April 22 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said his administration is taking steps to begin leasing tracts off U.S. shores for electricity-generation projects using wind and ocean currents.

The president said the initiative will open the way to “major investments” in projects on the Outer Continental Shelf and that interest already is high in putting wind-power turbines off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware. He also said he will continue pursuing a “market-based cap” for emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas linked to climate change.

“The nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy,” Obama said in Newton, Iowa. “America must be that nation.”

Obama delivered his Earth Day message in a central Iowa town that is trying to rebound from the loss of traditional manufacturing jobs by replacing them with work tied to alternative energy. The president, in promoting his budget plans, ties the goal of greater energy production with building a sustained economic recovery.

The president toured a plant operated by Trinity Structural Towers Inc. in Newton, Iowa, where workers fabricate towers for wind turbines. The facility once housed operations of Maytag Corp., which had had its headquarters in Newton for almost 100 years before it was closed in 2006 following a takeover by Benton Harbor, Michigan-based Whirlpool Corp.

Jobs and Energy

Obama said such turbines could generate as much as 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, creating 250,000 jobs.

“The choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy; it’s a choice between prosperity and decline,” he said.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in February he would seek to expedite rulemaking for renewable projects on the Outer Continental Shelf as part of the administration’s review of offshore energy production.

The areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have the potential for 1,900 gigawatts of electricity, more than twice the nation’s current power capacity, according to the Interior Department. There is also potential power from wave and tidal projects offshore.

Lease Process

The framework announced today establishes a process for companies to get leases to develop offshore renewable resources as well as revenue-sharing methods for adjacent states.

Obama also said the country’s electricity grid needs to updated, though he is focusing the “bulk” of his energy policy on reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and on cutting carbon pollution.

“This will not be easy, and there are no silver bullets. It will take a variety of energy sources, pursued through a variety of policies, to drastically reduce our dependence on oil and fossil fuels,” he said.

He cited the plight of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which are facing a deadline to come up with a plan for financial viability to get more government loans.

“For automakers to succeed in the future, these companies need to build the cars of the future,” he said. That means creating incentives for them to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles and for Americans to drive them.

Carbon Caps

On the environment, Obama noted that his Environmental Protection Agency, acting in response to a Supreme Court ruling, determined that greenhouse gases pose a danger to the public.

The decision may spur regulation of General Motors Corp. and other automakers and utilities such as American Electric Power Co., as well as manufacturers led by chemical and steel makers. Obama said the best approach is through legislation that would create a market for emissions trading.

Obama has proposed creation of an emissions-trading system in his $3.6 trillion 2010 budget.

“By setting a cap, carbon pollution would become like a commodity. It would have a value as a limited resource,” he said. That would ultimately have the effect of making alternative energy sources more economically viable.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hans Nichols in Newton, Iowa at hnichols2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 22, 2009 14:38 EDT