"if you want to dream . . ."

Gov. Palin appointed Steve Haagenson today as the state's energy czar. When I asked him about climate change, he said he anticipated working "fairly closely" with Palin's sub-cabinet on climate change.
"One of the goals we'd like to have is reduction of CO2 as a gas from electric and any generation," he said, "and I think we have a path to achieve that -- actually, reduce it more than any other region in the world."
Haagenson mentioned the big hydro-power project on the Susitna River that people are talking about again, gasification technologies, and biomass.
There are problems making biomass work, including getting the costs down and dealing with delivery issues, he said. "[But] If you could get there, you could actually be CO2-neutral in the next, let's say, 20 years, which is more aggressive than anybody else in the nation I've heard talking."
"If you want to dream, you can dream," he added.
Big talk from a guy on the job for less than an hour? In any case, climate change seems to be on the radar, even if it's overshadowed in the energy debate by another reason to get off fossil fuels -- the high cost.
BTW, Haagenson is a Fairbanks guy, having worked at the member-owned Golden Valley Electric Association, including as president, for 32 years.