Bush unveils national energy plan

President Bush unveils his long-term energy proposal Thursday in St. Paul, Minnesota

May 17, 2001
Web posted at: 1:44 PM EDT (1744 GMT)

	RESOURCE
Lesson plan for parents and educators -- Click here

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) -- Saying "if we fail to act, this country could face a darker future," President Bush unveiled a national energy strategy Thursday to battle what the White House calls "the most serious energy shortage since the oil embargoes of the 1970s."

The plan, which is likely to face a battle in Congress, calls on federal agencies to take dramatic steps to encourage more output from coal-fired plants, recommends the construction of more than 1,300 new power plants and calls for new oil and gas exploration -- including some on federal lands.

"My administration has developed a sane national plan to meet our energy needs this year and every year," the president said in what the White House billed as a major address on energy policy. He promised a plan "that faces up to our energy challenges and meets them."

DETAILS Read Bush's energy plan     RESOURCES Compare Bush's energy plan with Clinton's energy initatives Power generation Residential gas prices World energy consumption World electricity consumption Global oil production Pricing gasoline Gas budget calculator What's happening in California?    VIDEO CNN's Eileen O'Connor has more on using coal for electricity and its potential problems (May 17) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) The unlimited energy sources of wind and solar power cost more than others, for now. CNN's Natalie Pawelski reports (May 17) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

The president said the plan consisted of more than 100 recommendations "that light the way to a brighter future" by addressing both demand and supply.

Bush called for more domestic oil production, warning that "over-dependence on any one source of energy, especially a foreign source, leaves us open to price shocks ... and blackmail."

The president said oil underneath the U.S. national wildlife refuge in northern Alaska known as ANWAR, should be tapped to offset petroleum imports.

"ANWAR can produce 600,000 barrels of oil a day for the next 40 years," Bush said. "That happens to be the exact amount of oil we import from Iraq."

Bush also made a strong plea for the construction of new nuclear power plants, saying that France depends on nuclear power for 80 percent of its total electricity needs.

The plan has outraged environmental groups, which say they were excluded from talks in its development phase, but Bush said environmental considerations were part of the plan.

A return to the '70s?

The 163-page administration energy report suggests the country faces the worst energy crisis since the 1970s. In addition to an array of incentives for the energy industry, it also includes a package of tax and other stimuli designed to promote conservation, energy efficiency and wider development and use of alternative and renewable fuels.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who held office during the late 1970s, offered an opposing view to the Bush administration's depiction of the nation's energy supply in Thursday's Washington Post.

"No energy crisis exists now that equates in any way with those we faced in 1973 and 1979," Carter wrote. "World supplies are adequate and reasonably stable, price fluctuations are cyclical, reserves are plentiful and automobiles aren't waiting in line at service stations. Exaggerated claims seem designed to promote some long-frustrated ambitions of the oil industry at the expense of environmental quality."

Plan highlights

Making the case for a new long-term energy strategy -- and for a dramatic emphasis on supply, the report says that over the next 20 years: