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As all of you know better than anyone, America is facing serious energy challenges today - and potentially far more serious problems in the future, if we don't act now to avert them. The California blackouts were a wake-up call to a complacent nation - and the Bush Administration is working hard on every front to answer that call. We understand perfectly well that America wants to clean power - environmentally sensible power - but at the same time, we can't forget - American wants power, and America needs power. Now, some critics of the Administration have been eager to make hay out of our alleged indifference to the potential for energy conservation. They couldn't be more wrong. I think this Administration has the right attitude about conservation. Energy conservation isn't a matter of self-sacrifice, of doing without things that we all need and want. Sound energy conservation is about eliminating waste, and saving money and resources at the same time. And we're all for that. But at the same time, we all recognize that conservation alone won't suffice. We need to do more to meet the needs of an energy-dependent economy. Given the supply problems we face, we can't afford to ignore opportunities for conservation - but we also can't afford to ignore the need for improvements in the process of developing and permitting new sources of energy. That's why President Bush, acting on the recommendation of the National Energy Policy Development Group, created a White House task force, which I am chairman of, which brings together every federal agency involved in the review and permitting of energy related projects. That task force is charged with conducting a top-to-bottom review of federal procedures in order to find ways to expedite the review of permits for projects that will increase the production, transmission, and conservation of energy, while maintaining safety, public health, and environmental protections. And the scope of our review won't be limited to federal procedures - while our authority is, of course, limited, we will examine ways to assist state, tribal and local governments in improving their permitting procedures as well. Although our authority is limited to federal projects, we realize the answers to these problems need to be developed in conjunction with other levels of government, as well as businesses, academia, and non-governmental organizations, and we intend to have an open and inclusive process that works with all interested parties. And I'm very pleased to be able to say that the Western Governors' Association has been very supportive of this process, and the Administration recently signed a MOU with the western governors that will increase our cooperation on these efforts. We're just
beginning to get the task force up and running, with representatives from
key federal agencies [Energy, Interior, EPA, Agriculture, Transportation]
and a full-time staff. And the very first action of the task force has
been to solicit input from the public about the scope of its work, and
specific projects that we should look at. So let me extend that invitation
to all of you, personally, right now. No one knows more about this issue
than the people in this room, and we'd be very interested in hearing about
your experiences and your suggestions for ways to improve the process. Excerpted
from Speech to: |
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White House | Council on Environmental Quality | Department of Energy Comments? Questions? Feedback? Contact Task Force |
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