DENVER—Robert Kennedy Jr. lent some star power to Colorado’s efforts to promote renewable energy on Thursday, joining Gov. Bill Ritter and Sen. Gail Schwartz at a new energy expo outside the state Capitol.
Kennedy said Colorado has shown the best leadership on renewable energy in the country, but he mostly spoke about his vision for the whole country becoming more reliant on wind and solar power.
He compared spending money to develop renewable energy to early investments in the Internet and telecommunications grid, which triggered innovation and economic growth.
Kennedy, a strong supporter of environmental causes, said it would cost $700 billion to develop wind and solar energy to power the country, about the same amount that was spent on the Wall Street bailout. He also said it’s about the same amount spent to import oil each year.
“Once we build it, it’s free,” Kennedy said of the energy. “We don’t have to go to Saudi Arabia.”
Kennedy said he is part of a company working to build a solar plant to provide California utilities with electricity.
After his speech, a crowd of fans and people promoting their own energy ideas quickly formed around Kennedy, who said he was in Colorado to go skiing with his children. He escaped for a quick ride with Schwartz in a tiny electric car and returned to talk to more people.
Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, said she connected with Kennedy at a convention for renewable energy executives and invited him to the Capitol.
The expo and rally took place on the Capitol’s East Steps as the Colorado House debated new regulations for oil and gas wells inside. Organizers said the timing was coincidental and Thursday was the day that Kennedy was available.
Ritter said the state’s new energy economy is built on “extractive resources,” which include oil and gas, melded with energy produced by the wind and the sun.
“From the beginning, it hasn’t been an either/or or a zero sum game,” he told the crowd.
