State of the Union Addresses of Barack Obama, 2009-2016Obama, Barack
General
State of the Union Addresses of Barack Obama, 2009-2016
Obama, Barack
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
And 4 years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and
the jobs that came with it. And we've begun to change that. Last year,
wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So
let's generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year; let's
drive down costs even further. As long as countries like China keep
going all in on clean energy, so must we.
Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and
greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. And that's why
my administration will keep cutting redtape and speeding up new oil and
gas permits. That's got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan. But I
also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and
technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our
air and our water.
In fact, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters
that we, the public, own together. So tonight I propose we use some of
our oil and gas revenues to fund an energy security trust that will
drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil
for good. If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and
admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let's take their
advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in
gas prices we've put up with for far too long.
I'm also issuing a new goal for America: Let's cut in half the energy
wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years. We'll work
with the States to do it. Those States with the best ideas to create
jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings
will receive Federal support to help make that happen.
America's energy sector is just one part of an aging infrastructure
badly in need of repair. Ask any CEO where they'd rather locate and
hire, a country with deteriorating roads and bridges or one with high-
speed rail and Internet, high-tech schools, self-healing power grids.
The CEO of Siemens America--a company that brought hundreds of new jobs
to North Carolina--said that if we upgrade our infrastructure, they'll
bring even more jobs. And that's the attitude of a lot of companies all
around the world. And I know you want these job-creating projects in
your district. I've seen all those ribbon-cuttings. [Laughter]
So tonight I propose a Fix-It-First program to put people to work as
soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000
structurally deficient bridges across the country. And to make sure
taxpayers don't shoulder the whole burden, I'm also proposing a
partnership to rebuild America that attracts private capital to upgrade
what our businesses need most: modern ports to move our goods, modern
pipelines to withstand a storm, modern schools worthy of our children.
Let's prove there's no better place to do business than here in the
United States of America, and let's start right away. We can get this
done.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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