President Barack Obama said he would move to change the way in which US oil and coal resources are managed in his final State of the Union address.
The Democratic politician said the US had to “accelerate” its transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.
Obama, who is now in his final year of office, did not go into any finer details of what that would entail.
He said: “We’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future — especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels.
“That’s why I’m going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.”
But speaking after, White House communications director Jen Psaki said: “That’s an issue I would say, stay tuned for the months ahead.
“This is not a speech where I would expect a 25-page fact-sheet. This is more talking about his vision and the issues we need to address.”
Greenpeace USA welcomed the nod from Obama as his administration also works on a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leases.
The Western Energy Alliance, a group that represents oil and natural gas companies that drill on public lands in the western states, said it suspected the lack of immediate details meant that
Obama would look for ways to act without Congress.
Tim Wigley, group president, said: “He’ll close out his term by continuing to issue new rules through the federal agencies that kill jobs and economic growth in order to promote his climate change agenda.”
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