Reviving coal mines in the US is impossible.
Clearing uncertainties surrounding the impact of the change in the US-administration on India-US corporation in the field of renewable energy, top Obama Administration official said that it will not affect the cooperation.
The election rhetoric of Donald Trump to bring back coal for power generation was rubbished by Amos J Hochstein, the Special Envoy to Bureau of Energy Resource at the Department of State.
Hochstein said coal is a discarded nonrenewable energy source by many top manufacturers and this has very little to do with the government regulation and more to do with change in technology.
Going against the Paris climate agreement, President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign trail had said that he will revive coal mines in the US.
“The issues are plenty. Steady goals are extremely important to set the direction of where the country is going. But beyond setting the goals, there have to be follow ups. You can’t simply say that I am going to create 175 GW of renewable energy if you cannot solve some of the fundamental problems that do not allow that to happen,” he said.
“India is the best place in the world to invest in renewable energy. But the regulatory environment and all the issues related to financing will have to be resolved for that to happen,” he asserted.
“Just like the US where the regulatory authority of the federal government is rather limited…the states in the US have all the power. They will decide the future of their own state. The same is true in India. In addition to what central government is doing, what is happening at the state and local levels are also very important,” Hochstein said.
Making his point clear, Hochstein said: People are not using coal not only because they are concerned about the climate change, but also because of the same reason why they don’t use VCR’s any longer.
Hochstein was speaking at the launch of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies-led U.S.-India State and Urban Initiative that aims at coordinating interactions between the two countries.
Indian American Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal while speaking at the event said “There is tremendous demand but no natural way of accessing them. Because there is not one India, there are many States and other regional factors. Conversely, there is not one U.S. There is such a diversity of experience, of models….India- U.S. relations will have to move beyond government to government. India-U.S. relations are global, but it should also be local.”