Obama vows to find votes for energy Bill

President Barack Obama yesterday vowed to make a new bid to push energy legislation through Congress, saying the US oil "catastrophe" showed America could no longer be hostage to fossil fuels.

Mr Obama signalled a political effort to pivot from the disastrous impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to future climate change and energy policy, in an advance copy of remarks he was due to deliver in Pittsburgh later in the day.

"The only way the transition to clean energy will succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future - if capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed," he said.

"The only way to do that is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution," Mr Obama said, noting that the House of Representatives had already passed a climate change Bill, which had become stalled in the Senate.