In a telling preview of today’s speech, Obama told attendees at a New York City fundraiser last night that he wants to break “the pattern of being shocked at high prices and then, as prices go down, being lulled into a trance."
"Let's actually have a plan," he said. "Let's, yes, increase domestic oil production, but let's also invest in solar and wind and geothermal and bio-fuels and let's make our buildings more efficient and our cars more efficient."
Among the measures the president is expected to announce today are that the US government will buy only advanced technology vehicles — such as hybrids and electric plug-ins — by 2015.
Under a 1992 law, advanced technology vehicles are defined as electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and vehicles that can run on E85 ethanol or mostly gasoline.
Obama is also expected to ask Congress to enact more incentives to spur the sale of compressed natural gas vehicles to consumers and for corporate and business fleets.
The president is expected to calls for the nation to break ground on four new commercial-scale cellulosic or advanced bio-fuel refineries to produce ethanol in the next two years – although in the run-up to the speech, it wasn't clear what incentives or financing the administration would propose for the bio-fuel initiative.
Finally Obama will reiterate a proposal contained in his State of the Union address that the U.S. adopt a standard that would require 80 percent of electricity to be generated from clean-energy sources by 2035. The administration has defined clean energy as nuclear power, natural gas and clean coal, as well as renewable sources such as wind and solar.
The president’s remarks come as tension is rising between the administration and Republicans in Congress over whether or no to allow more oil and gas drilling in the US.
On Tuesday, House Republicans said they would introduce legislation requiring the administration to sell more offshore leases and to issue drilling permits within a set time frame.
The Administration hit back by releasing a report from the US Dept. of Interior that said more than two-thirds of the offshore oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico and more than half of onshore leases on federal land aren't in use.
These leases give companies the right to drill but are neither producing oil nor under active exploration, the agency said.
"This report shows millions of acres that have already been leased to industry for oil and gas productions sit idle," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.
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