I believe this is the change we believe in and the change we have received.
With two years of the Obama administration, almost four times as much clean energy has been put on the grid on public lands as in all the previous 40 years.
All the renewable energy ever permitted on public lands totaled 1,800 MW by the end of 2008. In the last two years, the Department of the Interior has approved 6,600 MW of new projects. [...]
The uptick in clean energy permits marks a real change in US energy on government-owned land. Public lands have traditionally been approved for oil and gas leases which generate federal revenues of between $5 billion and $6 billion a year. To get an idea of the scale of this change, the total for the two years of Obama renewable energy projects approved will generate just under $1 billion a year to the federal coffers: $786 million annually.
Under $1 billion of annual federal revenue from clean energy may seem like peanuts compared with the $6 billion from oil and gas, but bear in mind that these annual lease earnings cover a period all the way back to the beginning of oil with The Mining Law of 1872, while these new clean energy permits cover a mere two years worth of leases.
Granted, 2.3 million homes out of 102 million isn't gobsmacking, however it is the first significant steps taken by any administration to move the country away from fossil fuels and it has been accomplished in the face of relentless Republican obstruction.
Just like Bush.