Obama touts biofuels in democratic nomination acceptance speech
Source: By Anna Simet, Biomass Magazine • Posted: Friday, September 7, 2012
U.S. President Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party for the Nov. 6 election with mentions of increased fuel efficiency, decreased oil imports, biofuels and the reality of climate change.
After touching on newly mandated increased fuel efficiency standards—requiring cars and trucks to go twice as far on a gallon of gas—Obama pointed out that the U.S. has doubled its use of renewable energy and created thousands of jobs.
Last year, Obama said, the U.S. cut oil imports by 1 million barrels a day, more than any administration in recent history, and today the U.S. is less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in nearly two decades. That’s due to the opening of millions of acres for oil and gas exploration in the last three years, according to Obama, and more will be opened in the future. “But unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers,” he said.
Obama went on to say that his campaign offers a better path, “a future where the U.S. keeps investing in wind and solar and clean coal; where farmers and scientists harness new biofuels to power our cars and trucks; where construction workers build homes and factories that waste less energy; where we develop a hundred year supply of natural gas that’s right beneath our feet. If you choose this path, we can cut our oil imports in half by 2020 and support more than 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone,” he said.
Before he moved away from energy issues, Obama emphasized that climate change is not a hoax, and that carbon pollution is heating the planet. “More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke,” he said. “They’re a threat to our children’s future. And in this election, you can do something about it.”