President Obama Abdicates Responsibility to Lead with 'All of the Above' Energy Strategy

Friends of the Earth's president, Erich Pica, had the following statement in response to President Obama's speeches today on his "all of the above" energy plan, including expediting review of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and investing more taxpayer funds into risky nuclear reactors:

"President Obama is betraying his promise of clean energy leadership. We've seen an 'all of the above' energy strategy -- and voters rejected it in 2008. By refusing to make choices to prioritize clean energy over the outdated, dirty energy of the past, President Obama is abdicating his moral responsibility to lead. He's giving in to political headwinds engineered by the big bucks of dirty energy industries.

"The Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline endangers the health of children whose lungs are being used as filters for oil refinery pollution, of families in the heartland whose drinking water is at risk of spills and of all of us counting on a safe climate. Later today, a year after multiple nuclear reactors exploded and melted down in Japan, President Obama is expected to announce more investment in dangerous nuclear reactors. It seems like the lessons of Fukushima are lost on the president.

"President Obama can't lead us into the 21st century and the promise of clean energy while going full throttle in reverse, toward the same outdated, dirty energy sources that threaten the health of Americans and fuel catastrophic climate change."