President Obama says Gulf Disaster "Should Serve as a Wake-up Call that it’s Time to Move Forward" on Energy and Climate Bill

In a press briefing today (27 May 2010) on the Gulf oil spill, President Barack Obama  today said:

"More than anything else, this economic and environmental tragedy –- and it’s a tragedy -– underscores the urgent need for this nation to develop clean, renewable sources of energy. Doing so will not only reduce threats to our environment, it will create a new, homegrown, American industry that can lead to countless new businesses and new jobs.

We’ve talked about doing this for decades, and we’ve made significant strides over the last year when it comes to investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency. The House of Representatives has already passed a bill that would finally jumpstart a permanent transition to a clean energy economy, and there is currently a plan in the Senate –- a plan that was developed with ideas from Democrats and Republicans –- that would achieve the same goal.

If nothing else, this disaster should serve as a wake-up call that it’s time to move forward on this legislation. It’s time to accelerate the competition with countries like China, who have already realized the future lies in renewable energy. And it’s time to seize that future ourselves. So I call on Democrats and Republicans in Congress, working with my administration, to answer this challenge once and for all.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks and takes questions from the press in the East Room of the White House, May 27, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Later, in responding to a reporter's question, the President added:

"The fact that oil companies now have to go a mile underwater and then drill another three miles below that in order to hit oil tells us something about the direction of the oil industry. Extraction is more expensive and it is going to be inherently more risky.

And so that’s part of the reason you never heard me say, “Drill, baby, drill” -- because we can’t drill our way out of the problem. It may be part of the mix as a bridge to a transition to new technologies and new energy sources, but we should be pretty modest in understanding that the easily accessible oil has already been sucked up out of the ground.

And as we are moving forward, the technology gets more complicated, the oil sources are more remote, and that means that there’s probably going to end up being more risk. And we as a society are going to have to make some very serious determinations in terms of what risks are we willing to accept...

[W]e’re going to have to start moving on this transition. And that’s why when I went to the Republican Caucus just this week, I said to them, let’s work together. You’ve got Lieberman and Kerry, who previously were working with Lindsey Graham -- even though Lindsey is not on the bill right now -- coming up with a framework that has the potential to get bipartisan support, and says, yes, we’re going to still need oil production, but you know what, we can see what’s out there on the horizon, and it’s a problem if we don't start changing how we operate."

Earlier in the day, the President's science adviser John Holdren told an audience at the National Climate Adaptation Summit that the “most important single thing that we need to get done in this country" to address energy and climate change issues is to pass legislation "that puts a significant price on greenhouse gas emissions." Without that, he added, the U.S. will not be doing enough to reduce emissions "and we will not have the credibility we need ultimately to forge the sort of international agreement that is required.” See our posting, U.S. Science Adviser Holdren says Administration Remains Committed to Comprehensive Energy and Climate Legislation.

Online Resources:

Remarks by the President on the Gulf Oil Spill.  Transcript from the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 27 May 2010.