Obama pushes clean energy theme in Nevada, Colorado President Obama spoke at a UPS freight facility in Las Vegas, Nevada Thursday. NEW: Obama touts energy policies at a Colorado Air Force base NEW: The administration announces auctions for new offshore oil and gas leases President Obama promises new initiatives to encourage greater reliance on natural gas The president is on a three-day swing through five politically important states (CNN) -- President Barack Obama took his push for increased federal investment in clean energy on the road Thursday, telling crowds in Las Vegas and at a Colorado military base that America must be able to compete in a global growth industry of coming decades. Earlier Thursday, the federal government announced plans to sell off oil and gas leases on 38 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico seafloor in a new domestic energy push. Obama mentioned the planned lease sales in his remarks at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, which has a 1-megawatt solar array and last year test-piloted jets that run on advanced biofuels. "We are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas," he told the military crowd in detailing his strategy to increase domestic oil and gas development while promoting investment and innovation in clean energy development. His energy proposals come amid criticism from Republicans and the oil industry for the administration's rejection of a permit to build a pipeline to transport oil from Canada's tar sands production in northern Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. Obama has said the permit was rejected because Republicans forced a decision before there was time for a necessary review of a proposed route change requested by Nebraska officials, including the state's Republican governor. The president also said the rejection was due to timing, rather than the merits of the project that would create several thousand jobs for the two-year construction period. In his remarks earlier Thursday at a UPS facility in Las Vegas, Obama called his energy plan an "all-out, all-in, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy." Think about what could happen if we do," Obama said. All five states -- Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and Nevada -- are considered politically critical to the president's re-election hopes in November. On energy issues, the White House said Thursday that Obama will push for greater use of cleaner-burning natural gas as an automotive fuel for trucks and buses, and new support for renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power. In addition, the administration also will open up public lands to renewable electric projects aimed at producing enough power for 3 million homes. The oil and gas leases up for sale in June include the remaining, unclaimed areas off Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, ranging from as close as three miles from the coast to up to 230 miles offshore. It is working on plans for a dozen more lease sales through 2017, which it estimates will open up three-quarters of the recoverable oil and gas below the outer Continental Shelf -- reserves Obama pledged to open up in his State of the Union speech. But some critics remain wary of the risks illuminated when the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon blew up and sank in April 2010, killing 11 men aboard and uncorking an undersea gusher that took three months to cap.