A Hazy Horizon

Bryan Walsh analyzes Obama's new energy speech:

It's notable that perhaps the most ambitious part of the President's speechhis pledge, repeated from the State of the Union, to call for a Clean Energy Standard (CES) that would ensure 80% of our electricity would come from clean sources by 2035still includes fossil fuels. Natural gas is part of that "clean energy," and while it's certainly cleaner than coal or oil, it still emits a lot of carbon.

E.M at DiA notes that "those parts of the president’s plan that need congressional approvalthe clean energy standard, more subsidies, extra funding for research on whizz-bang energy technologywill never receive it." Dave Roberts hopes for more:

I really do think that energy security is an area where Obama could make waves. A muscular climate-hawk stance on energy security could shake up some stale partisan debates and generate some new coalitions. But that's not going to happen if Obama takes this half-ass approach.

Ryan Avent continues to lobby for a gasoline tax.

(Photo by Nikolaj F. Rasmussen, who captions, "Originally a coal-fired power plant, H. C. Ørstedværket was rebuild in 1994 to combust natural gas.")