Obama Speaking Today:
In an economy that relies so heavily on oil, rising prices at the pump affect everybody -– workers, farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners, students who are lucky enough to have a car. (Laughter.) Businesses see rising prices at the pump hurt their bottom line. Families feel the pinch when they fill up their tank. And for Americans that are already struggling to get by, a hike in gas prices really makes their lives that much harder. It hurts.
The United States of America cannot afford to bet our long-term prosperity, our long-term security on a resource that will eventually run out, and even before it runs out will get more and more expensive to extract from the ground. We can’t afford it when the costs to our economy, our country, and our planet are so high. Not when your generation needs us to get this right. It’s time to do what we can to secure our energy future.
And today, I want to announce a new goal, one that is reasonable, one that is achievable, and one that is necessary. When I was elected to this office, America imported 11 million barrels of oil a day. By a little more than a decade from now, we will have cut that by one-third. That is something that we can achieve. (Applause.) We can cut our oil dependence -- we can cut our oil dependence by a third.
But our best opportunities to enhance our energy security can be found in our own backyard -- because we boast one critical, renewable resource that the rest of the world can’t match: American ingenuity. American ingenuity, American know-how.
To make ourselves more secure, to control our energy future, we’re going to have to harness all of that ingenuity. It’s a task we won’t be finished with by the end of my presidency, or even by the end of the next presidency. But if we continue the work that we’ve already begun over the last two years, we won’t just spark new jobs, industries and innovations -- we will leave your generation and future generations with a country that is safer, that is healthier, and that’s more prosperous.
So today, my administration is releasing a Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future that outlines a comprehensive national energy policy, one that we’ve been pursuing since the day I took office. And cutting our oil dependence by a third is part of that plan.
The details and Fact Sheet on Obama's Plan is here.
Not that his comments were well received by his critics or the Ex-Half-Governor-in-Chief.
Most argue that Obama new Blueprint isn't significantly different from what he campaigned on.
I think everything Obama argues here is perfectly reasonable, looking at domestic sources of Energy while taking back unused drilling leases and looking more at alternative energies.
Support still remains for Nuclear and "Clean Coal" but they are only listed among a host of options.
Unfortunately that's not how Palin See's it.
It’s unbelievable (literally) the rhetoric coming from President Obama today. This is coming from he who is manipulating the U.S. energy supply. President Obama is once again giving lip service to a “new energy proposal”; but let’s remember the last time he trotted out a “new energy proposal” – nearly a year ago to the day. The main difference is today we have $4 a gallon gas in some places in the country. This is no accident. This administration is not a passive observer to the trends that have inflated oil prices to dangerous levels. His war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production has caused us pain at the pump, endangered our already sluggish economic recovery, and threatened our national security. Through a process of what candidate Obama once called “gradual adjustment,” American consumers have seen prices at the pump rise 67 percent since he took office.
During this screed Palin ignores the fact that Gas Prices actually peeked in July of 2008 at over $4.15/gallon - several months before Obama was even elected.
So her criticizing him now about gas prices is patently ridiculous, particularly when his temporary moratorium on exploratory drilling following the Deep Water Horizon Disaster has been lifted, and about 60% of the cost of oils comes from Speculation in the Stock Market not Supply or Demand.
The fact is that the Obama Administration has already issued at least 4 new licenses for deep water drilling in the Gulf, including one to Noble Energy which is party owned by BP.
She then argues for more Natural Gas and against Electirc Cars.
Since I wrote the above, we have even more evidence of the President’s anti-drilling agenda. We have the moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the de-facto moratorium in the Arctic. We have his 2012 budget that proposes to eliminate several vital oil and natural gas production tax incentives. We have his anti-drilling regulatory policies that have stymied responsible development. And the list goes on. The President says that we can’t “drill” our way out of the problem. But we can’t drive our cars on solar shingles either. We have to live in the real world where we must continue to develop the conventional resources that we actually use right now to fuel our economy as we continue to look for a renewable source of energy. If we are looking for an affordable, environmentally friendly, and abundant domestic source of energy, why not turn to our own domestic supply of natural gas? Whether we use it to power natural-gas cars or to run natural-gas power plants that charge electric cars, natural gas is an ideal “bridge fuel” to a future when more renewable sources are available, affordable, and economically viable on their own. It’s a lot more viable than subsidizing boondoggles like these inefficient electric cars that no one wants. I’m all for electric cars if you can develop one I can actually use in Alaska, where you can drive hundreds of miles without seeing many people, let alone many electrical sockets. But these electric and hybrid cars are not a quick fix because we still need an energy source to power them.
Her link goes to an Energy "Institute" (ie. Corporate Think Tank) that claims the we simply don't have the battery technology, not that Electric Vehicles aren't popular. Hybids such as the Toyota Prius have been selling like crazy. The Demand for Hybrids is Growing, driven mostly by high gas prices.
The days of dominance of the gas-powered cars in the market are numbered. That is because hybrid vehicles being rolled out and launched by different car makers are creating a wave of interest, curiosity and patronage in the market.
For quite some time, people around the world have been relying on their cars for luxury, convenience and other basic functions. Cars have become a necessity for people that in some countries, it would be hard to live without owning one.
There are a number of issues and concerns regarding man’s reliance and use of cars. For one, prices of gasoline, which is the basic in running cars, are always rising.
Demand for the Fully Electric Nissan Leaf (which does have the 100 Mile Range requirement Palin opines for) and other vehicles has started slow, but is growing.
Back in December, various car manufacturers rolled out some new electric motor vehicle models. Since then, Chevrolet has sold less than 1,000 Volts and Nissan has sold approximately 200 Leafs. Both companies have announced that they expect sales to increase in 2011 when they ramp up production.
These electricity powered vehicles will eventually become highly demanded products that replace the fuel-intensive cars on the roads today. Automakers like Nissan will be fighting an uphill battle when it comes to winning the trust of American consumers.
Now, posting back a couple of these facts onto Palin's page got me banned - again (This time I was talking Page to Page, not Person to Page - it's a Facebook thang) But what's even more shocking is some of the quality and type of comments that were left up by her page.
Garland Matheson One word for obama ANTICHRIST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ross Kerns SARAH FOR PRESIDENT. NO MORE OBAMANATION ANYTHING
Doug Davis Honestly, is there anything positive for this country that he hasn't 't failed at ? I suppose if you're an Islamic socialist, he is doing a bang up job !
Linda J Gross That is all he does....Manipulate!! But who pulls his strings?
Denise Paulson Obama has no interest in helping our country. Its more than obivious when he is not utilizing the reserves we already. He doesn't care about the people otherwise he would tap into our natural resources and create jobs here in America where we most need it.
Barbara Thomas george sorros and other rich socialist pig muslims
Lillian Billingsley Obama only wants the u.s to be a third world nation so he can help foreigners
James Mott Barry was slower to react to the BP oil spill than he was to the shooting at Ft Hood
Abbey Bone I THINK THE BP OIL SPILL WAS ALL PLANNED.
Ken Tyner Sarah, the only problem with your assertions that I can see, is that you do not acknowledge the intent of the social progressives to destroy our capitalist society. What they do, they do by intent; not by ignorance.
Linda Parrish Samantha Powers, wife of Cass Sunstein, who works somewhere for Obama, is on tape bragging the other day about how Obama actually had a hand in triggering the unrest in Libya!! I know the unions, communist Dickie Trumpka and Code Pink and others were over there in instigating the Tunsia and Egypt uprising.
This has all been planned since late 2008 by OFA, George Soros, the unions, etc. The enemy is here and it is our very own government!! Hell bent on destroying this country!!! We must not become divided or well will surely fall to a new world order & communist regime!
Unca Mike The president understands the need for conventional resources just fine. The real problem is that it's so hard to believe that an elected American president would be deliberately damaging the U.S., but he is. He doesn't want an energy solution, isn't that completely obvious by now? His vision for is is like Dear Leader's vision for the captives of North Korea -- blackouts, no air conditioning, riding rusty old bicycles to our jobs picking rocks out of the fields and subsistence farming. That's the "green" agenda, and Americans had better wake up to it. Our standard of living is already lined up for a massive beating with the irresponsible and immoral debt and spending that the Democrats have run up and the Republicans are too revoltingly weak-kneed and lily-livered to do anything about.
Me saying that 60% of the cost of Oil is from Speculation is Beyond the Pale but all of this gets to stay? I think it's perfectly fair to criticize what Obama has proposed as either not aggressive at exploiting available (safe) domestic options or not pursuing alternative options with enough gusto - you could argue he still seem to trust Nuclear, so far non-existent "Clean Coal" and ignore the dangerous side-effects of Natural Gas Fracking - but he's a North Korean? The Anti-Christ? Like, seriously.
And Palin and the Tea Party wonder why they get criticized and/or laughed at so harshly all the time...
Vyan