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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Bush renews call for domestic drilling
By Frank James
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 20 2001, 9:10 AM CST
WASHINGTON -- On the day when nearly 1 million Californians were without
power as rolling blackouts for the first time hit statewide, the Bush
administration promised a comprehensive energy policy and renewed its call
for more domestic oil and natural gas production.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said he saw the power problem quickly
expanding beyond California. He cited "electricity shortages predicted for
New York City and Long Island this summer, low capacity margins threatening
electricity reliability in the Midwest, Southeast and Northern Plains states
and strained refinery capacity in the Midwest."
Abraham called the overall situation "the most serious energy shortage since
the days of oil embargoes and gas lines" in the 1970s, and officials raised
the possibility of gasoline shortages striking significant parts of the
nation this summer.
President Bush warned Americans that resolving the problems created by energy
demand that had outpaced supply wouldn't be quick or easy. And Bush again
said that unlike former President Bill Clinton, he wouldn't tap the nation's
Strategic Petroleum Reserve to put more oil on the market as a way of placing
downward pressure on oil prices.
Those prices are expected to rise after the weekend decision by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce daily production by a
million barrels to 24.2 million, which is designed to keep the price of oil
at a minimum of $25 a barrel.
"One thing is for certain: there are no short-term fixes, that the solution
for our energy shortage requires long-term thinking and a plan that we'll
implement, that'll take time to bring to fruition," Bush said before a
meeting of his White House energy task force headed by Vice President Dick
Cheney.
"And it not only includes good conservation, but as well exploration for oil
and gas and coal, and development of energy sources that exist within our 50
states."
The White House meeting was held to review recommendations for dealing with
the nation's expanding energy woes. Bush said the proposals would be made
public when final.
In Southern California residents suffered without power as rolling blackouts
were imposed.
Earlier in the day, at a speech in Washington to the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, Abraham said much of the blame for the current problems can be
placed on the Clinton administration. "During the 1990s, the Clinton
administration employed a policy of taxing demand, limiting supply, and
ignoring the rapidly expanding needs of the future," he said.
"Their energy strategy boiled down to: you can't find it . . . you can't
transport it . . . and even if you get it, we don't want you to use it,"
Abraham said. "Through neglect or complacency or ideology, this approach has
led us to the crisis we face today."
But Ben Brockwell, editor and chief of the Rockville, Md.-based Oil Price
Information Service, said there was plenty of blame to be shared by Bush's
Republican and Democratic predecessors alike. "I think every administration
since Jimmy Carter deserves to be blamed for this," Brockwell said. "We
should have had an energy policy after the first and second 1/8oil 3/8
embargoes" in the 1970s. "We've been through this before."
Brockwell praised Bush for promising to develop a national energy policy and
attempting to use whatever leverage the U.S. has to pressure OPEC.
Brockwell said domestic production, which appears to be the administration's
main thrust, would likely not provide enough help. "Our options in terms of
producing fuel are limited," he said.
"Policy makers may have to go back to legislating lower speed limits and
minimum gas mileage in cars to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," he
said. "Will American consumers stand for that? I don't know.
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