Obama Calls U.S. 'Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas'

President Barack Obama proposed major energy policy initiatives in Las Vegas this morning, including a plan to open 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil exploration and development of natural gas resources in the United States.

Flanked by two massive natural gas tankers at a United Parcel Service facility south of McCarran International Airport, Obama told some 200 people that the United States sits over enough natural gas that, if developed, it could provide a relatively carbon-clean energy source for 100 years.

"We are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas," he said.