Statement From Greenpeace in Response to 2010 State of the Union Address

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.