During his first State of the Union address tonight, President Obama focused his remarks on rebuilding the U.S. economy and improving the lives of middle class families. As part of that effort, Obama renewed his call for congressional action on comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation, which he said would make clean energy a cornerstone of America's economic growth and U.S. leadership in the global economy.

After talking about the need for financial reforms in the State of the Union address tonight, President Obama said:

"Next, we need to encourage American innovation. Last year, we made the largest investment in basic research funding in history, an investment that could lead to the world's cheapest solar cells or treatment that kills cancer cells but leaves healthy ones untouched. And no area is more ripe for such innovation than energy. You can see the results of last year's investments in clean energy--in the North Carolina company that will create 1,200 jobs nationwide helping to make advanced batteries; or in the California business that will put a thousand people to work making solar panels.

"But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And, yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.

"I am grateful to the House for passing such a bill last year. And this year I'm eager to help advance the bipartisan effort in the Senate.

"I know there have been questions about whether we can afford such changes in a tough economy. I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But here's the thing -- even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy-efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future -- because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation."

Obama's call for clean energy is likely to please environmentalists--in fact, many environmental leaders have already issued statements of support--but the president also called for a new generation of nuclear power plants, offshore oil and gas development, advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And although Obama was careful to couch those strategies in terms of safety and clean energy, most environmentalists have usually either opposed such measures outright or have expressed strong reservations about some or all of them. Yet, in the hours following the president's speech, most of the environmental community has remained strangely silent on those issues.


Read more...State of the Union: Obama Urges Clean Energy Economy, Plus Nuclear Plants and Offshore Drilling originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 11:53:58.

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