Bush energy chief promises 'balanced' plan

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration will present a "very comprehensive and balanced" energy plan in coming weeks, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Monday.

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That plan, Abraham said in an interview with CNN, will be intended to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil. The energy secretary said the United States is at the mercy of the OPEC oil cartel, a situation President Bush has promised to change.

"I think it's important for the United States to be less at the mercy of foreign countries and their decision-making and politics, and more under our own control to address these problems," Abraham said two days after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut oil output by 1 million barrels a day.

Abraham is scheduled to deliver an address Monday afternoon outlining the state of this country's energy policy. Bush, citing rising oil and gas prices and electricity shortages in California, has said there is an energy crisis in the nation.

Abraham's speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is expected to touch on the administration's goal of expanded domestic drilling as well as conservation efforts. The complete plan, Abraham said, will be released "in a few weeks."

"It will focus on conservation as well as production," he said. "It will focus on the development of alternative renewable energy sources as well as traditional ones. It's not going to be a one-dimension plan."

Essential to the plan, Abraham said, is the notion that the United States needs to be more self-reliant when it comes to energy.

"There's really only three things you can do about a difference between supply and demand," he said. "One is to conserve more. The second is to import more. And the third is to produce more. I think we want to focus more on conserving more and producing more rather than depending more on other countries."

Many Democrats and environmental groups, however, have raised objections to some of Bush's proposals, including his support for opening part of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

Monday afternoon, Abraham is scheduled to meet with Bush at the White House to outline the interim plan, an Energy Department spokesman said.

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