President Obama's Earth Day Speech Calls for Action on Climate Bill to Safeguard Planet

WASHINGTON (April 22, 2010) -- President Obama used Earth Day remarks at the White House today to call for action on a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill “that will safeguard our planet, and spur innovation and help us to compete in the 21st Century.”

Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, attended the Rose Garden ceremony and made the following statement:

"We expect to see Senate legislation next week that responds to the president's call to action. It will safeguard our planet by striking a blow against the single greatest environmental ill of our time: the carbon pollution that is warming our planet and threatening us all. It will spur innovation by promoting the next generation of renewable fuels and energy efficient cars, homes and workplaces. And it will help us compete in the 21st Century by laying the foundations for American success in the fast-growing global marketplace for the clean-energy technologies of tomorrow.

“We need to work to pass legislation that advances the president's goals and puts the country on the path to the clean energy future we need."