Government agencies and private businesses must cooperate to build a new national grid to transmit electricity - generated by diverse sources - efficiently and effectively across the nation.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Government agencies and private businesses must cooperate to build a new national grid to transmit electricity - generated by diverse sources - efficiently and effectively across the nation.
That's from Susan Eisenhower, chairwoman of the Eisenhower Strategy Forum, which counsels some of the nation's biggest companies about energy.
She stressed the need to modernize our decaying and outdated transmission system to the 80 people attending a West Virginia Roundtable gathering at the Charleston Marriott on Wednesday.
"This is no less challenging than developing the interstate highway system," Eisenhower said, referring to the massive highway construction project initiated in 1956 when her grandfather, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was ending his first term as president.
"The interstate highway system probably did more than anything to reduce tensions since the Civil War," she said. "The highway system was brought together not only for business, but for society as a whole...
"It will help to bring America not only into the 21st century, but into a new era of prosperity," Eisenhower said.
"Our new president has an array of astonishing, and often frightening, challenges," she added "Building an electric grid will provide American jobs.
"I am a lifelong Republican who supported the Democratic nominee who became president of the United States."
Building a national "green grid" is also an opportunity to help the national economy.
"And we cannot continue to move electricity - generated by coal, oil, gas, nuclear and renewables - without this. Our future depends on access to all these resources."
Today, half of all our electricity is generated by coal and another 20 percent by nuclear power plants.
"My grandfather was the last president who created a definition of national security in broader than military terms," she said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Government agencies and private businesses must cooperate to build a new national grid to transmit electricity - generated by diverse sources - efficiently and effectively across the nation.
That's from Susan Eisenhower, chairwoman of the Eisenhower Strategy Forum, which counsels some of the nation's biggest companies about energy.
She stressed the need to modernize our decaying and outdated transmission system to the 80 people attending a West Virginia Roundtable gathering at the Charleston Marriott on Wednesday.
"This is no less challenging than developing the interstate highway system," Eisenhower said, referring to the massive highway construction project initiated in 1956 when her grandfather, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was ending his first term as president.
"The interstate highway system probably did more than anything to reduce tensions since the Civil War," she said. "The highway system was brought together not only for business, but for society as a whole...
"It will help to bring America not only into the 21st century, but into a new era of prosperity," Eisenhower said.
"Our new president has an array of astonishing, and often frightening, challenges," she added "Building an electric grid will provide American jobs.
"I am a lifelong Republican who supported the Democratic nominee who became president of the United States."
Building a national "green grid" is also an opportunity to help the national economy.
"And we cannot continue to move electricity - generated by coal, oil, gas, nuclear and renewables - without this. Our future depends on access to all these resources."
Today, half of all our electricity is generated by coal and another 20 percent by nuclear power plants.
"My grandfather was the last president who created a definition of national security in broader than military terms," she said.
President Eisenhower identified three components of national security: military strength, economic health and moral authority throughout the world.
Improved power transmission is part of the second component.
"We need to make sure electricity moves very quickly from one side of the country to the other. And that will ultimately lower costs," Eisenhower said.
She also advocated clean coal technology and noted some of our aging nuclear plants will have to be replaced.
Speaking about herself, Eisenhower said she tries "to avoid taking up too much room on this planet. I have always driven a fuel-efficient car and I live near the Metro in Washington.
"We will run out. Energy resources need to be conserved. We should not waste anything," Eisenhower said.
At the close of her remarks, Eisenhower said a passage in her grandfather's January 1961 Farewell Address has always given her inspiration.
"We - you and I, and our government - must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering ... the precious resources of tomorrow.
"We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come," President Eisenhower said.
Susan Eisenhower is on a six-week tour of the country. She is part of the Energy Future Coalition and is an adviser to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com
or 304-348-5164.
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