Primary Sources: Energy: Alternative

"The first great American conservation movement was born during the Progressive Era out of the concern that industrial growth and urban development threatened to extinguish America’s wilderness. The era’s most controversial environmental issue was the five-year struggle over federal approval for the flooding of a remote corner of federally-owned land in California’s Yosemite National Park to build the Hetch Hetchy dam. The city of San Francisco, rebuilding after the devastating 1906 earthquake, believed the dam was necessary to meet its burgeoning needs for reliable supplies of water and electricity. In their 1913 testimony before the House Committee on Public Lands, former San Francisco Mayor James Phelan and Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief Forester of the United States and the most noted conservationist of his generation, put the utilitarian needs of San Francisco’s citizens above the aesthetic and moral advantages of leaving Yosemite a pristine wilderness. In the end Congress chose management over aesthetics, voting 43–25 (with 29 abstentions) to allow the Hetch Hetchy dam on federal land."

"This collection showcases images of hydroelectric power and water supply facilities built in Washington State from the late 1890s to the 1950s."

A Department of Energy website with publications, reports and other resources on using water for energy.

"This digital collection features over 1,000 photographs from the Westinghouse Electric Corporation Steam Division photograph collection from 1898 to 1964. These photographs cover a variety of subjects including building construction, turbine manufacturing, research facilities, machinery, executives and employees, and visitors to the facility in eastern Pennsylvania. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety."

A Department of Energy site that can be used to "search for and view program fact sheets, reports and other publications."

Contains editorial cartoons about wind energy. This site is of the opinion that "industrial scale wind generation is creating massive problems for those individuals and communities unfortunate enough to be in its sights."

"The Progressive Era’s most controversial environmental issue was the 1908–1913 struggle over federal government approval for building the Hetch Hetchy dam in a remote corner of federally-owned land in California’s Yosemite National Park. The city of San Francisco, rebuilding after the devastating 1906 earthquake, believed the dam was necessary to meet its burgeoning needs for reliable supplies of water and electricity. At Congressional hearings on Hetch Hetchy held in 1913, supporters of the plan like Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief Forester of the United States and a noted environmentalist, argued that conservation of natural resources was best achieved through management of the wilderness. Preservationist and Sierra Club founder John Muir did not testify before Congress, but he argued against the Hetch Hetchy plan in this excerpt from his 1912 book, The Yosemite. In the end Congress chose management over aesthetics, voting 43–25 (with 29 abstentions) to allow the Hetch Hetchy dam on federal land."