Thursday June 28 1:08 AM ET

Bush to Promote Energy-Efficient Technologies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seeking to blunt the view that his administration is indifferent to energy conservation, President Bush (news - web sites) will unveil on Thursday federal grants to promote energy-efficient technologies, aides said.

A senior administration official said Bush would announce steps to promote new technologies that caught his attention in a meeting with high-tech leaders in California, which has been hit with soaring electricity prices and six days of ``rolling blackouts'' since January.

Recent opinion polls have shown Bush's approval rating slipping in the five months since he entered the White House, with some suggesting that his environmental and energy policies may have eroded his public support.

The Republican president plans to use a visit to the U.S. Energy Department on Thursday morning to highlight ``promising technologies that will help us become more energy efficient,'' the senior administration official said.

``They'll be announcing some grant funding on these technologies,'' he added, saying Bush would also issue some presidential directives on the matter.

Another administration official said Bush would observe some new energy-efficient technologies at the department and discuss how his energy plan would encourage their development.

On May 17 Bush unveiled a plan to increase coal, oil and nuclear power production as well as incentives to promote conservation, saying that without it the United States faced a ''darker future'' presaged by California's electricity blackouts and the rising price of gasoline around the nation.

Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), who drew up Bush's energy plan, was criticized earlier this year for saying conservation might be a sign of ``personal virtue'' but was not enough to make a difference in meeting the nation's growing demand for energy.

Bush believes the United States has no choice but to boost energy production and his energy plan called for building new nuclear power plants, opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (news - web sites) to oil and gas drilling, and streamlining rules on power plant and refinery expansions.

The plan would also 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.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2001

Answers

Response to ENERGY - Bush to promoe energy-efficient technologies

Last I knew, the tax credit for hybrid cars won't be retroactive to the current year. :-(

(70 mpg and rising...)

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2001