No area in the country, including Monterey County, should discard any potential source of energy, including hydraulic fracturing. That was the advice shared by a former Environmental Protection Agency official speaking Tuesday at the Salinas Rotary Club.
Now a private energy consultant, J. Winston Porter was the No. 2 in command at the EPA, appointed during the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Porter walked Rotarians through the web of traditional and alternative energy sources, emphasizing that each source is a critical contributor to transportation, industry, residential and commercial, and electrical power.
Though alternative sources, such as wind and solar, are growing, they still are minuscule contributors to the overall demand. Traditional energy accounts for 91 percent of use, while renewable sources kick in 9 percent, he said. In the national energy pie, petroleum takes the top slot with 36 percent, followed by natural gas at 26 percent and coal at 20 percent. Nuclear energy contributes 9 percent.
In California, hydroelectric power makes up 4 percent and nuclear power is cut down to 4 percent. But we also use 44 percent of petroleum-based energy, mostly for the abundance of cars in the state. Part of Porter's talk focused on coal, an energy source not used in California but one that has caused him some consternation.
Porter called President Barrack Obama's plan to reduce greenhouse gas from burning coal by 30 percent a "devastating blow to the coal industry." He said that when Japan shut down nuclear plants after the ongoing disaster in Fukushima, they began importing coal because there was not enough renewable sources to provide for the country's energy demands.
The same thing happened with Germany, Porter said, which took its nuclear plants offline after Fukushima but then discovered its other energy sources were not enough to meet its demand. Germany is now one of the largest importers of American coal.
"Renewables also require backup power because the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow," Porter said, and then added, "even though it's fairly windy around here."
He noted that the 30 percent goal of carbon reduction from 2005 levels has already met 15 percent of the goal because of new methods of shale oil and natural gas extraction, including hydraulic fracturing, or what it is commonly known by, fracking. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel.
Porter described California's law on fracking – SB 4 – as "tough and well written regulations. Fracking injects chemicals into heavy oil deposits to allow the petroleum to be pumped to the surface. He rejected the many claims that the chemicals are highly toxic.
"They are not highly dangerous," he said. "It's stuff you use around the house."
Dennis L. Taylor covers environmental issues for TheCalifornian.com. Follow him on Twitter @taylor_salnews.