The US leader, speaking yesterday (March 30), said a succession of his predecessors had promised to end oil dependence, but ‘political gridlock’ and ‘inertia’ had held the US back for decades.
Mr Obama said: “When I was elected to this office, America imported 11 million barrels of oil a day.
“By a little more than a decade from now, we will have cut that by one-third, that is something that we can achieve.
“I set this goal knowing that we’re still going to have to import some oil, it will remain an important part of our energy portfolio for quite some time, until we’ve gotten alternative energy strategies fully in force.”
Luke Walsh