October 15, 2010 San Francisco

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared at ClimateOne at the Commonwealth Club. In this excerpt, she answers a question about the administrations support for a tar sands pipeline from Alberta. Gregory Dalton asks, “How can the U.S. be saying climate change is a priority when we’re mainlining some of the dirtiest fuel that exists”?

images by Jill Gustafson

Partial Excerpt: “We’re either going to be dependent on dirty oil from the Gulf or dependent on dirty oil from Canada, and until we can get our act together as a country, and figure out that clean renewable energy is in both our economic interest and the interest of our planet…”

“I mean I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone how deeply disappointed the President and I are about our inability to get the kind of legislation through the Senate that the United States was seeking. That hasn’t stopped what we’re doing. We have moved a lot on the regulatory front through the EPA here at home and we have been working with a number of countries on adaptation and mitigation measures, but obviously it was one of the highest priorities of the administration for us to enshrine in legislation President Obama’s commitment to reducing our emissions. So we do have a lot that still must be done.”

“It’s a hard balancing act. It’s a very hard balancing act. But it is also for me, energy security requires that I look at all of the factors that we have to consider while we try to expedite as much as we can America’s move toward clean renewable energy.”

Clinton concluded her appearance fielding a question from ten year old Eli, who asked what people can do to help the environment.

Speaking as a “private citizen” for a moment, she mentioned the “frustration, anxiety and even anger” in the United States today, “And I hope that people take some of that energy and focus it on the environment and on climate change, because we really need to have a longer range view of what’s going to make our country strong and rich and smart”.

Clinton with ten year old Eli.

report by James George