For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 17, 2001
Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
Aboard Air Force One En Route Minneapolis, Minnesota
9:28 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Stop me if you have
all of this already. I just want to give you a little color
and background. First stop, which will be a 20-minute stop,
10:00 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. Minnesota Time, the President is going to tour
District Energy. District Energy uses innovative combined
heat and power technologies to burn coal, natural gas, oil and
renewables, such as wood biomass, to provide low-cost heating to 146
large buildings and 298 single-family residences in downtown St. Paul.
Through cogeneration of steam and electricity
-- that's where hot water is boiled to create heat and steam for the
process -- is captured to create more electricity, it helps power the
system with very high efficiency ratings.
The
high-tech system was chosen by the President. He wanted to
go to a high-tech system like this because it demonstrates something in
his plan, which is how conventional fuels can be used in conjunction
with renewable resources in a high efficiency system to provide
low-cost, reliable power. So that's a 20-minute tour.
Then, from 10:45 a.m. to approximately 11:15
a.m., the President will deliver his remarks. And that will
be a the Capital City Partnership, which was founded by St. Paul Mayor
Norm Coleman, which is a coalition of leaders dedicated to promoting
and developing the city's downtown area. That's where you
will get the message -- it will be delivered there.
And then the President will depart; filing
stays behind. Andrew Lundquist, who is a senior
administration official, will stay behind, be available to answer any
additional questions you might have. And then from 5:00 p.m.
to 5:30 p.m. in Iowa, the President will visit another facility that is
cutting-edge and shows an element of his plan, using renewables in a
way that generates electricity to energy for consumers. And
that's the Iowa Energy Center. It's a high-tech research facility that
works to bridge the gap between laboratory research and real-world
applications. It's called BECON, which -- well, the Iowa
Energy Center created a program called BECON, which is Biomass Energy
Conservation. And they use biomass to produce energy.
The Iowa Energy Center also leads the state in
providing accurate, usable information on wind and solar
research. So these are cutting-edge ways of generating power
through alternative resources. The President's budget and
the President's energy plan provide incentives for the development of
alternative fuels. That's the program.
Q Ari, I'm curious as
to why -- when the primary message of this report, as I've read it so
far -- is that energy efficiency, reliance on renewables and even
conservation really can't solve what is the energy problem in the
United States, so the President is going out of his way to put together
photo opportunities at places that don't deal with the central
recommendation of the report.
MR.
FLEISCHER: As you'll hear in the President's remarks
themselves, the President's going to talk about a broad energy policy
that's comprehensive, that relies on conservation, innovation, new
technologies and production, as well as modernization of the
infrastructure. He's going to put it in very plain ways,
too. He's going to talk about when it comes to
infrastructure, the President is going to talk about how people want to
know that there is a way to get energy from the power plant to the
flick of a switch. And that requires infrastructure.
So all that is going to be discussed in the
President's remarks. The President thinks it's important to
remind Americans that there are new, cutting-edge technologies that are
innovative, that focus on -- something you've heard him talk about
often -- which is technology is the solution to a lot of America's
problems as things become more efficient, as alternative fuels can be
developed. So he's going to highlight that which is newest.
Q And I understand the
talking points. But what I'm asking is, is there a sense
that politically, it's important to demonstrate that there is a
commitment to conservation? Do people think that he just
wants to drill for oil in ANWR? Is there a perception
problem? Because, again, I'm reading the
report. You're talking about the balanced approach; I
understand that. But even the report spells out clearly that high
technology, use of renewables, energy efficiency will not solve the
supply problem.
MR.
FLEISCHER: Well, it's because the President understands that
conservation is very important. And when a president speaks
of conservation, it can inspire millions of Americans to make good
decisions so they, too, conserve. So the President wants to focus on
things in here that are new, that are cutting-edge, and that's why he's
visiting St. Paul today.
Q On the nuclear provisions, polls show a
majority of Americans, 60 percent or whatever, have consistently
opposed an expansion of nuclear power. How do you go about
changing that or winning acceptance for that push?
MR. FLEISCHER: There has been such
a change in nuclear power in the last 20, 30 years in this
country. There is new nuclear power. And the very
fact that one out of five homes in America can't turn on their lights
without nuclear power is a reminder of how our nation does use nuclear
power.
In France, for example, 80 percent of
electricity comes from nuclear power. So the President understands
that technology, safety, modernization, means that nuclear power can be
an environmentally friendly and safe part of America's energy mix.
Q Apparently, that
message has not sunk in with the public at large. Do you
recognize a selling job is necessary?
MR.
FLEISCHER: If presidents lead by polls when it comes to
energy, America's lights will slowly go out. To solve the
energy problem, it requires a president who will lead the nation, who
will make proposals that focus on conservation, modernization,
production, so that a serious problem can be solved in a way that the
American people look to leaders to solve.
Q Ari, when resident talks about all these new
technologies today, will there be any assurances that his plan will
offer short-term relief that people on the Hill are demanding?
MR. FLEISCHER: As I said, really,
throughout the week, the President's program provides relief in the
short term and the long term.
Q Is he going to talk about that? I
mean, talk about this spot market and the impact on the markets that
you were discussing yesterday?
MR.
FLEISCHER: The President's going to talk about a
comprehensive energy plan to help solve the problem.
Q Will we see the
President go to a refinery, or will he go sit on an oil pipeline to
talk about this? I mean, no, seriously -- like -- as far as,
I know that's the emphasis of the report. Will we see him
going to places like that, that are controversial as far as
environmentalists and other people are concerned?
MR. FLEISCHER: We'll keep you
filled in on future trips.
Q Ari, would you at least concede that there is
a perception problem about the President's intention? Does
he have a tough sales job to do here?
MR.
FLEISCHER: I think after all the years of a lack of a
national energy policy, whoever is president, who took on this issue
has a challenge, because energy has been so neglected. And,
again, the President's not focused on polls, the President's not
focused on perceptions; he's focused on addressing something that's
very serious so people's lights don't go out.
Q Just to be clear, so you're saying that public
sentiment was not factored in at all when it came to a question of what
to emphasize in this approach to energy?
MR.
FLEISCHER: Let me repeat what I just said: The
President is not --
Q I
heard what you said, Ari. So you're saying that public
sentiment was not taken into account at all in terms of emphasis?
MR. FLEISCHER: If you want to
engage in a monologue, feel free. But I'm answering your --
Q I'm asking you a
question, Ari. And you dodged the other one, so I'm asking
it again.
MR. FLEISCHER: I will
repeat the answer I gave. If you don't like it, you can live
your monologue.
Q I'm
just trying to get to the answer. Did you read Jimmy
Carter's editorial in The Washington Post this morning? He
had some real critical words for you and for the administration about
how you've been characterizing this energy "crisis," and the
prescriptions that you guys are talking about.
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, the
President's focus is going to be on a comprehensive plan that addresses
the issue and gets it solved.
Q What's your reaction to a former president's
criticism of how you're handling this?
MR.
FLEISCHER: This nation, for many years, has not had a
serious energy policy that was focused on comprehensive solutions, and
that's what the President's focus will be.
Q Is it Jimmy Carter's
fault? He
seemed to be suggesting that.
MR.
FLEISCHER: The President is not interested in pointing
fingers or placing blame. The President's interested in
solving the problem.
Q Can I just follow on that real
quick? When we interviewed the Vice President and when the
Vice President talked to lawmakers yesterday, he's had some pretty
pointed words for the past administration about not addressing this
problem and really talks in critical tones about that. So he
is looking behind and sort of pointing fingers. So why can
we sometimes --
MR.
FLEISCHER: Again, there's a difference between placing blame
and stating some of that as factual about the nation has not had an
energy policy for many years. If you remember the very end
of the Clinton administration, Gene Sperling convened some meetings
about the California problem. They tried to address it; they
decided not to have price controls.
In
September and October, of course, as the energy issue became more than
a campaign issue, the administration faced it. Their
decision was to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The
problem has been a long time coming. Solutions have not been focused
on in any type of comprehensive way until now.
Q Ari, does the
President, or has he ever talked about feeling like he gets stereotyped
because he's an oil man? Has he ever discussed that?
MR.
FLEISCHER: No. Again, the President's focus is on
the policy, and that's why he's proud that he instantly took this issue
on as President, and immediately upon becoming President, he
acted. I think, frankly --
Q Does he have a hurdle to -- because of his oil
background?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think
the American people are grateful to have a President who, immediately,
from day one identified this as problem that needed a solution, and
that they have a president who is willing to take on this issue because
people don't want their lights to go out, people don't want to pay
sky-high bills, they don't want to pay $2 for gas, and they know they
need to look to someone who will demonstrate leadership to help get the
job done.
Q He feels
like his oil background has helped him understand the situation maybe
in a way he wouldn't have understood if he didn't have that history?
MR. FLEISCHER: I've not heard the
President reflect -- I mean, I've heard the President talk about the
policies --
Q But
you're an image-maker and you're sort of a wordsmith. You've
never -- you guys have never sat down and thought, wow, there could be
a problem that the President, the Vice President, the Chief of Staff --
I mean, 25 people in your administration come from the energy and auto
industry -- never thought that this could be problematic as you put
together an energy plan that focuses mostly on supply and mostly on
industry? That's never been discussed in the White House?
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, if you look
at the number of recommendations in here that deal with alternatives,
that deal with renewables, there are a series of proposals on those
items to increase the use of alternatives and renewables. And so
that's part of his comprehensive approach.
Q Do you think it was ever discussed, what
perception it might cause, since there are so many people that come
from there, that never gets talked about?
MR.
FLEISCHER: I guess you just have to get used to a different
way of doing business. This administration is focused much
more on policy and solving problems.
Q We're not saying you have, but you're just
saying we ought to focus on something else.
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm just saying that's where the President's
focus is.
Q Why can't
you answer that with a yes or no answer?
MR.
FLEISCHER: I'm sharing with you the President's focus.
Q But his question is a
pretty simple one; either a yes or no.
MR.
FLEISCHER: If you're asking me to say is there a problem,
and I'm telling you the problem the President --
Q We're asking you if
he's ever even talked about it. I mean, people have written
about this, done editorials. We've done a story on it; many
people have done stories on this. Have you guys ever talked
about the problem that this could cause? I mean, you guys
are about to shop an enormous change in United States policy.
MR. FLEISCHER: The President's
focus is on his policies.
Q Can I get an answer? I didn't hear
your answer to his question about whether we'll ever see him do one of
these events at an oil refinery or a pipeline --
MR. FLEISCHER: I think he said
sitting on a pipeline.
Q Sitting at a pipe -- at a refinery or --
MR. FLEISCHER: And my answer was if
we have future events, we'll fill you in.
Q Ari, is the President going to use the bully
pulpit to ask Americans to conserve more? Is he going to
lead the effort and say Americans need to use less energy than they do
now?
MR. FLEISCHER: In the
President's remarks today, he will talk about the values and the
benefits of conservation.
Q Will he ask people to be more conscious with
the energy they use? Turn off the lights, turn down the heat, that
kind of thing?
MR.
FLEISCHER: You're going to get texts of the speech,
distribute it so you'll have it; also, we'll have it available for
everybody. No, no. What I'm saying is you'll hear
it in the way the President says it, and I think you can draw your
conclusion from the way he says it.
Q We're just all a
little bit confused, because it seems that there is such a -- I mean,
you read that report, you talk to Dick Cheney, you talk to Lundquist,
you talk to anybody in this administration, and it really is supply,
supply, supplying and production, that these are the problems, these
are the solutions.
Yet, what you guys talk
about in the forums that you promote this thing, all about conservation
and renewables, I mean, why is that? Why are you talking
about one thing --
MR.
FLEISCHER: Well, take a look at California, for example.
Governor Davis's part of the solution that he's identified to the
state's energy woes has emphasized the importance of bringing on the
new power plants this summer. So, clearly, supply, production is a
part of anybody, regardless of their political party's mix to solve
this problem. Conservation plays an important role.
But in answer to the question, the President
wants to visit here because it's technology-driven, it's cutting-edge,
and so therefore, he's visiting it.
Q But do you acknowledge that you're emphasizing
something that's deemphasized in the report? And it just --
I'm really confused.
MR.
FLEISCHER: You're bouncing it every which way you want, and
my answer remains the same.
Q What do you say to the Sierra Club that says
it would be more honest for you to go visit the sooty coal
plant? I mean, why not answer that question,
then? The Sierra Club is running ads in each of the cities
that the President visits today and tomorrow, saying it would be more
honest to visit the coal-burning plant and the nuke Three Mile Island?
MR. FLEISCHER: The Sierra Club
would not turn its back on valuable efforts that rely on technology and
innovation to produce renewables.
Q Ari, let's put it this way. You
clearly agree that the major emphasis of this report is on increasing
supply of energy. Is that right?
MR. FLEISCHER: The emphasis of this report is
comprehensive. It's focused on conservation, it's focused on
modernization, it's focused on supply. At the front of the
report, there is a table that lays out how Americans choose to use
their energy.
Q When
the President makes remarks about this, it's true, isn't it, that he
emphasizes supply. Isn't that right?
MR. FLEISCHER: You can make your
own inference about what he emphasizes when you hear it.
Q It's not inference, I
mean, it's yes or no. I mean --
MR.
FLEISCHER: -- he emphasizes a comprehensive approach.
Q What does the
President do, personally, in the Residence, or what are you guys going
to do in the White House to set an example of conservation?
MR. FLEISCHER: A few weeks ago,
when the President announced the instructions to the Department of
Defense and other federal facilities to cut back on energy use,
particularly in high-peak states, high-peak moments, and in areas that
are most affected, he announced a 30-day review, and we're in the
middle of the 30-day review.
Q But you know yet how it might specifically
affect the White House as an example for America --
MR. FLEISCHER: Still in the middle
of a 30-day review.
Q Is he asking you guys to drive slower, get
different cars? Turn off lights?
Q Turn off your light?
Q Quit using your computer, use paper?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think that's a
great question for people who are driven in SUVs to events to extol the
values of conservation.
Q We're flying on biomass today. Did
you know that? (Laughter.) One more thing on
conservation. Does he stand by the Vice President's comments
about that, that conservation is a personal virtue, but is not the
foundation of any serious energy policy?
MR.
FLEISCHER: What the Vice President said was conservation is
a virtue, and that conservation, alone, is not a comprehensive policy.
Q Does he stand by your
comment about -- you know, a lot has been made since you've said it
about the American way of life being a blessed way and that policy
makers have a responsibility to protect it. Have you talked
to him about that comment?
MR.
FLEISCHER: Sure.
Q And he agrees that our energy-guzzling --
MR. FLEISCHER: And he believes that
we can have a balanced program, a comprehensive program that encourages
conservation and does so in a way that maintains the American standard
of living.
Thanks, everybody.
Q Are we in a
crisis? Energy crisis?
MR.
FLEISCHER: If your lights went out, it's a
crisis. If you're in any areas that's hit by blackouts, it's
a crisis. As soon as those lights go out, you are in a
crisis.
Q And
nationally?
Q --
country to be in a crisis?
MR.
FLEISCHER: It has a risk of becoming a national crisis. But
certainly, many areas of the country --
Q How do you guys
define a crisis? I
mean, seriously -- because there was sort of this talk -- what happens
when there is one?
MR.
FLEISCHER: It's very common-sensical. If you're
in an area of the country where your lights went out, you are in a
crisis. That means your hot water won't run, that means you
may not have gas, or you may not have a stove or oven that works,
depending on if it's electricity-driven as opposed to
gas-driven. It means if you're in a hot area, your air
conditioner might not work, and you have -- you get overheated in the
apartment. If it's wintertime, it means you can be -- the
apartment is too cold. And for those people, that is a
crisis.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
9:45 A.M. EDT
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