Copyright 2001 The San Diego Union-Tribune The San
Diego Union-Tribune
April 10, 2001, Tuesday
SECTION: NEWS;Pg. A-1
LENGTH:
707 words
HEADLINE: White House urges energy
spending cuts
BYLINE: Toby Eckert; COPLEY NEWS
SERVICE
BODY: WASHINGTON -- Despite
dire warnings of a new energy crisis, the Bush administration yesterday proposed
slashing federal spending on conservation programs and renewable energy.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham defended the proposal,
saying the targeted programs were not producing enough benefits and that the
administration wanted to bolster more successful initiatives, like home
weatherization.
Energy conservation groups said the
cuts would gut programs that are saving billions of dollars a year in energy
costs and would worsen the very power shortages Abraham and President Bush have
been warning the country about. The administration also reportedly is weighing
whether to delay or roll back new energy-efficiency standards for air
conditioners and other appliances.
Experts have said
conservation efforts are a key to lessening the blackouts that are expected to
hit California this summer, and state officials have urged residents to cut
power use.
The detailed budget blueprint for fiscal
year 2002 that Bush submitted to Congress would cut federal energy efficiency
and renewable energy programs by more than $200 million from current levels.
Some of the programs affected include solar and wind-power development and
efforts to cut energy consumption at commercial and government buildings.
"We decided that it made little sense to continue forward
with programs that had not helped us avert the energy crisis we confronted,"
Abraham said in unveiling the Energy Department budget. "Instead of spending a
huge amount of additional taxpayer money in areas we did not see as being highly
productive at this point, we thought it made sense to step back."
Critics said Abraham was understating the benefits of the
programs to further the Bush administration's strategy of expanding development
and use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. They also suggested the
programs were being sacrificed to make way for Bush's proposed $1.6 trillion tax
cut.
"It is bald-faced hypocrisy to argue that we are
worried about an energy crisis and to cut the programs that have had the single
biggest effect on reducing energy consumption," said Hal Harvey, president of
The Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that promotes alternative
energy sources and conservation.
The Alliance to Save
Energy estimated that the targeted programs cut energy costs by more than $25
billion a year.
Abraham said the administration was
"absolutely committed" to conservation and efficiency measures and that they
would "play a key role" as a White House task force devises a national energy
policy.
He characterized the proposed cuts as "a
transitional step that gives us the opportunity to come back in future budgets
with a new set of priorities that will help us to overcome the energy crisis we
face."
The administration has proposed boosting
alternative energy programs by $1.2 billion beginning in 2004 -- but only if
Congress approves oil and natural gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. There is strong opposition to that in Congress.
Abraham touted the administration's proposal to increase funding for a
grant program to make homes more energy efficient. The program would grow by
$120 million next year and by $1.4 billion over 10 years under Bush's plan.
The administration also has proposed extending tax credits
for wind and solar power projects, increasing research into energy derived from
organic biomass material by $30 million and spending $150 million on a new
clean-coal technology program.
Just as Bush has in the
past, Abraham cautioned that there are no quick fixes to the nation's energy
woes. He also defended the administration's response to the crisis in
California, saying the problem had festered under the Clinton administration.
"In the one month in which a Bush-appointed chairman was
in charge of (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), they began making
refunds," Abraham said, referring to FERC's threat to order power providers to
repay California utilities for alleged overcharges.
California officials say FERC consistently has underestimated the
amount that should be refunded and that it has taken far too long to act.
Document 102 of 116. 