'We’re bolstering an outdoor economy,' Obama told conservation leaders. Obama: Conservation helps economy

The argument that environmental conservation stands in the way of economic growth is “a false choice,” President Barack Obama told conservation leaders Friday.

On the contrary, Obama said in remarks at the Interior Department, conservation provides a boost.


“We’re not just preserving our land and water for the next generation, we’re also making more land available for hunting and fishing, and we’re bolstering an outdoor economy that supports more than nine million jobs and brings in more than $1 trillion a year,” he said.

Obama took action earlier this year to ease the visa process for foreign tourists. In addition to drawing tourists to places like Disney World, he said, “we’re helping more people discover our parks, our mountains and our beaches.”

He also spoke about rising gas prices, repeating his now-standard joke that Republicans’ only solution is a three-point plan, where all three points are more drilling for oil.

“If we’re going to take control of our energy future and avoid these gas price spikes in the future, then we’ve got to have a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy,” he said.

Before Obama spoke, Newt Gingrich called for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s ouster, adding him to a list that already includes Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who Gingrich said Thursday should be fired. “If the president would replace Dr. Chu with one of the people who has developed North Dakota oil and then replace the secretary of the interior with one of the people who has developed North Dakota oil, in about 90 days you would have a revolution in developing oil and gas in the United States,” the Republican presidential candidate said Friday while campaigning in Savannah, Ga.

Obama didn’t address the attacks on his interior secretary but he did note that Friday happened to be Salazar’s birthday, though Obama joked that it was his 40th. It’s actually Salazar’s 57th birthday.