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President Uses Radio Address to Push Energy Agenda by Associated Press Capital Press - March 1, 2002

WASHINGTON(AP) -- U.S. President George W. Bush urged the Senate Feb. 23 to approve his proposal for curbing pollution and promoting energy efficiency, arguing it is the best way to shield American consumers from "wild swings in energy prices for the future."

Bush, just returned from a six-day foreign tour, used his weekly radio address to promote the energy plan he unveiled last week before taking off for Japan, South Korea and China.

He said his proposal would upgrade electric power lines, modernize other energy delivery systems and develop new technologyies, such as cars that are powered with hydrogen and emit water. Tax credits and other incentives will encourage devleopment of "renewable energy," such as wind and solar power and crop fuels, he said.

"Conservation technology and renewables are important. Yet they alone cannot solve our energy problems," Bush said. "We must also reduce America's dependence on foreign sources of oil by encouraging safe and clean exploration at home."

As part of its energy policy, the administration is particularly interested in opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil and gas drilling. That plan has hung up the president's energy package in the Senate, where lawmakers worry that drilling would spoil ANWR's environmental beauty.

Bush offered his proposal to reduce greenhouse gases as an alternative to the 1997 international agreement negotiated in Kyoto, Japan. That pact commits industrial nations to rolling back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels.

The Kyoto protocol was signed by the Clinton administration, but never ratified by the Senate. Bush backed out of it last year, saying it would have cost the U.S. economy $400 billion and 4.9 million jobs.