The president avoided a specific policy agenda and instead
focused on America’s domestic successes.
President Obama has outlined energy policy goals in every
one of his State of the Union addresses. But he avoided specifics in tonight's
speech and instead celebrated positive domestic changes in fossil fuels and
renewable electricity.
As gasoline prices continue to drop, low natural gas prices
give domestic manufacturers a competitive edge, and the renewable energy
industry breaks investment and installation records, the president used his
speech to remind Americans how much had changed since he took office.
"We believed we could reduce our dependence on foreign
oil and protect our planet. And today, America is number one in oil and gas.
America is number one in wind power. Every three weeks, we bring online as much
solar power as we did in all of 2008. And thanks to lower gas prices and higher
fuel standards, the typical family this year should save $750 at the
pump," he said.
If that solar statistic sounds familiar, it was adapted
from data on U.S. installations compiled by GTM Research's Shayle
Kann. In 2014, there were twenty-two times as many solar installations as there
were in 2008.
President Obama's brief comments about energy were part of a
broader narrative about how the country had turned around after a
"breakthrough year" in 2014.
"Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our
economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our
unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of
our kids are graduating than ever before; more of our people are insured than
ever before; we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we’ve been in
almost 30 years," said the president.
The speech differed from previous years, when Obama focused
on aspirational targets for clean energy and fossil fuels.
Jennifer Dlouhy, an energy reporter from the Houston
Chronicle, compiled quotes on energy and the environment from all
six of the president's State of the Union addresses. They show a mixed track
record on achieving targets from previous speeches.
In 2009, the president demanded a cap-and-trade bill, and
called for a doubling of renewable energy in three years. Renewable electricity actually doubled in two years; however, renewable
fuels have largely struggled.
In 2010, he called for more advanced nuclear, a
comprehensive energy bill and eliminating tax breaks for fossil fuels. Months
later, the cap-and-trade bill flamed out. And although the administration has
set aside small amounts of money for nuclear, it has not built a strategy
around the technology.
Obama declared 2011 a "Sputnik moment" for energy
innovation, setting a goal of putting 1 million electric cars on the road by
2015 and procuring 80 percent of electricity from renewables by 2035. The White
House later walked back the EV goal after sales failed to take off
as expected. And the government's energy research arm, the Energy Information
Administration, later released an analysis showing that America would
only get 9 percent of electricity from renewables by 2035 -- an absurdly low
assumption, but not a positive message for the White House.
In 2012, the president fully embraced the unconventional oil
and gas boom, and used a phrase that roiled environmentalists: "all of the
above." On clean energy, he called for a national renewable energy
standard, passage of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind, and a
comprehensive energy efficiency bill from Congress. The PTC ended up passing,
but Congress has done nothing on a national renewable energy law and narrowly failed to pass the Shaheen-Portman efficiency
bill last year.
In 2013, Obama stepped up rhetoric on climate change after
environmentalists pressured him to talk about the issue during his campaign. He
promised to use executive actions to clean up America's energy mix, saying,
"if Congress won’t act soon...I will." This turned out to be one of
the defining pieces of the president's energy agenda. That summer, he detailed his
wide-ranging climate action plan, which included EPA regulations on
existing power plants.
In 2014, the president was a bit lighter on specifics. He
continued using the "all of the above" phrase, and called for a bill
that would boost use of natural gas in automobiles. That bill never made it
through Congress.
The only policy goal outlined by Obama this year was an
infrastructure plan -- seemingly as a way to hedge against his threatened veto of a bill supporting Keystone XL.
"Let’s set our sights higher than a single oil
pipeline. Let’s pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more
than 30 times as many jobs per year, and make this country stronger for decades
to come," said Obama.
Other than a brief mention of an infrastructure bill,
tonight's State of the Union speech was more about framing the domestic energy
boom as part of a recovering America rather than laying out new goals.
The president wrapped up his energy remarks by hailing a recent
climate agreement with China that could boost prospects for global
climate deal.
"In Beijing, we made a historic announcement -- the United States will double the pace at which we cut carbon pollution, and China
committed, for the first time, to limiting their emissions. And because the
world’s two largest economies came together, other nations are now stepping up,
and offering hope that, this year, the world will finally reach an agreement to
protect the one planet we’ve got."
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