oil spill that is wreaking environmental disaster in the Gulf and along the coast.
Obama said Americans understood the need for change and the devastation from the Gulf spill highlighted how perilous the process of extracting oil had become.
"Just think about it. Part of what is happening in the Gulf is that oil companies are drilling a mile under water before they hit ground, and a mile below that before they hit oil.
"With the increased risks, the increased costs, it gives you a sense of where we're going. We're not going to be able to sustain this kind of fossil fuel use. This planet can't sustain it," he said.
Though the president has tried to use the spill to galvanize support for his energy overhaul, a bill to do that is anguishing in the U.S. Senate.
Making things more difficult, a key plank of that policy -- expanding offshore drilling -- has been thrown into question by the spill. That expansion was seen as a key sweetener for winning Republican support for the bill.
Obama repeated on Wednesday that he hoped to have an energy and climate bill passed this year. Lawmakers and many analysts think that is unlikely.
He has come under growing political pressure to stop the spill itself. He defended his administration's handling of the disaster and said the government would not rest until the well was plugged and the cleanup completed.
"We will not rest until this well is shut, the environment is repaired and the cleanup is complete," he said. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
