President Obama said
on Thursday in New Hampshire that he was asking the Congress to
eliminate oil industry giveaway and turned to bet on clean energy
future when surging gasoline prices provoked criticisms.
The U.S. average regular gasoline price was 3.721 dollars per
gallon in the week ended Feb. 27, 13 cents higher than a week ago,
nearly double the price when Obama took office in January 2009,
according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. It gave Republican
contenders a chance to blame Obama's not doing enough to reduce the
prices.
As a matter of fact, America was producing more oil than at any
time in the last eight years, and the U.S. dependence on foreign oil
had gone below 50 percent, the first time in the past 13 years, the
Obama Administration defended.
Obama said that he wanted the Congress to vote on ending oil
industry subsidies in the next few weeks, adding "You can either
stand up for the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American
People."
Since the latest State of the Union address, Obama had reiterated
his plan to develop wind, solar and battery industries as the long-
term solution of rising gasoline prices.
But Republican presidential candidates and GOP leaders in the
Congress denounced the idea and called on Obama to take further
steps to expand oil production in the United States.
