--- title: Obama Calls For Oil Tax To Fund Green Transportation description: It shows how important fighting climate change is to the President canonical: https://time.com/4209041/obama-oil-tax-green-transportation/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-05T05:24:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:47:49.523Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Calls For Oil Tax To Fund Green Transportation og:description: He announced a proposal to add a $10 tax on every oil barrel produced og:url: https://time.com/4209041/obama-oil-tax-green-transportation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b11a37b49772a4/69887c410a4a22458a9c83d9/gettyimages-508361064.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4078 og:image:height: 2294 og:image:alt: President Obama Attends the National Prayer Breakfast og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Calls For Oil Tax To Fund Green Transportation twitter:description: He announced a proposal to add a $10 tax on every oil barrel produced twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b11a37b49772a4/69887c410a4a22458a9c83d9/gettyimages-508361064.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Calls for Oil Tax to Fund Green Transportation > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Katie Fehrenbacher / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Katie Fehrenbacher / Fortune Fortune Feb 5, 2016 5:24 AM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 4, 2016 in Washington, DC U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 4, 2016 in Washington, DC Getty Images by [Katie Fehrenbacher / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Katie Fehrenbacher / Fortune Fortune Feb 5, 2016 5:24 AM UTC President Obama just threw down the gauntlet to the already-struggling U.S. oil industry. He [announced](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/04/fact-sheet-president-obamas-21st-century-clean-transportation-system) an ambitious proposal on Thursday to add a $10 tax on every oil barrel produced to fund a sweeping set of green transportation initiatives that would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and lower U.S. carbon emissions. The plan has little chance of being approved by the Republican-dominated Congress, but the push shows how Obama is willing to tackle controversial initiatives in his final year in office. The news also highlights how fighting climate change has become one of his administration’s flagship issues. Obama’s clean transportation plan includes $300 billion in funding for a variety of more efficient and cleaner transportation projects, [reports Politico](http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/02/obama-oil-tax-budget-000038), and Obama plans to submit the proposal in the final budget next week. The green transportation technologies include electric cars, self-driving cars, and high-speed rail along with more efficient public transit and freight systems. Called “Obama’s 21st Century Clean Transportation System,” the proposal would boost U.S. investments in green transportation infrastructure by 50%, [the administration said in a press release](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/04/fact-sheet-president-obamas-21st-century-clean-transportation-system). Oil companies, which have been slammed by the plummeting oil prices over the past year and a half, will no doubt cry foul about the additional expense. Oil giants have[been reporting](http://fortune.com/2016/02/02/oil-firms-slash-costs/http://fortune.com/2016/02/02/oil-firms-slash-costs/) their worst quarterly and annual earnings in decades. Obama’s plan is a clear move to lower the use of oil for transportation domestically. The administration said, “by placing a fee on oil, the President’s plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in clean energy technologies that will power our future.” Any added tax per barrel of oil would likely be passed onto consumers, who have benefited from some of the lowest gas prices in years. Low gas prices have long been a boon to consumer’s pockets and often the overall economy, but this time, [economists are worried](http://www.npr.org/2016/01/28/464726409/why-cheap-gas-might-not-be-good-for-the-u-s-economy) that the industry’s decline and the loss of [hundreds of thousands of oil and gas jobs](http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Jobs-Lost-250000-And-Counting-Texas-Likely-To-See-Massive-Layoffs-Soon.html)could hurt the U.S. and global economies. [As Politico reports](http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/02/obama-oil-tax-budget-000038), the plan could put the Democrats, and the Democratic presidential candidates in an awkward position. Hillary Clinton has largely sided with Obama on many issues, but an oil tax, leading to higher gas prices, may be too controversial in oil producing states for her to support. [_This article originally appeared on Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com/2016/02/04/obama-oil-tax-green-transportation/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4209041/obama-oil-tax-green-transportation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4209041/obama-oil-tax-green-transportation/"},"headline":"Obama Calls for Oil Tax to Fund Green Transportation","datePublished":"2016-02-05T05:24:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:47:49.523Z","description":"It shows how important fighting climate change is to the President","url":"https://time.com/4209041/obama-oil-tax-green-transportation/","keywords":["energy","Transportation","Obama","Oil","Tax","green"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b11a37b49772a4/69887c410a4a22458a9c83d9/gettyimages-508361064.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Fehrenbacher / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b11a37b49772a4/69887c410a4a22458a9c83d9/gettyimages-508361064.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Attends the National Prayer Breakfast","caption":"President Obama Attends the National Prayer Breakfast","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/energy/","name":"energy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4209041/obama-oil-tax-green-transportation/","name":"Obama Calls for Oil Tax to Fund Green Transportation"}}]}] ```