Bush Pitches Energy Plan to Avert 'Darker Future'

May 17, 2001

Bush Pitches Energy Plan to Avert 'Darker Future'

By Randall Mikkelsen

NEVADA, Iowa (Reuters) - President Bush called for expanding U.S. coal, oil and nuclear power production and offered conservation incentives on Thursday to avert high gasoline prices, blackouts and "a darker future."

"We face a shortage of energy. ... It is real," Bush, a Republican and a former Texas oilman, said as he began his politically tough sales job for an energy plan weighted toward increasing supply rather than restraining growing demand.

"No matter how well we conserve, we're still going to need more energy," he said at an alternative-fuel research center.

The plan, which includes controversial measures such as opening the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and building new nuclear plants, sparked a political firestorm likely to rage for months.

Democrats and environmentalists lined up to oppose the policy, developed under the direction of Vice President Dick Cheney, a former oil company executive, calling it a boon to Bush's industry allies, a threat to the nation's environment and an inadequate answer to immediate U.S. energy problems.

"If we fail to act, we could face a darker future, a future that is unfortunately being previewed in rising prices at the gas pump and rolling blackouts in California," Bush said in an earlier speech in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he unveiled his 163-page plan, with its 105 recommendations.

Hundreds of environmentalists protested outside.

The natural gas, electric, nuclear and coal industries embraced the plan. So did oil interests, but the American Petroleum Institute said it was disappointed that the plan did not specifically recommend easing investment and trade sanctions so U.S. oil firms could develop supplies in Iran and Libya.

Bush's plea for a "new tone" in the debate and an end to what he called the yelling went largely unheeded.

LUMPS OF COAL FOR CHENEY

The environmental group Greenpeace dumped a mound of coal and oil barrels outside Cheney's official residence in Washington. Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada grumbled that the GOP -- the Republican Party's nickname -- now stood for "Gas, Oil and Plutonium." California Gov. Gray Davis accused Bush of "turning a blind eye to the bleeding and hemorrhaging that is taking place in this state."

Bush said his plan would "expand and diversify" U.S. energy supplies. "Conservation doesn't have to mean doing without," he said. "Thanks to new technology, it can mean doing better and smarter and cheaper."

The plan would:

Increase energy production by spurring construction of new nuclear plants, opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and possibly other federal lands to oil and gas drilling, and streamlining rules on power plant and refinery expansions.
End bottlenecks in electricity transmission between regions of the country, a task Bush compared to the building of the interstate highway system, and build more pipelines to carry oil and natural gas.
Encourage conservation by providing $10 billion in tax breaks, including $4 billion in tax credits for the purchase of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles and a 15 percent tax credit for installing solar panels on houses. Tax credits or financial aid would also encourage alternative fuels and weatherization.

The plan includes no specific measures to avert summer blackouts in California or combat record-high gasoline prices.

CALIFORNIA STEAMIN'

Davis faulted Bush for failing to provide immediate relief. "We are literally in a war with energy companies who are price-gouging us. Many of those companies are in Texas," Davis said. "With all due respect, Mr. President, Californians want to know whether you're going to be on their side."

Bush is expected to visit California in late May, in part to discuss his energy plan, White House officials said.

House of Representatives Democratic leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri called Bush's report "slick," adding: "It's full of pretty-colored pictures. It really looks like the Exxon Mobil annual report, and maybe that's really what it is."

He said Bush had made "the wrong choices" by focusing on drilling and production rather than conservation.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Democrats were willing to take a look at many of Bush's proposals but the proposal to drill in the Alaska refuge had no chance of winning Senate approval.

Amid concern that Americans use too much gasoline, the report called for new efficiency standards for vehicles.

It said the government would review fuel formula regulations and consider rolling back a rule requiring advanced pollution controls on upgraded power plants and refineries.

The plan seeks $2 billion over 10 years to develop technology to burn coal, which provides 52 percent of U.S. electricity, with less pollution.

On nuclear energy, in addition to streamlining the licensing of new plants, the plan would provide $1.5 billion in tax incentives to facilitate the sale of nuclear plants.

The report recommends continued study of a deep underground repository for storing nuclear waste and a study of whether to revive the idea of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.

On the international side, the plan recommends a review of sanctions affecting oil producers.