By TENNILLE TRACY and JARED A. FAVOLE
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama made a big push for clean energy Tuesday, saying the nation should develop 80% of its electricity from clean sources by 2035 and pursue a raft of research and development projects to be financed by killing $4 billion in annual tax subsidies for oil, gas and other fossil-fuel producers.
Mr. Obama's emphasis on renewable-energy investment marks a shift away from efforts to develop a comprehensive global-warming policy with Congress, reflecting political reality and Republican opposition to the greenhouse-gas regulations.
The prime-time focus on clean energy underscores the White House's belief that domestic production of wind, solar and other types of clean energy—as well as innovative technologies that make them cheaper and more reliable—could provide jobs in a weak economy and reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels.
The president will say his 2012 budget would increase clean-energy technology funding by one-third when compared with the prior year, or to about $8 billion.
"Instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in tomorrow's," Mr. Obama will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. He will add, "Now, clean-energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean-energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they're selling."
The president will say his budget would include consumer rebates and other incentives for electric vehicles, aimed at putting one million advanced technology vehicles on the road by 2015.
Mr. Obama's plan also calls for a sizable increase in government-funded research and development, focused in part on getting the cost of solar energy down to $1 a watt. The president will call for more "Energy Innovation Hubs," launched by the U.S. Energy Department, which foster the development of new technology until it's ready for the private sector.
Debate over the future of clean energy often focuses on the government's use of both carrots and sticks to encourage a shift from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources. The president's speech is decidedly focused on the carrots.
The administration has already won praise from the environmental community for doling out billions of dollars of loan guarantees and tax incentives to promote solar, wind, biofuels and clean coal projects, among others.
Luma Resources, a solar-roofing company whose founders were guests of First Lady Michelle Obama at the address, received $500,000 under the 2009 stimulus program. Last month, the Energy Department provided a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to one of the world's largest solar generation plants, Abengoa Solar Inc.'s Solana project in Arizona.
Going forward, wind and solar companies would also like to see a long-term extension of a popular grant program, called 1603 grants, which allows them obtain grants instead of investment tax credits.
Clean-energy advocates also support the creation of a national renewable electricity standard, which would force power companies to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources. Democratic lawmakers have proposed a 15% standard.
The Obama administration faces a tougher challenge, however, when it comes to developing and enforcing new standards for fossil fuels, which can be cheaper and easier to use than alternative energy sources.
In what has become an oft-quoted mantra, business leaders accuse the administration of passing regulations that kill jobs in a tough economy. Coal companies have been particularly critical of the administration's greenhouse gas rules, which seek to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, and oil companies have criticized the pace at which the administration issues offshore drilling permits.
There have been recent signs that Mr. Obama is willing to take a closer look at the impact of federal rules—and particularly, the impact of environmental rules—on the job market.
Earlier this month, the president signed an executive order that requires federal agencies to review outdated rules that hurt job creation. Last night, on the eve of the president's address, Carol Browner stepped down as the White House's climate and energy czar. Ms. Browner was known for her work on a climate bill and her departure was seen as sign the president could soften his approach to environmental rules.
Write to Tennille Tracy at tennille.tracy@dowjones.com
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Obama's climate adviser, Carol Browner, to depart White House
Browner's exit reinforces concerns Obama is preparing compromises on his once-ambitious green agenda to try to build working arrangement with Republicans
Suzanne Goldenberg US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 January 2011 04.45 GMT
The White House energy and climate adviser is due to step down in the next few weeks, in a departure seen as the collapse of Barack Obama's ambitious green agenda.
Officials told reporters on Monday night that Carol Browner, who had served as the first White House energy and climate change "tsar", would be leaving and that she may not be replaced.
Reports of Browner's exit – barely 24 hours before Obama was to set out his priorities for the coming year in his state of the union address – reinforced concerns expressed by environmental groups that he was preparing further compromises on his once-ambitious green agenda to try to build a working arrangement with Republicans.
Obama has also come under pressure from the main business lobby, the Chamber of Commerce, which opposes environmental regulations.
But Browner's exit also recalled the extent to which Obama failed to realise his sweeping campaign promise of weaning America off fossil fuels, and making the transition to a new clean energy economy.
Browner, who headed the environmental protection agency during the Clinton administration, was seen as a shrewd operative, and was designated Obama's point person in the effort to enact climate change legislation.
With Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, environmental organisations in early 2009 saw reasonable prospects for the passage of comprehensive climate change legislation.
In Obama's first months in the White House, Browner presided over a complex set of negotiations with US car manufacturers to produce an agreement that would increase fuel efficiency by as much as 25% over the next five years.
She was also credited with giving Democratic leaders in Congress room to build support to pass a climate change bill through the house of representatives in June 2009. But the effort to pass cap and trade bill foundered in the Senate last year – with some Democrats blaming Obama for failing to send a strong enough signal that he was behind the bill. Others blamed the White House for choosing to move forward on health care reform before energy and climate change.
Since the Democrats' defeat in November's mid-term elections, Obama has said he will not seek to pass sweeping climate change legislation.
"I think there are a lot of Republicans that ran against the energy bill that passed in the House last year and so it's doubtful that you could get the votes to pass that through the House this year or next year or the year after," Obama told a post-election press conference.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the house were calling for an investigation of Browner's influence over the energy and climate agenda.
The EPA she once served was also in the firing line of Republicans, and some conservative Democrats, who are pushing to strip the agency of its authority to act on greenhouse gas emissions.
Browner's reputation also took a hit with the Obama administration's handling of the BP oil spill. In August, she made the now-notorious claim on behalf of the White House that the "vast majority" of the 4.9m barrels of oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's broken well was gone. Her statement was later discredited.
Even before reports of Browner's exit, environmental organisations had already been expressing fears that Obama was prepared to sacrifice his green agenda to his efforts to build a working relationship with Republicans.
More than 20 environmental and public health organisations wrote to Obama last week urging him to stand up for the EPA in his state of the union speech tonight.
The agency, which begun the process of regulating greenhouse gas emissions this year, has become the prime target for anti-government Republicans.
Republicans, along with Democrats from coal and oil states, are pushing to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, while environmental organisations want a commitment from Obama to use his presidential veto power to stop any such move.
Suzanne Goldenberg US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 January 2011 04.45 GMT
The White House energy and climate adviser is due to step down in the next few weeks, in a departure seen as the collapse of Barack Obama's ambitious green agenda.
Officials told reporters on Monday night that Carol Browner, who had served as the first White House energy and climate change "tsar", would be leaving and that she may not be replaced.
Reports of Browner's exit – barely 24 hours before Obama was to set out his priorities for the coming year in his state of the union address – reinforced concerns expressed by environmental groups that he was preparing further compromises on his once-ambitious green agenda to try to build a working arrangement with Republicans.
Obama has also come under pressure from the main business lobby, the Chamber of Commerce, which opposes environmental regulations.
But Browner's exit also recalled the extent to which Obama failed to realise his sweeping campaign promise of weaning America off fossil fuels, and making the transition to a new clean energy economy.
Browner, who headed the environmental protection agency during the Clinton administration, was seen as a shrewd operative, and was designated Obama's point person in the effort to enact climate change legislation.
With Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, environmental organisations in early 2009 saw reasonable prospects for the passage of comprehensive climate change legislation.
In Obama's first months in the White House, Browner presided over a complex set of negotiations with US car manufacturers to produce an agreement that would increase fuel efficiency by as much as 25% over the next five years.
She was also credited with giving Democratic leaders in Congress room to build support to pass a climate change bill through the house of representatives in June 2009. But the effort to pass cap and trade bill foundered in the Senate last year – with some Democrats blaming Obama for failing to send a strong enough signal that he was behind the bill. Others blamed the White House for choosing to move forward on health care reform before energy and climate change.
Since the Democrats' defeat in November's mid-term elections, Obama has said he will not seek to pass sweeping climate change legislation.
"I think there are a lot of Republicans that ran against the energy bill that passed in the House last year and so it's doubtful that you could get the votes to pass that through the House this year or next year or the year after," Obama told a post-election press conference.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the house were calling for an investigation of Browner's influence over the energy and climate agenda.
The EPA she once served was also in the firing line of Republicans, and some conservative Democrats, who are pushing to strip the agency of its authority to act on greenhouse gas emissions.
Browner's reputation also took a hit with the Obama administration's handling of the BP oil spill. In August, she made the now-notorious claim on behalf of the White House that the "vast majority" of the 4.9m barrels of oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's broken well was gone. Her statement was later discredited.
Even before reports of Browner's exit, environmental organisations had already been expressing fears that Obama was prepared to sacrifice his green agenda to his efforts to build a working relationship with Republicans.
More than 20 environmental and public health organisations wrote to Obama last week urging him to stand up for the EPA in his state of the union speech tonight.
The agency, which begun the process of regulating greenhouse gas emissions this year, has become the prime target for anti-government Republicans.
Republicans, along with Democrats from coal and oil states, are pushing to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, while environmental organisations want a commitment from Obama to use his presidential veto power to stop any such move.