that’s a strong side-eye if we’ve ever seen one

Last night in the Earl Hall auditorium, United States Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz discussed the accomplishments and challenges in U.S. energy policy. Senior Staff Writer Ross Chapman covers the event. 

“Ambition is going to have to keep us moving forward.”

In the middle of a surprisingly Obama-themed week, Columbia hosted the United States Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, in the auditorium of Earl Hall. Security was tight for the event, and dozens were turned away at the door due to the event’s high attendance. Luckily for those who couldn’t see Ernest and his luscious locks in person, the Center on Global Energy Policy at SIPA, which hosted the event, livestreamed the event on their website. Jason Bordoff, a SIPA professor and founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy, introduced and posed questions to Secretary of Energy.

Secretary Moniz’s optimistic speech spoke of progress, ambition, and motivation for the United States and its energy future. In a political moment where nuclear security and jobs in the energy sector are key factors of the election, Moniz fancies himself an expert in both subjects, and took this opportunity to speak to the successes of the Obama administration and the work that still has to be done.

Moniz targeted the synergy between innovation and policy as key to creating a responsible energy system in America. A policy-only approach to clean energy (for example, a carbon price), would have an “inelastic” response with politically unnavigable headwinds. Innovation in the energy sector alone, however, takes too long to react to the needs and desires of the nation. But put them together, which Moniz believes the government does at the moment, and they complement each other. Both parties in Congress want this. The key is to transform that support into increases in R&D budgets. This bipartisan agreement lays down a bedrock for Moniz’s platform of optimism.

Political realities eventually dictated that Secretary Moniz’s speech would veer towards the controversial. The Department of Energy has a hand in nuclear security, and Moniz took this platform to deliver a defense of the Iran nuclear deal. “I’m not going to go into much detail on this,” he began, before devoting a majority of his time on the topic of nuclear security to what the accords with Iran did and did not do. He also gave brief lip service to Russia as a source for anxiety on the topic of nuclear armament. Nuclear as an energy source comprised a very small portion of Secretary Moniz’s one hour of time on the stage.

Frustrated with the lack of executive power in affecting energy change, Moniz finished his speech time with a plea for a consistent platform. “In this business, big capital decisions in the industry are decadal… so we need to get the policy signals straight and the technology signals straight.” In other words, the currents have to have a clear direction now to get change any time soon from an energy industry brimming with still inertia. America needs to de-carbonize not just its electricity production, but also its industrial and transportation sectors. This will depend on the assistance of legislators from both sides of the aisle.

Unfortunately, climate change has somehow become a politically polarizing topic. With yet another moment of optimism, Moniz predicted, “I just have to believe that’s going to go away. It doesn’t make any sense.” Jason Bordoff cited a Pew Research Center study which showed that liberal democrats were over 50% more likely to perceive of climate scientists as deserving a major role in climate legislation as were conservative republicans. How to get over this issue? “Mother nature is a great ally,” suggested Moniz, “and she is speaking louder and louder.” He hopes that in the near future, we will re-embrace “The American Approach” to the crisis – “We’ve got a problem, we recognize it, we solve it.”