U.S. President Barack Obama today urged Americans to get on board with his vision for a clean energy agenda, saying the U.S. has known for decades that the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were unsustainable and yet progressive energy policy has been blocked time and again by Congress.

“We cannot consign our children to this future,” he said, speaking in this first prime-time televised address from the Oval office. “The time to embrace a clean energy future is now.”

Obama also extensively talked about the BP oil spill along the Gulf Coast. He said his Administration would do whatever it took to fight the BP oil spill, while warning that it would take months and possibly years. Obama also said he would make sure that the company would set aside money in an independently administered account that would go to compensate all those affected by the spill.