My Review of President Barack Obama's Energy Plan

On Thursday September 6, 2012, President Barack Obama spoke in front of his delegation at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.  As many of us were expecting, the major talking points such as Health Care, the Economy and Jobs were discussed.  But President Obama gave us an energy plan, new to his administration, that documented what he plans to do if given a second term.  While this portion of his speech was shorter than some of the hotter political subjects in this election, the president still spent a few minutes discussing where we are as a country in energy imports and extraction, renewable technologies and how they will benefit us, and where we can go from here.  

President Obama was also not afraid to call out his opponent, Governor Mitt Romney, on his newly released energy plan, as well as comments that he made during his speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention.  The former governor, who has been widely criticized on his energy policy, took jabs at the scientific and climate change communities by down talking the seriousness of climate change and global warming.  In President Obama's speech, he came right back at Romney by claiming, 

"...because climate change is not a hoax.  More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke.  They’re a threat to our children’s future.  And in this election, you can do something about it."

The president referencing the recent weather anomalies that have caused widespread devastation to the United States causing millions of dollars in damage, hundreds of displaced families and causing food prices to skyrocket.

In addition, he also took another shot at Mitt Romney about the authenticity of his energy plan, whether it is for the greater good of the country or whether it was made for (or by) the leaders of the fossil fuels industry.  To note, President Obama was most likely mentioning the fact that just 36 hours prior to releasing his energy plan in New Mexico, Mitt Romney met with the heads of some of the largest corporations in the oil and fossil fuels industry.  Some skeptics believe that during this meeting, he received guidance on what should, and will, be focal points in his energy policy.  The President said:

"But unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers. We’re offering a better path."

As for President Obama's energy plan, he once again introduced his "All of the Above" strategy to incorporate fossil fuels, renewables and other sources of green and clean energy.  He did place emphasis on using "clean coal" to ease the minds of citizens in the regions of the area that produce coal; he has been widely accused by some who claim that he is declaring a War on Coal due to emission regulations that he set in place early on in his presidency.  Oddly enough, since he took office, coal industry jobs have gone up 10 percent, and coal production has gone up 8 percent.  Those numbers came directly from the Herald Star, an Ohio based newspaper (Ohio is at the center of the coal debate as it is one of the nations largest supporters of coal mining and production jobs).  

In addition to coal, President Obama discussed how he and his administration have raised fuel standards for American made vehicles so that by the middle of the next decade, cars made in America must get at least 54.5 miles per gallon - this standard will significantly lower the amount of gas we need to put in our cars which will lower the amount of money we spend on gasoline at the pump.  He also mentioned that since he has taken office, we have doubled the usage of renewable energies such as wind and solar power.  Currently, more people are employed by the wind industry than the coal industry; in 2012, more than 85,000 people are working in the wind energy industry, and this number is set to increase over the next decade.

One of the main differences in the two presidential candidates' energy plans is Mitt Romney's goal for energy independence, and President Obama's goal for energy security.  We now know that what Gov. Romney's intention is to have all energy used in America domestic to America; energy security, which may sound similar to energy independence, is actually different.  Energy security, according to Bill Chameides - the writer of the Huffington Post article "Obama's Energy Plan By the Numbers" - would mean, "being less susceptible to swings in oil prices caused by political instabilities in foreign countries by reducing our dependence on oil".   In addition to possibly increasing domestic fossil fuel production for this to happen, it also means starting the transition to alternative energy resources, which by all means are significantly less susceptible to political instability.  

When it comes to oil, he mentioned that since he took office, oil imports are down about 1,000,000 barrels per day - which is the most by any administration.  He plans to keep decreasing the amount of imports per day and really made it clear that he plans to continue to decrease our dependence on foreign oil.  Since his election we are, for the first time in 13 years, importing less than 50 percent of our crude oil; In 2012, we only imported 48 percent of our oil, and only 22 percent of our imported oil is from Arab nations (also a decrease since he took office).  In his next term, he plans to conduct more domestic oil and natural exploration while planning to create more than 600,000 new jobs in the natural gas industry by 2020.  

Stepping away from the fossil fuels, the president started to focus on renewables again.  President Obama wanted to reiterate the fact that he has been pushing for the increased usage of alternative energy sources since he was campaigning in 2008, and since he became president.  While it started to seem as if he planned to strive away from the alternatives in his next term, he wants to drastically increase the usage of wind and solar during the next decade.  His goals of decreasing carbon-dioxide emissions is still evident and he made it clear that he will continue to put regulations in place to keep that trend going.  He also mentioned the usage of farmers for biofuels; this a technology that Mitt Romney discussed in his energy plan, but once again is not an energy that you can sustain an entire country on.  Sources have told me that if granted a second term, President Obama will make climate change and alternative energy a high priority of his.  He mentioned his desire to lower carbon emissions during his 2008 campaign, and in the beginning of his first term in office he kept his promise by quickly implementing a cap-and-trade system them.  Even though he did not place as much of an emphasis on climate change over the next few years as some would have liked, he sporadically placed regulations and standards in the automotive and energy industries in an attempt to decrease United States carbon emissions as we are the leading consumer of fossil fuels in the world.

In his campaign for the presidency in 2008, he set in place a plan to create a million new "green jobs".  While he has not met that target (to be honest, one that would have been hard for any president to reach in any economy), we are slowly on our way to meeting that mark.  Renewable energies are extremely new to the United States and for some in the energy industry (cough, cough...oil and fossil fuels), they are the worst thing that could ever happen.  With his proposals for green job plans in the wind and solar industries, biofuels and nuclear energy, and with support from Congress, we may very well see a significant increase in green jobs by 2016 and definitely by 2020.  Whether you want to believe it or not, our future is not oil.  No matter how much is on Earth (which is only about 40-50 years worth) our future is renewable energy, nuclear energy and to an extent, natural gas.  Being that there are only two men running for the presidency, only ONE has mentioned alternative and renewable energy in their energy plans.  Many believe that strict regulations on the fossil fuel industry will kill thousands of jobs, but it is quite the contrary.  It will open up the doors for coal burning power plants to transition into biofuel plants or green-energy power plants, it will let people escape the dangerous profession of coal and oil mining, and start working on wind farms or solar fields.  And one thing that it will ultimately do that many people tend to over look, is that it will create a healthier and cleaner environment for us to live in and for the future generations to grow up in.