President Obama, speaking largely to students at the University of Miami Thursday, said there are no quick fixes to America’s energy challenge.
Dubbed an “Energy Event,” Mr. Obama first toured the University of Miami’s Industrial Assessment Center, where engineers are being taught how to conduct energy assessments for manufacturers. The president said, such assessments would save companies up to 25 percent of their energy usage and in turn millions of dollars.
To the University of Miami students, Mr. Obama referenced the rising gas prices, pointing out that America can’t “drill our way to lower gas prices,” but, in addition, new technologies would have to be developed to use less energy.
“You know there are no quick fixes to this problem, and you know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices,” he said. “If we’re going to take control of our energy future…we need a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy … we need to keep developing the technology that allows us to use less oil in our cars and trucks; in our buildings and plants. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing, and that’s the only real solution to this challenge.”
Mindful that rising gas prices place an even heavier burden on American families that are already struggling, Mr. Obama said he had directed his administration to look for “every single area where we can make an impact and help consumers in the months ahead.” This would include permitting, delivery bottlenecks and the world oil market.
No mention however, was made of possibly releasing crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help stem rising gasoline prices. Yesterday, three U.S. House Democracts — Reps. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Peter Welch of Vermont and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut — wrote to the president, urging him to consider deploying oil in the reserve. As expected the energy industry is opposed to this.
Mr. Obama next turned his attention to discussing incentives, pointing out that ongoing subsidies to the oil industry is “outrageous” and “inexcusable.”
“Right now, four billion of your tax dollars subsidize the oil industry every year. Four billion dollars,” he said. “These are the same oil companies that have been making record profits off the money you spend at the pump. And now they deserve another four billion dollars from us?”
Added Mr. Obama, “It’s outrageous. It’s inexcusable. And every politician who’s been fighting to keep these subsidies in place should explain to the American people why the oil industry needs more of their money. Especially at a time like this.”
A program is being launched which would bring America’s best scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs together to “figure out how more cars can be powered by natural gas,” Mr. Obama said. He added that new investments were also being made in the development of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel and which, overtime could replace up to 17 percent of America’s oil imports for transportation with this new fuel.
Mr. Obama concluded his remarks by reminding that there is no silver bullet that will bring down gas prices tomorrow or reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, overnight.
“But while we don’t have a silver bullet, what we do have in this country are limitless sources of energy, and a boundless supply of ingenuity and imagination that we can put to work developing that energy,” he said.
“So we need all of you to keep at it. We need you to work hard. We need you to dream big. We need you to summon the same spirit of unbridled optimism, that bold willingness to tackle tough problems that led previous generations to meet the challenges of their time – to power a nation from coast to coast, to touch the moon, to connect the entire world with our own science and imagination,” Mr. Obama added.
“That’s what America is capable of,” he said.
Read the entire text of President Obama’s Remarks Here.
