Obama to Announce $2 Bln Plan to Research Alternatives to Gasoline

President Obama plans to announce Friday that he will ask Congress for $2 billion in a bid to research alternatives to gasoline in a push to limit the United States dependency on oil, according to White House fact sheet.

Obama is set to make the announcement later today during a trip to the Argonne National Laboratory, which is known for its groundbreaking research into advanced batteries used in electric cars, just outside Chicago. The White House says $2 billion for research over 10 years would be paid for with revenue from federal oil and gas leases on offshore drilling and would not add to the deficit. 

The president first proposed the idea in his State of the Union address.

"If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we," Obama said in his State of the Union address. "Let's take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we've put up with for far too long."

"I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an energy security trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.  Let's ... free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we've put up with for far too long," he added.

According to the White House fact sheet, the new proposal would not require drilling on federal lands or water where it is now prohibited. Instead they are looking at increasing production at existing sites, along with efficiencies from an administration plan to streamline drilling permits. The government collects more than $6 billion a year in royalties from production on federal lands and waters.