covering 31 states all across this country.  (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, these investments -- these investments have several goals:  first, to improve existing rail lines to make train service faster, more reliable; two, to pull cars off the road, reducing congestion, cutting pollution, and increasing productivity; and three, to begin to develop new corridors for high-speed trains that will go from 169 to 230 miles an hour.  (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, like a corridor, right here from Tampa to Orlando -- (applause) -- so you'll be able to get on a train here to Orlando in less than an hour, without battling traffic and congestion, arrive at your destination.  Ladies and gentlemen, this single investment is not going to solve all our transportation issues overnight.  Instead, with more than $55 billion of proposals from 50 states all across the country, we're providing $8 billion in seed money.  And today's awards provide only initial funding for the rail system.  Like Tampa and Orlando route, more funding is going to come in the future as progress is made.

We have committed to another $5 billion in funding over the next five years.  It's a down payment on a truly national program that's going to reshape the way we travel.  It will change the way which we go from place to place, change the ways we work and live, and will connect communities to each other in a way that in the past was impossible.  Just like the Interstate Highway structure did back in the mid-'50s, it will have far-reaching consequences.

Let me ask you a question:  How can we, the leading nation in the world, be in a position where China, Spain, France -- and name all the other countries who have rail systems that are far superior to ours?

Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time we move.  But this time -- but this time, we're not only going to be providing a better way to transport; we're going to be taking cars off of congested highways, reducing carbon emissions, and saving billions of dollars in human productivity lost just sitting in traffic jams, as studies point out.
Most important, we're creating jobs -- good jobs.  (Applause.)  Construction jobs.  Manufacturing jobs.  And we're going to be creating them right now.  We're going to spur economic development in the future and we're making our communities more livable all in the process.  

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden take part in a town hall meeting at the Bob Martinez Sports Center at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Fla. January 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama listens to a question at the town hall meeting at the University of Tampa Bob Martinez Sports Center in Tampa, Fla. January 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)