EMBARGOED: Remarks of President Barack Obama at IBEW Local 26 Headquarters Job Training Center

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

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EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY

February 16, 2010

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama—As Prepared for Delivery

Nuclear Power Loan Guarantees

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

IBEW Local 26 Headquarters, Lanham, Maryland

 

Thank you for the warm welcome, and for showing me around.  This is an impressive facility, where workers are instructed on everything from the installation of sophisticated energy hardware and software, to the basics of current and resistance.

 

We need look no further than the workers and apprentices standing behind me to see the future that is possible with clean energy.  It’s a future in which skilled laborers are helping us lead in burgeoning industries.  It’s a future in which renewable electricity is fueling plug-in hybrid cars and energy efficient homes and business.  It’s a future in which we are exporting homegrown energy technology instead of importing foreign oil.  And it’s a future in which our economy is powered not by what we borrow and spend, but by what we invent and build.

 

That’s the bright future that lies ahead.  And it is one my administration is striving toward every single day.  We’ve already made the largest investment in clean energy in history, an investment that is expected to create more than 700,000 jobs across America – manufacturing advanced batteries for more efficient vehicles, upgrading the power grid so that it’s smarter and stronger, and doubling our nation’s capacity to generate renewable energy.  And after decades in which we have done little to increase the efficiency of cars and trucks, we’re raising fuel economy standards to reduce our dependence on oil while helping folks save money at the pump. 

 

But in order to truly harness our potential in clean energy, we’ll have to do more.  In the near term, as we transition to cleaner energy sources, we’ll have to make tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.  We’ll need to make continued investments in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies, even as we build greater capacity in renewables like wind and solar.  And we’ll have to build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in America. 

 

That’s what brings us here today.  Through the Department of Energy – under the leadership of a Nobel prize-winning physicist, Steven Chu – we are announcing roughly $8 billion in loan guarantees to break ground on the first new nuclear plant in our country in nearly three decades. It’s a plant that will create thousands of construction jobs in the next few years, and some 800 permanent jobs in the years to come.  And this is only the beginning.  My budget proposes tripling the loan guarantees we provide to help finance safe, clean nuclear facilities – and we’ll continue to provide financing for clean energy projects here in Maryland and across America.

 

Now, there will be those who welcome this announcement, and those who strongly disagree with it.  The same has been true in other areas of our energy debate, from offshore drilling to putting a price on carbon pollution.  But what I want to emphasize is this: even when we have differences, we cannot allow those differences to prevent us from making progress.  On an issue which affects our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we cannot continue to be mired in the same old debates between left and right; between environmentalists and entrepreneurs.

 

Our competitors are racing to create jobs and command growing energy industries. Nuclear energy is no exception.  Japan and France have long invested heavily in this industry.  Meanwhile, there are 56 nuclear reactors under construction around the world: 21 in China; 6 in South Korea; 5 in India.  And the commitment of these other countries isn’t just generating jobs; it’s generating demand for expertise and new technologies.  Make no mistake: whether it is nuclear energy, or solar or wind energy, if we fail to invest in these technologies today, we’ll be importing them tomorrow.

 

Now, I know it has long been assumed that those who champion the environment are opposed to nuclear power.  But the fact is, even though we have not broken ground on a new nuclear plant in nearly thirty years, nuclear energy remains our largest source of fuel that produces no carbon emissions.  To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to increase our supply of nuclear power.  It’s that simple.  This one plant, for example, will cut carbon pollution by 16 million tons each year when compared to a similar coal plant. That’s like taking 3.5 million cars off the road.

 

On the other side, those who have long advocated for nuclear power – including many Republicans – have to recognize that we will not achieve a big boost in nuclear capacity unless we also create a system of incentives to make clean energy profitable.  That is not just my personal conclusion; it is the conclusion of many in the energy industry, including CEOs of the nation’s largest utility companies.  Energy leaders and experts recognize that as long as producing carbon pollution carries no cost, traditional plants that use fossil fuels will be more cost-effective than plants that use nuclear fuel. 

 

That is why we need comprehensive energy and climate legislation, and why this legislation has drawn support from across the ideological spectrum.  I raised this just last week with Republican congressional leaders.  I believe there is real common ground.  And my administration will be working to build on areas of agreement, so that we can pass a bipartisan energy and climate bill through the Senate.

 

None of this is to say that nuclear energy doesn’t have serious drawbacks.  As the CEOs standing behind me will tell you, nuclear power generates waste, and we need to accelerate our efforts to find ways of safely storing and disposing of that waste.  That’s why we’ve asked a bipartisan group of leaders and nuclear experts to examine this challenge.  And these plants must also be held to the highest and strictest safety standards, to answer the legitimate concerns of Americans who live near and far from these facilities.  That is an imperative. 

 

But investing in nuclear energy remains a necessary step. And what I hope is that this announcement underscores both our seriousness in meeting the energy challenge – and our willingness to look at this challenge not as a partisan issue, but as a matter far more important than politics.  Because the choices we make will affect not just the next generation, but generations to come.

 

The fact is, changing the ways we produce and use energy requires us to think anew and act anew. And it demands of us a willingness to extend our hand across old divides, to act in good faith, to move beyond the broken politics of the past.  That is what we must do. And that is what we have begun to do. 

 

Thank you.

 

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