Ladies and gentlemen:
I am sending to the Congress today a message on energy. This is the first time that a message on energy of a comprehensive nature has been sent to the Congress by a President of the United States.
The reason it is essential, and I consider the program urgent, is that in all great industrial societies we face two challenges: one, to find new sources of energy to fuel the economy; and two, to find sources of energy that will not pollute the environment.
We have learned in our own country, and in countries abroad as well--they have the same experience--that usually these two goals come in conflict; that while new sources of energy may provide what the needs of the economy are, that inevitably there is the polluting of the environment.
This message points the way for America---at considerable cost in money, but an investment that is urgent and, therefore, justified--points the way for finding new sources of energy and, at the same time, clean energy that will not pollute the air, will not pollute the environment.
For that reason, we have a briefing team that covers the various departments that will be implementing this program, the Secretary of the Interior, the Chairman of AEC, and the President's Science Adviser, Dr. David, who will brief you on the elements of the message.
Note: The President spoke at 11:10 a.m. in the Briefing Room at the White House.
On the same day, the White House released the transcript of a news briefing on the proposed energy resources program by Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary, and William T. Pecora, Under Secretary, Department of the Interior; Edward E. David, Jr., Director, Office of Science and Technology; and Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission.
Richard Nixon, Remarks About a Special Message to the Congress on Energy Resources. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240205
