Norton: Bush energy plan examines 'all options'

CNN Inside Politics host Judy Woodruff interviewed Interior Secretary Gale Norton about the Bush administration's energy policy blueprint after its release Thursday. The proposals include new emphasis on nuclear energy and expanded exploration for oil and natural gas, even in federal lands now off-limits.

WOODRUFF: If you could first address what former President Carter said: Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, is an atrocity.

NORTON: That's one of the recommendations that we're putting forward at this time. It's something that, really, Congress has to decide whether to go forward with that. What the administration is doing is looking at the ways in which that might be done in an environmentally responsible way, so that we can allow Congress to determine if that's one of the ways in which they want to look.

I think the key point is that this is the most likely place for us to find a large supply of oil for our long-term future, and I think we at least need to, in the current situation, seriously think about a place that has the largest probable site of oil anywhere in this country.

WOODRUFF: What about President Carter's statement that the energy situation today in no way equates with what was going on back in the '70s, when you had OPEC and you had a war between Iran and Iraq and a much greater global disruption than what you have today?

NORTON: There's certainly a high degree of concern today. We know that since 1998 the average U.S. family is spending 25 percent more on energy. We're seeing great concern about $3 a gallon gas in some parts of our country. We know that the prices for heating oil going up affect those who are at the lowest end of our economic ladder. And when we see the potential for the effect on jobs, even though we might have some dispute about how this ranks in comparison with 1973, I think our real concern is what we do today and what we do tomorrow.

WOODRUFF: And secretary, let me ask about another part of the plan. The energy report notes the value of drilling in the coastal regions off the shores of the United States. And what the president has done is, in effect, throw this to you and to the commerce secretary for a decision. Now, the governor of Florida -- the president's brother -- has urged the administration, has urged your department not to renew drilling leases off the coast of Florida. Where is that headed?

NORTON: Certainly, we see that offshore production is a very important source of supply for us. And it's currently happening in the western gulf region, Gulf of Mexico, and the neighboring states there are generally very supportive of that and it's something that we do plan to continue because that's an important source for us.

As we look at environmental concerns that are coming up through our study process for an area that is about 100 miles off the Florida coast, for the most part -- and some parts further than that. That area is one that we'll continue to consult with the state of Florida as we make a decision later this year on whether to go forward with that.

WOODRUFF: But it sounds like you're leaning for -- toward doing it.

NORTON: We're looking at all options right now for energy. This is one that, frankly, was voted on by Congress to allow it to go forward. It was proposed by the prior administration, and so it's something that was already on the table and in progress when this administration came in.

WOODRUFF: Let me ask you about nuclear power. Now, among other things, this reports is proposing to double the number of nuclear reactors at power plants that are already licensed by the federal government. But at this point, there is no place to store (the waste). As you know, there's been a location at Yucca Mountain in Nevada for 15 years. The Democrats and Republicans have been arguing over that. How can you build more nuclear power plants if there is no agreement over where the waste goes?

NORTON: Nuclear power is something that currently supplies 20 percent of our electricity in this country. I think that's something that most people really don't understand, how large of a supply we have already been utilizing and how much that has become a routine part of our electricity industry.

WOODRUFF: But I'm asking about the waste.

NORTON: Yes, we do have waste as an issue that has to be tackled. It's something that we take seriously to tackle as a future issue and that's something that we will have to be a carefully thought out process over the coming years.

WOODRUFF: But to say now this is something that should be done without resolving that -- is that somewhat misleading to suggest that building more nuclear plants can be a solution when know there is no place to put the waste?

NORTON: We can look, I think, at expansions to places that are our current nuclear plants. And to look at those places at those sites where we are currently storing the waste. Obviously, that's not the ideal solution. We really do need to have a long-term solution to it. And it is something that -- that we have to have. But it's something that we also should not put off for the next 20 or 25 years. It's something that we ought to begin tackling now.

WOODRUFF: As secretary of the interior, you heard what the vice president had to say a couple of weeks ago when he said conservation may be a good personal virtue, but it's not going to be a centerpiece of this plan. Today, the plan says conservation will be an important part of our overall energy strategy. Which is it, and was the vice president wrong or misleading when he said what he did?

NORTON: Conservation is an important part of our strategy. It's not the only solution. We have to have both sides of it. We have to increase supply and reduce demand. Both of those have to happen. And it cannot be just one or the other. And that's why this report has been a comprehensive report looking at both sides. We want to be environmentally responsible and see that we're putting in place conservation measurings.

I've directed my department to conserve energy. The other agencies are following through on the president's directive to do that. We're looking at ways of using alternative technologies at using the real technological innovations that are available to us in this century. And to try to have that in service of both conservation and in service of finding sources of energy both of those are going to be areas that we will be expanding.