Obama Says U.S. Needs ‘Sustained’ Strategy to Develop Energy
President Barack Obama said the U.S. must have a “sustained” energy policy that doesn’t fluctuate with gasoline prices and is focused on developing alternatives to fossil fuels.
A long-term strategy will make the U.S. less dependent on imported oil and will boost economic growth by developing new energy industries, Obama told employees at a wind-turbine manufacturing facility of the U.S. unit of Spain’s Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.
“This whole issue of energy is on the minds of a lot of people right now partly because you’re paying more at the pump,” Obama said. “There’s no magic formula” for driving gasoline prices down.
Obama has made energy a main topic over the last two weeks in an effort to a focus on the economy and other domestic issues after spending much of his time dealing with the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.
With gasoline prices on the rise as a result of the tumult in oil-producing countries such as Libya, the president is seeking to ease concerns about the effect of rising energy costs on the pocketbooks of U.S. consumers.
It also gives him an opportunity to defend his budget priorities as Republicans in Congress are pushing to slash federal spending to address a deficit forecast to hit $1.6 trillion this year and $1.1 trillion in fiscal 2012.
Spending on Research
Obama argues the U.S. can’t forgo spending on research and development of alternative fuel sources. In the 2012 spending plan he sent to Congress in February, Obama proposed increasing the Energy Department’s budget by 12 percent to $29.5 billion, including funding for development of new nuclear reactors and energy research.
The U.S. had just slipped to third place behind China and Germany in a ranking of nations funding renewable power in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The president also addressed the impasse over the fiscal 2011 budget, saying Democrats have agreed to cut as much as Republicans initially sought. The two sides haven’t reached an accord and some government operations may have to shut down if one isn’t reached by April 8.
“We’ve agreed to a compromise but somehow we still don’t have a deal,” he said. A shutdown would hurt the economy, he said.
The budget and the showdown with Republicans didn’t come up when Obama later took questions from workers at the Gamesa plant.
Cut Oil Imports
Obama, who officially began his re-election campaign this week, was in the swing state of Pennsylvania today to highlight his call for the U.S. to cut oil imports by a third by 2025 from the 2008 level of 11 million barrels a day.
The theme is likely to be repeated by the president and his surrogates for the next several months as Obama gears up his re- election campaign. The pump prices for regular-grade gasoline, averaged nationwide, was $3.685 yesterday compared with $2.828 a year ago, according to the AAA national gasoline survey.
Crude oil for May delivery gained 49 cents to $108.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Sept. 22, 2008. Prices are up about 20 percent this year.
After leaving Fairless Hill, Obama flew to New York where he addressed an annual awards ceremony of the National Action Network, a civil rights advocacy organization led by the Reverend Al Sharpton.
To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania at 4304 or jgoldman6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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