Obama calls for 'clean energy' nation
By MIKE ALLEN | 8/4/08 11:37 AM EST
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday promised a $7,000 tax credit to help drivers buy advanced-technology vehicles, and told struggling automotive makers in Michigan that his administration would provide $4 billion in direct assistance to help them build hybrid vehicles in the U.S.A.
Those plans are part of a $150 billion, 10-year investment that Obama wants the federal government to make in a “clean energy future.”
Three main components are: more cars fueled by hybrids; more use of wind, solar and other renewable energy; and a drastic cut in the nation’s use of oil.
“If I am president, I will immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector to a single, overarching goal – in ten years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela,” Obama says in remarks prepared for delivery in Lansing, Mich.
“To do this, we will invest $150 billion over the next 10 years and leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses American energy and creates five million new American jobs.”
To set an example, Obama is vowing to convert the entire White House fleet to plug-in hybrid vehicles within one year, and convert all federal vehicle purchases to plug-in hybrids or all-electric by 2012.
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