Statement on Energy Bill

I oppose both the House and Senate energy bills because I believe we can achieve true energy independence without reversing 30 years of progress in protecting our environment.

President Bush and the Republican Party believe they can simply drill their way out of our energy crisis. I've got news for the president, Vice President Cheney and the oil companies they used to run: there is no path to oil self-sufficiency. We can't drill our way there, no matter how many public lands we despoil.

We can do better. President Bush hasn't offered any leadership or vision in environmental or energy policy. I will.

As president, I will launch an 'Apollo Project' to develop environmentally smart, renewable energy solutions to make our nation energy independent by the end of the decade. I want to create incentives to shift automobile production in this country from gasoline-powered cars to hybrid vehicles and those powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Within 10 years, our dependence on foreign oil would drop by 50 percent and our environment would be dramatically cleaner.