As the ethanol industry was meeting in Orlando last week, President Obama was talking energy just a few hundred miles to the south at the University of Miami.
“If we’re going to take control of our energy future and can start avoiding these annual gas price spikes that happen every year — when the economy starts getting better, world demand starts increasing, turmoil in the Middle East or some other parts of the world — if we’re going to avoid being at the mercy of these world events, we’ve got to have a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy,” the president said. “Yes, oil and gas, but also wind and solar and nuclear and biofuels, and more.”
President Obama spoke strongly about the need to end oil industry tax benefits. “I said this at the State of the Union — a century of subsidies to the oil companies is long enough. It’s time to end taxpayer giveaways to an industry that has never been more profitable; double down on clean energy industries that have never been more promising — that’s what we need to do. This Congress needs to renew the clean energy tax credits that will lead to more jobs and less dependence on foreign oil.”
The president talked about a variety of renewable energy sources, including algae. “We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline and diesel and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance — algae,” he said. “If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we’ll be doing all right.”