Oil Subsidies Need to Go, Obama Rallies

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One week ago, I covered some of Obama’s statements from his energy speech in Miami. One of the big points of interest was his emphasis that “drill, baby, drill” isn’t an energy strategy — “that’s a bumper sticker,” Obama said. Now, a new video has just popped onto the scene that has Obama going all logical and grassroots-activist on oil subsidies. Here’s the video and text (posted on Planetsave this morning):
 

Obama wants Congress to vote yes or no on extending $4 billion in oil company subsidies within the next few weeks (video below).

 
Obama has stepped up to the plate big time with this portion of a recent speech on energy below. First is the video, followed by some of the key quotes in text with commentary:

Obama:

“Right now, $4 billion of your tax dollars, $4 billion, subsidizes the oil industry every year.” (Struggles to hold in a smile…. I wonder why… maybe because the oil industry basically threatened him after he rejected a proposal to rush through permitting of the Keystone XL oil pipeline without conducting a required environmental review first. Or maybe just because he knew the audience would be up in arms about that statistic. Who knows — it’s anyone’s guess.)

“$4 billion — now, these, these companies are making record profits right now. Tens of billions of dollars a year.”

“Now, does anyone really think Congress should give them another $4 billion this year? Of course not! It’s outrageous, it’s inexcusable, and I’m asking Congress, eliminate this oil industry giveaway right away. I want them to vote on this in the next few weeks. Let’s, let’s put every single member of Congress on record. You can stand with oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people. You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean energy future.” (Obvious choice.)

And, in closing, a good call to action:

“So I’m asking everybody here today, anybody who’s watching at home, let your member of Congress know where you stand — will you do that?”

h/t Climate Denial Crock of the Week
–> Check out the post on Obama’s “drill, baby drill” and environmental conservation points for more along these lines.


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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