Obama to traditional energy producers: Get with the program

President Obama challenged energy utilities, fossil fuel producers and their allies in Congress on Monday to get on board with his push for clean energy or risk backlash from American consumers and companies. Speaking at a clean energy summit in Las Vegas, Obama dismissed energy interests that oppose his push to green the energy sector as “naysayers” who are “backed by fossil fuel interests, or conservative think tanks, or the Koch brothers." He encouraged supporters to fight back against them and their push to influence American energy policy. Obama’s speech — and his confrontational tone toward the fossil fuel sector and it supporters — comes as he pushes to overhaul the American electricity sector, both by encouraging more renewable energy around the U.S. and instituting regulations to crack down on carbon emissions. Earlier this month, Obama announced his climate rule for power plants, something that has triggered lawsuit threats from both state attorneys generals and energy producers. A Senate panel has passed a bill to block the rule, and congressional Republicans have grown increasingly hostile toward it. Obama defended the climate rule on Monday, calling it the “single most important step Americans have ever taken to tackle climate change.” He vowed to spend the rest of his presidency pursuing ways to cut emissions from the American electricity sector by investing in solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. “As long as I’m president the federal government is going to do its part, beyond the investments that we’ve already made, to promote this issue,” he said...more