President Obama’s Dirty Plan for Clean Energy

Environment America

Boston — President Obama today reiterated his call to use royalties from new oil drilling to fund clean vehicle technologies as part of his Blueprint for a Clean and Secure Energy Future. Daniel Gatti, who directs Environment America’s Get Off Oil program, issued this statement in response:

“President Obama’s proposal promises to save the United States from its dependence on oil by deepening its dependence on oil. Today’s plan fails to directly confront the key question on oil and transportation policy: Are we building a future in which we use more oil, or are we building a future in which we use less?

“In President Obama’s first term, the administration took historic steps to reduce oil consumption and protect our climate, like instituting cleaner car standards that represent the most important step our country has ever taken to reduce global warming pollution.

But in his second term, President Obama’s ‘all of the above’ energy policy begs the adage ‘to govern is to choose.’ Choosing a future in which our government expands drilling off our coasts, fracking in public lands, and green-lights dirty tar sands infrastructure like the Keystone XL pipeline is a future in which we fail to protect ourselves from the worst consequences of oil dependence and global warming.

“Instead of promoting policies that trap us in a catch-22, President Obama should reject more drilling, reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and find sustainable sources of funding for clean energy research.”