Speaking at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said he chose the lab for his announcement because "this was one of three secret cities that were the principal sites for the original Manhattan project that split the atom to build the bomb that won World War II."

He told a gathering of scientists that this time "instead of ending a war, the goal will be clean energy independence - so that we can deal with rising gasoline prices, electricity prices, clean air, climate change and national security - for our country first, and - because other countries have the same urgent needs and therefore will adopt our ideas - for the rest of the world."

"By independence I do not mean that the United States would never buy oil from Mexico or Canada or Saudi Arabia. By independence I do mean that the United States could never be held hostage by any country for our energy supplies."

Congressmen Bart Gordon, Democratic chairman of the House Science Committee, and Zach Wamp, a senior Republican member of the House Appropriations Committee, also addressed the gathering.

Alexander said that "bipartisan cooperation is imperative if we are to think and act big enough to achieve such bold goals."

"Sending $500 billion a year overseas to pay for oil weakens our dollar. It is half our trade deficit. It is forcing gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon and crushing family budgets," Alexander continued.

Alexander proposed seven "grand challenges" and asked scientists to help identify the steps to take during the next five years to meet those challenges so that America can be "firmly on the road to clean energy independence within a generation." They are:

1. Make plug-in electric cars and trucks commonplace.
2. Make carbon capture and storage a reality for coal-burning power plants.
3. Make solar power cost competitive with power from fossil fuels.
4. Safely reprocess and store nuclear waste.
5. Make advanced biofuels cost-competitive with gasoline.
6. Make new buildings green buildings.
7. Provide energy from fusion.