For What Will We Remember This Day?
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California Secretary of EPA Terry Tamminen's keynote address to the NHA's 15th Annual U.S. Hydrogen Conference, April 27, 2004
Did anyone see the headline “Bodybuilder Governor Pumps Hydrogen?” Gives new meaning to the old Saturday night live skit “We want to pump you up!”
Our days go by and we will not remember the majority of them, but some will stand out - - for good or ill - - will this be one of them?
We all remember the day we were married, or the day we learned there was no Santa Claus.
We recall the day our first child was born, or the day we lost JFK.
We remember the day we graduated, or the day we were sworn into the Cabinet of an Austrian immigrant, body-builder, movie star governor!
And if we are of a certain age, we remember December 7th, 1941 and no matter our age, we all remember another “date that will live in infamy” - - 9-11.
So will this be a similarly remarkable day, an “epiphany” day, a day when our lives are changed, or when we choose to change them? I’m here today to ask that you consider making this one of those few, remarkable days and if you’ll permit me, I’ll offer a way to make that happen.
I’d had two of those days that I’d like to share with you, because they are the reason I’m an environmentalist - - and now proud to head CalEPA.
The first of these days for me was meeting a Hopi elder named Vernon Masayesva. Vernon showed me a civilization that has continuously occupied the same land for over 10,000 years, living sustainably in one of the most unforgiving, stingy landscapes on earth. There are many reasons for this remarkable success, but two aspects of Hopi culture may tell us all we need to know. First, the Hopi have no word or idea that describes “wilderness”, but they do have a word for wild (crazy) people. To them, the land is not wild, people who harm it are. The land is simply their home. Second, when the Hopi eat, they thank not only the person who cooked the food, but the land, sun, water, farmers, even their parents...all the elements that made the food. They say kwak-kwak...eetem...new-new-sa - - “thank you, WE have eaten.” The Hopi recognize that if you harm or eliminate any one of these elements, all of the others will suffer. They are the model of sustainable living and I asked - - “How did THIS happen?”
The second was meeting Joanne Van Tilburg, the anthropologist who solved the mystery of what happened to the civilization that once flourished on Easter Island, uncovering evidence that a robust population disappeared because they consumed or destroyed almost 100% of the natural resources of their once-lush tropical paradise in a few generations of conspicuous consumption, leaving behind a barren island and the mute testament of gigantic stone effigies, the Moa. For this too, I asked myself, “How could THIS happen?”
St. Paul says “To whom much is given, much is expected”. So is the GOLDEN state headed down the sustainable path of the Hopi or the self-destructive fate of Easter Island? Let’s examine our air for an indication...
99% of our air is oxygen and nitrogen, which can be metabolized in the body, 1% is inert argon gas, which is not modified, but simply inhaled and exhaled. Because of the finite supply of argon, we share it with every other living thing on earth. Harvard researchers calculate that by age 20, we have inhaled argon atoms that were exhaled by dinosaurs, Gandhi, Shakespeare, and a Jewish carpenter from Bethlehem. So what do we do with this arguably sacred resource? 100% of the air we breathe is contaminated by man-made pollutants which kill up to 100,000 people in the U.S. each year and cause over 6 million asthma attacks, many in our most vulnerable populations - - our elders and our children.
These measurements suggest that we are clearly not responding better than the ill-fated residents of Easter Island. Shakespeare said "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries."
We are afloat upon such a sea at this moment with respect to our energy supplies, and our environment and our long-term economic health depend on us recognizing this - - as E.I. did not.
There are five pressures creating an Easter Island Effect on our energy supplies and the first is our growing population. California’s 35 million souls will swell to 50 million by 2025. California’s 29 million vehicles (yes, we have almost as many cars as people) will swell proportionally. More vehicles means more fuel consumption and more pollution.
Second, fuel economy - - the average fuel economy today is worse than it was in 1987 resulting in more fuel consumption per mile traveled and more pollution.
Third, our unsustainable land use patterns, or simply put - - “sprawl”- - resulting in more people commuting longer distances on slower-moving freeways than ever before. The average vehicle speed on Los Angeles freeways in 1982 was 48 mph. In 2000 it was 35 mph and by 2010, it is projected to slow to 25 mph. Longer commutes and more time per mile on the road equals more fuel consumed and more pollution.
Fourth is refinery capacity. National refineries operate at over 95% of capacity and for the past 10 years, petroleum consumption has increased 2.5 times faster than refinery capacity. So let’s just build more refineries. Where? No one wants a source of toxic air pollution in their neighborhood, especially since several new studies show impacts of refinery air pollution are significant as far as 30 miles downwind. Insurance companies don’t want to take the risk of terrorism at these facilities and even oil companies can’t afford more coastal real estate just to build the next Superfund site.
Fifth is money - 60% of the 19 million barrels of oil the U.S. consumes each day are imported, sending about $200,000 overseas every minute! That is both unsustainable and dangerously tenuous - - our economic umbilical stretched 10,000 miles across the globe into nations that may not be as secure and dependable as the U.S.
The result of this Easter Island Effect is that the CA Energy Commission predicts serious shortages of petroleum fuels in the next 3-5 years and prices up to $5/gallon. If our transportation system grinds to a halt, so does our economy.
So if we can DO something about these forces, THIS will be a day to remember. But what can we do?
We can declare and obtain our Energy Independence Now, by following 3 basic steps:
First very short term: get more out of the energy resources we already have. In L.A. County today we use no more water than we did in 1990, despite a 15% increase in population - - thanks to conservation. Over the past 3 years we have reduced our electricity consumption statewide - - thanks to conservation. So squeezing more from existing energy resources is easy - - it is about personal choices. Regardless of what we drive, drive less; carpool more. We will launch a major statewide campaign - - like the recent “Flex Your Power” campaign - - to conserve fuel, called “Keep CA Rolling.”
Second, short to mid-term: we must buy the most fuel efficient hybrid vehicles and help others to do so. We can get them into state fleets and get on waiting lists to buy the few models available today to signal Detroit and Tokyo that we want hybrids.
Third, long term: we must move beyond petroleum onto the Hydrogen Highway and here’s how...
First, create a baseline network of hydrogen fueling stations along CA’s Interstate Highway system so every Californian has access to the fuel and can therefore be confident as they buy hydrogen vehicles. On April 20th, 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger signed an Executive Order creating California’s Hydrogen Highway Network to do just this. We will be creating a Hydrogen Highways Implementation Panel, composed of experts from the public and private sectors, along with community groups and other interested stakeholders. The Governor will invite participation in this Panel but volunteers are welcome to work on the many Task Teams within the group. We have much work to do to deliver a detailed blueprint to the Governor by January 1st, 2005, as required by his Executive Order.
Second, as part of the implementation blueprint for these stations, we will engage auto makers to keep their promises of “tens of thousands of competitively priced hydrogen vehicles in CA by 2010 if the fueling infrastructure is in place.”
Third, make sure that the stations are “energy stations” with multiple purposes so while the fleet grows, we don’t have idle stations across the state.
There is enough hydrogen in the sewage water discharged each day from the Hyperion sewage treatment plant to power the entire U.S. fleet of cars and trucks. Joan Ogden of Princeton, now with UC Davis, tells us that using off-peak electricity from existing power plants and water - - even sewage water that we would otherwise discard - - we can make enough hydrogen to power 100,000 hydrogen cars in L.A. county alone. And we won’t run out of water to make hydrogen - - that L.A. sewage plant alone could make enough hydrogen to power every vehicle in the U.S.
Sunline Transit in Palm Springs already powers their hydrogen fuel cell buses with solar and wind power electrolysis of water to make hydrogen.
The Inland Empire Water District already has a bio-mass converter that makes natural gas and hydrogen, ready for hydrogen vehicles as they arrive.
Mark Twain said “A man with a new idea is a crank..until he succeeds.” To be sure, even one million hydrogen vehicles on CA roads in the next decade will not make much of a dent in reducing petroleum pollution in our air and water, since there will be about 35 million petroleum vehicles in CA in that same time frame. We must improve fuel efficiency and reduce consumption now, but create a hydrogen market for our very near future.
And let me take this moment to thank the collective wisdom and vision in this room that has enabled our Governor to set CA on the Hydrogen Highway. We will see the first evidence that this highway is possible this June 28-July 12 as Dennis Weaver and friends conduct their International Hydrogen Drive - - BC to BC. Please consider joining and sponsoring them, because we need an annual drive like this to prove to the public the emerging technology and choices they have for their energy and transportation needs.
Arnold Schwarzenegger knows that sustainable living and a healthy environment are non-partisan issues - - there is no “D” or “R” next to the names of our children. He has said “Jobs versus the environment is a false choice” - - because a strong economy depends on clean air, water, and landscapes - - AND a steady supply of clean, renewable, locally-produced energy.
Californians invent the future, but we must accept personal responsibility to make this future a reality NOW:
We have Amber Alerts to rescue the one missing child, so I know we can make people care for the 100,000 who die each year of preventable air pollution.
Who will be first to say I can do with a little less that our children might have a little more; who will be first to say that my success will not only be measured by the number on the bottom of the balance sheet, but by the balance of clean air, water, and land that we bequeath to our children? Who will be the first to renew their pledge to live by the challenge that rang out across this land 4 decades ago - “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
Recognize that each and every one of us is needed and can
make a difference, or as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said...”Everyone can be
great, because anyone can serve.” If this is the day we truly believe that -
- and act upon it - - then THIS will be a day to remember. ©2003. All Rights Reserved. A Publication
of the National Hydrogen Association.
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