Obama urges Congress to back energy research fund

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Saturday called on Congress to support establishing the so-called Energy Security Trust to bolster clean energy research in the US and help shift cars and trucks off oil.

"I'm proposing that we take some of our oil and gas revenues from public lands and put it towards research that will benefit the public, so that we can support American ingenuity without adding a dime to our deficit," Obama said in his weekly address from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, where he on Friday touted the 2-billion-dollar Energy Security Trust to reduce dependence on oil and create new jobs.

The energy research fund can support scientists devising new ways to fuel cars and trucks with new sources of clean energy "so drivers can one day go coast-to-coast without using a drop of oil", Obama said.

According to a "blueprint for a clean and secure energy future" Obama's administration unveiled on Friday, the energy research fund will support breakthrough research into a range of cost- effective technologies, such as advanced vehicles that run on electricity, homegrown biofuels, fuel cells, and domestically produced natural gas.

"It's actually built off a proposal put forward by a non- partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals. So let's take their advice and free our families and our businesses from painful spikes in gas prices once and for all," Obama noted.

Meanwhile, Obama reiterated his commitment to an "all-of-the- above" energy strategy that produces "more oil and gas", "more biofuels and fuel-efficient vehicles," and "more solar power and wind power" in the US to boost energy self-sufficiency.