“The notion that we’re going to keep it all in the ground is unrealistic … We are still a very heavily fossil-fuel dependent world,” Holdren told the US Energy Information Administration’s annual conference last week.
“I subscribe to the view that natural gas is a very helpful bridge fuel to a much lower emissions future.”
The comment echoes statements made by another top Obama official, interior secretary Sally Jewell, who last month called “Keep it in the ground” activists “naive” as they ignored the fact that, at least for now, the US was still dependent on oil, natural gas and coal.
“It’s going to take a very long time before we can wean ourselves from fossil fuels, so I think that to keep it in the ground is naive, to say we could shift to 100 percent renewables is naïve,” Jewell told The Desert Sun newspaper after a California event to dedicate new national monuments in the desert.
“We really have to have a blend over time, and a transition over time, that recognizes the real complexity of what we're dealing with.”
However Jewell, who has put a three-year moratorium on new coal leasing on federal lands as part of a wider campaign to account for climate change in leasing fees and terms, was optimistic that the country could eventually move away from fossil fuels.
“We will transition ourselves from a fossil fuel-dependent economy to an economy where we are not as dependent,” she said.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy also recently said that “responsible development of natural gas is an important part of our work to curb climate change and support a robust clean energy market at home”
Holdren’s latest comments came after the Bureau of Land Management in May rejected the "Keep it in the ground" movement’s demands to hold a hearing and extend the public comment period regarding mineral leasing in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest aimed at stalling the decision.
While highlighting the litany of efforts the Obama administration had made to foster the renewables industry, the White House answered the movement’s petition with the reminder – in standout bold type – that “even as we move full steam ahead towards cleaner energy, the United States will still need to use fossil fuels in the near term”
All this comes as progressives within the Democrats have been attempting to get a nationwide moratorium on fraccing added to the party's official platform.
However, they were able to get an amendment passed by its powerful platform committee in the past month, stipulating that the practice should not be performed "where states and local communities oppose it".
That amendment will be voted on at the Democrat’s convention in coming weeks.
