President Obama spoke in Las Vegas Monday at the National Clean Energy Summit. He was introduced by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who called Obama “the leader who finally put us on the path to stop climate change.” The senator also commended Obama’s administrative efforts to effect change when it’s been nearly impossible to push anything through legislatively.
In his speech, Obama outlined his plan to move America from a fossil fuel-based economy to a renewable one using both executive orders and partnerships with states and the private sector. His new actions include an additional $1 billion in federal loan guarantees for clean energy projects. You can read about all of the new initiatives at Whitehouse.gov.
More pointedly, the president spoke about barriers to clean energy; namely, the fossil fuel industry, the Koch brothers, and certain members of the Republican establishment who “hold up snow balls in February as if that disproves decades of scientific data.”
Of the Koch brothers, Obama said: “It’s one thing if you’re consistent in being free market. It’s another thing when you’re free market until it’s solar that’s working and people want to buy and suddenly you’re not for it anymore. That’s a problem.”
Clean energy, he said, is no longer just for tree-huggers. “If you’re progressive, libertarian, if you want to save some money, if you care about the future of our children and grandchildren,” he said, renewable energy is for you.
Here’s hoping the rest of America agrees.
