Today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy. After years of talking about it, we\u2019re finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in fifteen years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar – with tens of thousands of good American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before – and nearly everyone\u2019s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen.<\/p>\n
But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Now, it\u2019s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is the twelve hottest years on record have all come in the last fifteen. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods – all are now more frequent and more intense. We can choose to believe that superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science – and act before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
Now, the good news is we can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won\u2019t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.<\/p>\n
Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it. And we\u2019ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let\u2019s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year – let\u2019s drive down costs even further. As long as countries like China keep going all in on clean energy, so must we.<\/p>\n
Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. And that\u2019s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That\u2019s got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and our water.<\/p>\n
In fact, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good. If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let\u2019s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we\u2019ve put up with for far too long.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m also issuing a new goal for America: Let\u2019s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years. We\u2019ll work with the states to do it. Those states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make that happen.<\/p>\n
America\u2019s energy sector is just one part of an aging infrastructure badly in need of repair. Ask any CEO where they\u2019d rather locate and hire – a country with deteriorating roads and bridges, or one with high-speed rail and Internet; high-tech schools, self-healing power grids. The CEO of Siemens America – a company that brought hundreds of new jobs to North Carolina – said that if we upgrade our infrastructure, they\u2019ll bring even more jobs. And that\u2019s the attitude of a lot of companies all around the world. And I know you want these job-creating projects in your district. I\u2019ve seen all those ribbon-cuttings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy. After years of talking about it, we\u2019re finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in fifteen years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4475"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4480,"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions\/4480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/envirobeat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}