Media release - January 27, 2010
In his State of the Union address Greenpeace was encouraged to hear President Obama speak of clean energy jobs as a priority for the new year.
The country needs the President to continue to speak publicly and start campaigning aggressively for policies to reduce global warming pollution. It was, however, disappointing to hear the President promote coal, offshore drilling, and nuclear power, since these forms of dirty energy are expensive distractions that stall the fight against climate change. Last year, Big Oil and King Coal showed that they will spare no expense and sink to any level to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels; their clients in Congress have begun 2010 with attacks against the Clean Air Act that fly in the face of science and public health. President Obama must start the year by defending the tools he has already, particularly through the Environmental Protection Agency, and use those tools to show that the United States is serious about the global effort to avoid cataclysmic climate disruption.
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Other contacts: Contact: Kyle Ash, Global Warming Senior Legislative Representative, 202-441-1314, kyle.ash@greenpeace.org, Joe Smyth, Media Officer, 831-566-5647 joe.smyth@greenpeace.org