![President Obama in New Jersey: "We Are Here for You"](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121104145049im_/http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog_featured_content/imagecache/embedded_img_full/image/image_file/p103112ps-1368.jpg "President Obama in New Jersey: "We Are Here for You"")
The New Energy Frontier
On Tuesday President Obama announced the largest single power-grid modernization investment in U.S. history. Under the Recovery Act, the Department of Energy is funding 100 grants totaling $3.4 billion to help companies, utilities and cities build a nation-wide smart grid.
Yesterday, I was in Houston, Texas – the Energy Capital of the World - visiting CenterPoint Energy Houston. CenterPoint is a regional utility that received $200 million of this grant to spur its deployment of a smart grid to improve efficiency and help area consumers manage and control their electricity usage. Investments like this one will create jobs, save energy, and empower consumers to cut their electric bills, as I explained in this video:
These grants are just some of the many ways federal agencies are working together to bring about a new energy frontier. I also announced a Memorandum of Understanding with eight other federal agencies that will expedite the siting and permitting of electric transmission projects on federal lands.
Ken Salazar is Secretary of the Interior
