President Obama lauded that gasoline prices are at their lowest in almost a decade, ignoring the fact that it is a global oil glut that is to credit for the drop. A glut that is hurting U.S. jobs in the oil and gas sector.
“We’ve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly 60 percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth,” he said, adding that “gas under two bucks a gallon ain’t bad, either.”
But the world is oversupplied with oil, which is driving the price drops in gasoline. The situation has become uneconomical for oil producers in the U.S., and many shale producers have been forced to lay off thousands of workers.
The latest reports show that more than 250,000 have been laid off due to the oil glut, while oil prices continue to tumble this week. BP and Shell just this week announced new job cuts.
Obama did not address the global situation, but continued by saying that the country should now transition away from “dirtier” forms of energy to a clean energy future.
“Now we’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy,” he said.
He said the nation should stop subsidizing the past, and “invest in the future — especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels.”
Instead of proposing to help the oil and gas sector compete, the focus of the government will be to “change the way we manage out oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.”
“That way, we put money back into those communities and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21st century transportation system.”
