Bush's national energy plan won't help California

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Bush's national energy bluepring won't help California

Posted at 11:16 p.m. PDT Wednesday, May 16, 2001

JIM PUZZANGHERA, Mercury News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will unveil a national energy plan today that offers little help for California this summer but tries to shield the rest of the nation from the same debilitating blackouts in the future with more oil and natural-gas drilling and greater use of coal and nuclear power.

In previewing the plan Wednesday, Bush and White House officials emphasized that conservation and improving energy efficiency through high technology are significant parts in meeting the nation's growing energy needs and reducing dependence on foreign oil. Of the plan's 105 proposals -- most already made public -- 42 deal with conservation, development of alternative fuels and environmental protection.

A senior administration official said Wednesday that the only item in the plan that could help California this summer is a planned presidential order to have federal agencies expedite permit approvals for new power plants nationwide. But Bush already ordered those quicker reviews for California earlier this year. The other specific California proposal would direct the secretary of energy to look into helping the state improve the current transmission bottleneck between Northern and Southern California.

``Unfortunately, there are no short-term solutions to long-term neglect,'' the Bush plan says of California's crisis.

More broadly, the White House believes the proposals to increase supply and improve electricity and natural-gas distribution are the keys to helping California and the rest of the country deal with energy problems. The 163-page proposal says the United States is facing ``the most serious energy shortage since the oil embargoes of the 1970s.''

Bush on Wednesday directed two federal regulatory agencies to monitor electricity prices in the state and elsewhere and ``make sure that nobody in America gets illegally charged.''

But the state's problem is largely its own to solve, Bush administration officials have repeatedly said.

California Gov. Gray Davis has been pleading with federal regulators to temporarily cap the price of wholesale electricity throughout the West to give the state time to get new power plants on line. But Bush on Wednesday reiterated his opposition to those controls.

That angered Davis and other California Democrats.``Without just and reasonable prices for power, the crisis here in California and the West inevitably will spill over and damage the already-sluggish national economy,'' Davis said. ``Mr. President, runaway energy prices are not just a California problem. With all due respect, I once again urge you to stand up to your friends in the energy business and exercise the federal government's responsibility to ensure energy prices are just and reasonable.''

Long-term proposals

Instead of price controls for California or elsewhere, the White House is focusing on long-term energy proposals that may not even get passed by Congress, let alone be producing results, by the height of California's summer. For example, drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which Bush is asking Congress to allow, is not expected to produce any oil for at least five to 10 years. The supply is estimated at 6 billion barrels, enough to satisfy total U.S. demand for only nine months.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have said several times since taking office that the administration believes that the main way to solve the problem is to increase the nation's energy supplies.That stance, backed by most Republicans and the energy industry that Bush and Cheney both once worked for, puts the administration at odds with most Democrats and the environmental movement. The plan's release officially ignites one of the largest political battles in years.

`It provides over 100 proposals to diversify and increase the supply of energy, innovative proposals to encourage conservation and ways to make sure that we get energy from producer to consumer,'' Bush said Wednesday after receiving the plan from the high-level administration task force headed by Cheney that drafted it over the past three months.

But Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said the administration's conservation proposals don't change the fact that the White House plan overall is bad for the environment and the nation. ``There's a Texas saying that the president apparently is very fond of, which goes, `You can put your boots in the oven, but it doesn't make them biscuits,' '' Pope said. ``When they start claiming this plan is about clean energy, about progressive technology, about energy efficiency, they're putting their boots in the oven. I'd rather bake biscuits.''

Highlights of plans

Among the highlights released by the White House last night are:

Require that all major federal regulatory actions take into account the impact on energy supplies, distribution and use, including decisions made about federal lands.

Encourage the expansion of nuclear-power plants, and study whether reprocessed nuclear waste can be used to generate power. The technology, abandoned in the United States 30 years ago but used elsewhere, produces weapons-grade plutonium that can lead to national security risks.

Spend $3 billion over 10 years on programs to assist low-income people with heating and electric bills as well as to prepare their homes for cold weather.

Spend an additional $2 billion over 10 years on research into burning coal more cleanly.

Spend $4 billion over 10 years on tax credits for consumers who purchase hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles or vehicles powered by new hydrogen fuel cells.

``It's tough in that it lays out the problems,'' Bush continued. ``It's a direct assessment of neglect, but this great nation of ours, because of our technology, our attitude, our adherence to free enterprise, our willingness to conserve, we're going to solve this problem.''

The vast majority of the proposals -- 85 -- can be acted on by Bush and federal agencies, and 20 require congressional approval. While serving as the poster child for a potential national energy crisis, California gets little assistance in the Bush plan as it faces a summer of soaring prices and predictions of extensive rolling blackouts. Bush noted the administration had worked with Davis to expedite federal review of state power plant proposals.

``So the quicker supply gets on, the easier it's going to be for the consumers of the state of California. We're deeply concerned about the state of California, as we are with the rest of the nation,'' said Bush, who will be traveling to Southern California later this month in his first trip to the state since last fall. ``But we haven't had an energy policy. Interestingly enough, this is the first comprehensive energy policy probably ever, certainly in a long time.''

Former President Jimmy Carter had the last major energy program during his administration in the midst of the energy crisis of the late 1970s. But unlike Carter's proposals, which in part sought government mandates to increase supply and urged Americans to conserve, Bush emphasizes free-market solutions.

No lifestyle changes

The plan's message for Americans is that high-tech advances in energy efficiency, coupled with increased energy supplies, will allow them to avoid sacrificing their way of life to solve the energy problem.

The plan's conservation proposals come after Cheney infuriated environmentalists when he belittled conservation in a major energy speech last month. ``Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound comprehensive energy policy,'' Cheney said.

Democrats and environmental groups have charged that Bush's plan simply does the bidding of large oil and energy companies. Bush received $2.8 million in campaign contributions during his presidential bid from the energy and natural-resources industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

``For big oil and other suppliers, the Bush energy plan is a dream come true,'' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. ``But clearly among those most left out by the plan are the people and businesses of California who have been under siege by electricity and natural-gas marketers bent on gouging every cent they can from a broken energy market that the Bush administration has refused to try to fix.''

But Bush said he's optimistic his plan will solve the nation's energy problems. ``I think this is a country that is going to show the rest of the world how to deal wisely with energy,'' he said.

-- Swissrose (cellier3@mindspring.com), May 17, 2001

Answers

Davis needs a head doctor.

-- David Williams (DAVIDWILL@prodigy.net), May 17, 2001.

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