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Kitzhaber Delivers Lecture on Energy Conservation by Jeff Mapes, Staff Reporter The Oregonian, February 3, 2001

The governor tells the new energy secretary that conserving
should come before "drilling and digging"

Gov. John Kitzhaber entered the national energy debate Friday as he told the Bush administration the country must focus on conservation instead of relying primarily on "drilling and digging and burning."

The Oregon Democrat used the Western Governors' Conference energy summit in Portland as a forum to lecture the new energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, on the virtues of tough-minded conservation measures.

Kitzhaber argued that the federal government must tighten efficiency standards for everything from appliances to buildings to SUVs, which should be treated "as the cars they are, instead of giving them a special, lower standard for fuel efficiency."

Kitzhaber's speech rekindled some speculation about whether he was beginning to position himself for a 2002 campaign against U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., something the governor has not ruled out. But his chief of staff, Bill Wyatt, said that wasn't the intent of the speech.

And Kitzhaber said he was trying only to provide some advice for the new administration, although he said he was concerned about President Bush's focus on increasing oil and gas drilling.

"We need that (increased production), but I don't think our energy future in this country is going to be based on 19th- and 20th-century solutions," Kitzhaber said. He called for an "ethic that values the conserved kilowatt as much as the consumed kilowatt."

In his speech, Kitzhaber called "drilling and digging and burning" part of "the old vision of our energy security." He told Abraham the current crisis "offers us the best opportunity in 30 years to rethink our energy future."

The governor noted that the United States uses about twice as much energy per capita as does Germany, which he noted has a similar standard of living -- although he didn't note that most Germans live in smaller homes on smaller parcels of land.

Abraham didn't directly respond to Kitzhaber's comments and instead emphasized that the administration wanted to look at both production and conservation when developing an energy plan.

One clear difference between Kitzhaber and the Bush administration is the president's frequently stated support for opening part of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration.

Kitzhaber has been opposed, and he said in his speech that "there is no evidence that sacrificing our environmental quality or despoiling pristine public lands is required to ensure our long-term energy future.

"Even without opening up a single new acre of public land for exploration," Kitzhaber added, "it is hard to find an idle drilling rig for oil and natural gas in the West today."