the film forum library tutorial contact

Bush Opposes Capping Power Rates in West by Jim Barnett The Oregonian, February 6, 2001

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Monday that he would not invoke price caps to rein in sky-high electricity rates on the West Coast, but rather would explore ways to boost supplies, including importing power from Mexico.

Bush said he planned to raise the issue with Mexican President Vicente Fox during a visit this month. Electricity imports from Baja, Bush said, "would then be able to feed California, which would then take pressure off states like Oregon and Washington."

Meeting with reporters from regional newspapers, including The Oregonian, Bush discussed portions of an energy policy being developed under Vice President Cheney, including long-term solutions to the West Coast's electricity shortage.

Although Bush did not offer details of his plan for importing power from Mexico, he said it was part of a broader goal of boosting supplies of energy across the country to avoid another regional crisis.

"We need more product, and it doesn't matter where the product comes from," he said.

After talking about his plans for the meeting with Fox, Bush turned to a more controversial part of his energy agenda -- exploring on federal lands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, for oil and gas.

Environmentalists oppose drilling in the Alaska reserve, saying it would infringe on one of North America's last untouched natural areas. Bolstered by public opinion against drilling in the refuge, they plan to make it an early test of Bush's political resolve.

Bush acknowledged that his biggest challenge would be convincing a skeptical public. But he said he hoped to convince consumers that new domestic oil supplies could be developed while limiting the impact on a fragile environment.

"There is a lot of technological advancement that should assuage some people's doubts about our ability to have energy and keep the environment safe," Bush said. "We've just got a lot of selling to do and a lot of work to do.

"Our nation must explore," Bush added. "We've got to."

Bush's comments come on the heels of a West Coast energy summit held Thursday evening and Friday in Portland. Western governors, including several Republicans, called for federal intervention and caps on wholesale prices that have soared because of shortages in California.

At the summit, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told the governors that Bush would not support price caps. On Monday, Bush reaffirmed that, saying that price caps would not get to the root of the problem in California.

"Price caps, you know, it's a nice political, convenient thing to do," Bush said. "But it doesn't ultimately solve the problem, (which) is how to get more supplies into the Western grid so that Oregon and Washington and Idaho and Wyoming aren't the sole providers of electricity for the biggest consumer in the area."

Bush blames deregulation Bush laid blame for California's power problems on its deregulation of the electricity industry. The plan, he said, "did not allow for the price of retail electricity to move and yet deregulated wholesale on the assumption that the spot price for energy would forever decline."

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said the administration was "in denial" about the severity of the West Coast's electricity shortage. The administration's inaction, he said, would allow energy suppliers to continue profiting unfairly.

"There is no functioning market in wholesale electricity in the West," DeFazio said. "There is substantial agreement on that on the part of everyone except the Bush administration and the five energy companies that are ripping off the people of California and the Northwest."

Bush, however, expressed interest in an idea touted by DeFazio and other Northwest political leaders to give control of the federal Bonneville Power Administration to a regional body operated by Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Customers in the Northwest enjoy a legal right to "preference" to the BPA's low-cost hydropower. But a regional body, supporters say, would allow the states to retain control in the face of political pressure in Washington, D.C.

Bush said he didn't know that such a plan was being discussed in the region, but he said he was open to the idea.

"That's interesting," Bush said. "I need to listen to their argument."

Separately, Bush said he would not renew a federal order mandating shipments of BPA power to help ease the crisis in California. The latest two-week order expires at midnight Tuesday.

"People have got to understand that when President Bush tells you something, he means it," Bush said. "And when I said it's a two-week extension, period, I meant it." As he discussed energy policy, Bush gave a nod to the conservation movement, calling it "an incredibly important part of the mix." He suggested that recent high prices could provide the appropriate incentive.

"Conservation requires more than just somebody saying, 'Conserve,' " Bush said. "Part of conservation is, people understand there's an economic cost by not conserving."

Sara Patton, executive director of the Northwest Energy Coalition in Seattle, said she hoped the Bush administration would take a cue from states that require utilities to pay for conservation measures as a trade-off for deregulation.

Good conservation practices improve the energy efficiency of cars, homes and factories, Patton said. But politicians often confuse efficiency with cutbacks, and she has yet to hear of concrete conservation proposals from the White House.

"They're telling people to do without," Patton said. "That is not what conservation is about."