Today, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance siting and approval of renewable energy facilities on public lands. This was done at a news conference held on a Loyola University rooftop covered with solar panels, this morning.

The memorandum is first of a kind between a state and the federal government involving energy production. The aim of this memorandum is to accelerate about 30 solar, wind and geothermal projects on track to break ground by the end of 2010 and become eligible for more than $15 billion in federal stimulus funds.

Schwarzenegger said that the future is in clean power, clean energy and clean technology, and we are taking action to help California meet its ambitious renewable energy and environmental goals.

According to him, the memorandum will address the issue that is faced by the existing process for siting and approving facilities, which is that it is too slow.

In order to ease the nation’s dependency on foreign oil, it has been a top priority of Obama administration to develop renewable energy on public lands. In addition, Schwarzenegger has urged that the state be able to draw one-third of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2020.

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