Washington, DC - In remarks today to the Apollo Alliance, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a Strategic Energy Fund to jumpstart research and investment in clean energy technologies to promote job growth, energy independence and a cleaner environment. Senator Clinton announced that today she is reintroducing legislation to help achieve these goals. Senator Clinton's announcement comes on heels of her tour yesterday highlighting innovative energy initiatives underway in New York that serve as a model for investing in an energy independent future.

"We have a big decision to make. We have two paths we can pursue. We can continue to allow our energy needs to hamstring our national security. We can continue to watch as the impacts of global warming mount. We can sit back and wait for the terrible potential of a terrorist attack to hit a pipeline, to hit a terminal, wreaking havoc on the economy and increasing energy costs for families and businesses. Or we can choose a different, better path based on performance and the facts - not partisanship and ideology. We can choose a path based on a long-term strategy to secure our economy, to free our hand to protect our security, and to keep faith with our values," Senator Clinton said.

"We can and we must meet this challenge head on," Senator Clinton emphasized. "As a nation, it is time we take the giant leap in energy innovation we desperately need and that is exactly what the Strategic Energy Fund will do."

Senator Clinton's legislation will create a Strategic Energy Fund to help pay for the clean energy transition. The legislation eliminates oil company tax breaks and ensures that they pay their fair share of royalties for drilling on public lands. The legislation also places a temporary fee on major oil company profits that exceed a 2000-2004 profit baseline. The fee would be in place for two years, and companies could offset their fee by investing in alternative energy technologies such as ethanol and wind power. The Strategic Energy Fund would raise $50 billion to fund research, development and deployment of energy technologies that will reduce America's oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions. The Strategic Energy Fund will:

• Deliver Clean Coal Technology. $3.5 billion in tax incentives and grants to build 5 clean coal plants that can capture and store carbon dioxide and reduce global warming.

• Invest in Renewable Energy. Move America towards the goal of producing 25 percent of electricity from renewable sources by extending the production tax credit for generating electricity from wind and other renewable sources for five years.

• Transform America's Vehicles. Put more efficient vehicles on the road by quadrupling consumer tax breaks for hybrids, clean diesel, and other advanced vehicles, creating incentives for auto manufacturers to retool their facilities, and putting $500 million towards advanced battery research to speed development of "plug-in" hybrid vehicles.

• Accelerate Homegrown Biofuels. Extend the ethanol tax credit until 2012, and speed the development of cellulosic ethanol by providing loan guarantees for the first billion gallons of commercial production capacity, and providing $2 billion for research.

• Improve Efficiency. Increase incentives to make homes and offices more comfortable and cheaper to operate by improving energy efficiency.

• Unleash American Ingenuity. Accelerate energy research by creating a $9 billion "Advanced Research Projects Agency" for energy.

Senator Clinton's announcement comes on heels of her tour yesterday highlighting innovative energy initiatives underway in New York. In spotlighting these initiatives, Senator Clinton emphasized that the federal government should step forward to help expand and jumpstart efforts to pursue cleaner forms of energy.

"What we are proving in New York is that the energy challenge is not a zero sum game," said Senator Clinton. "By pursuing these opportunities, we can grow the economy and shrink our dependence on foreign oil. We can slow global warming and speed the creation of good new jobs. We can protect our security and protect our environment."

In Rochester, New York, Senator Clinton unveiled a "Greenprint" developed by local leaders and the U.S. Green Building Council. The Greenprint is a roadmap for Rochester to become a leader in energy efficiency and green design, and to continue creating jobs in energy technologies like fuel cells. Senator Clinton toured a facility in Tonawanda, New York, where plans are underway to make it the first coal plant in the United States to use next-generation clean-coal technology to sequester and store carbon dioxide. She also visited a biofuels facility in Volney, New York, which is turning an old shuttered brewery into New York's first ethanol plant. The plant will be the largest in the Northeast, delivering 100 permanent new jobs, hundreds of opportunities in construction, and countless more new jobs indirectly, all the while helping us make the switch from foreign oil to homegrown, farm-grown energy.