We're proud to have a president who has made protecting our environment a top priority. This Earth Day, share this graphic of President Obama's environmental accomplishments with your networks.

With gas prices exceeding $4 per gallon throughout the country, Senate Democrats are fighting to make sure that taxpayers trying to fill their tanks are getting a fairer shake -- instead of also subsidizing the oil companies raking in record profits from the high prices. This week, the Senate is poised to vote on a measure that would eliminate $21 billion in tax breaks over 10 years for major oil and gas companies.

The Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act would close loopholes enjoyed by multi-billion dollar energy companies like Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Exxon Mobil, and U.S. subsidiaries of BP and Shell. In the first quarter of 2011 alone, these companies reaped $36 billion in profits, money that comes straight from the pocketbooks of American families –in the form of high gas prices, and in the form of tax subsidies.

Neither President Obama nor congressional Democrats believe that ending this tax break will solve America’s energy problems or immediately lower gas prices on its own. That’s why the President put forward a plan for our country’s energy future, aiming to reduce oil imports by a third by 2025, increase domestic production right away, and invest in a long term clean-energy economy.

In a time when the public and policymakers are focused on rebuilding our economy while living within our means, American families expect the government to spend their tax dollar prudently. And tax breaks for hugely profitable oil companies is anything but prudent.

The Senate is expected to vote on this measure as early as today. Please check back for further updates.

Also, you can learn more about President Obama’s energy plan by reading the Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future.

Throughout the week, President Obama has traveled the country talking about his plan for America’s future – a plan for prosperity through shared responsibility. In each of his three town hall meetings, the President addressed a different pillar of his vision:investing in education on Tuesday, supporting innovative technology on Wednesday, and creating a clean-energy economy yesterday.

Electra Therm, the company that hosted President Obama at yesterday’s Reno event, has become an industry leader by generating sustainable energy sources and accessing the federal resources and capital to expand. The President featured this company as a model for the type of innovative business that will help end America’s addiction to oil, growing the market for stable, more efficient, and domestic sources of energy.

The President also confronted the political hurdles and rhetoric that come along with rising gas prices:

[E]very time gas prices go up like this, like clockwork, suddenly politicians look around and they discover high gas prices. And they’re shocked, and they get in front of TV and they say, we’ve got a three-point plan to bring gas down to two bucks a gallon. And then when gas prices go down, nothing ever happens, and we’re back into the same old patterns, and we don’t have a comprehensive energy strategy for the future.

But there are measures the administration is taking right now to protect the American public:   

Last month I asked my attorney general to look into any cases of price gouging so we can make sure nobody is being taken advantage of at the pump. Today, I’m going to go a step further. The attorney general is putting together a team whose job it is to root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices, and that includes the role of traders and speculators. We’re going to make sure that nobody is taking advantage of American consumers for their own short-term gain.

And while we’re at it, if we’re looking for places to save money that we can then use to invest in clean energy projects like Electra Therm, let’s start with the $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies that right now are going to big oil companies even though they are making billions of dollars a year as it is because of these high oil prices.

Read the President’s full remarks from the event at Electra Therm. 

For more than 40 years, America has celebrated Earth Day. It's a time not only to celebrate the environment, but to renew our commitment to protect and preserve America’s natural habitats and ensure that our air and water are clean.

In honor of Earth Day, President Obama recorded a video to talk about the history of environmental progress, the importance of continued awareness, and additional steps each of us can take to make a difference in our communities:

You can also read President Obama’s Earth Day proclamation on the White House website, or visit whitehouse.gov/EarthDay to learn more about ways the administration is laying a new foundation for energy and the environment.