American Energy

"We can't have an energy strategy for the last century that traps us in the past. We need an energy strategy for the future -- an all-of-the-above strategy for the 21st century that develops every source of American-made energy." - President Barack Obama, March 15, 2012

President Obama:

We've got to have a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy.

I am not going to cede the wind and solar and advanced battery industries to countries like China and Germany that are making those investments.

I want those technologies developed and manufactured here in the Midwest; here in America.

And as long as I'm President, we're going to keep on encouraging oil development and infrastructure.

And we are going to do it in a way that protects the health and safety of the American people.

We don't have to choose between one or the other.

We can do both.

Under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years.

That's a fact.

That is a fact.

We're opening up more land for oil exploration.

We've got more oil rigs operating.

There are more pipelines out there that are being approved.

In 2010, our dependence on foreign oil was under 50% for the first time in over a decade.

We were less reliant on foreign oil than we had been.

In 2011, the United States, relied less on foreign oil than in any of the last 16 years.

The strategy that relies only on drilling defies the fact that America uses 20% of the world's oil but we only have 2% of the world's known oil reserves.

And because of the investments we've made as a nation, the use of renewable energies has actually doubled.

We can build the next generation of nuclear reactors that are smaller and safer and cleaner and cheaper, but we've got to also look at renewable energy as the key to our future.

And we've got to build cars and trucks that get more miles to the gallon.

We've got to build homes and businesses that waste less energy an put consumers in control of their energy bills.

After 30 years of not doing anything, we finally increased fuel efficiency standards on cars and trucks.

And Americans are now designing and building cars that will go nearly twice as far on the same gallon of gas by the middle of the next decade.

We keep on this track and we're at the cutting edge.

And that ultimately will make our economy stronger and it will make the United States stronger.

It will create jobs, it will create businesses, it will create opportunities for middle-class Americans and folks who want to get into the middle class.

It's time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that's rarely been more profitable and double down on investments in an energy industry that has never been more promising.

A century of subsidies to oil companies is long enough.

We've got to summon the spirit of optimism and that willingness to tackle tough problems that led previous generations to meet the challenges of their times.

If we do, the solution's within our reach.

And I know we can do it.

We have done it before.

And when we do, we will remind the world once again just why it is that the United States of America is the greatest country on Earth.