President Obama Establishing Energy Security Trust to Fund Clean Energy Research Using Oil and Gas Leasing Revenues

During a speech at Argonne National Laboratory on Friday, March 22, President Obama announced his plan to use the $2 billion in revenue the U.S. government receives from offshore oil and gas leasing to fund clean energy research.

The president's plan calls for setting up an Energy Security Trust that would be used to direct the money the government recieves from oil and gas leasing towards clean energy technology research. Money in the trust would be used to support the research and development of new clean energy technologies which would reduce America's reliance on foreign oil.

President Obama first announced his plan in his State of the Union Address which he gave in February.

The goal of the trust is to put money behind developing cost-effective clean energy technologies that will not only help the environment, but also enable consumers to save more money by reducing their dependence on gasoline, who's price continues to rise.

Cost-effective technologies to be considered include further development of electric vehicle, American-grown biofuels, fuel cells as well as the production of natural gas made in the U.S. 

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