For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 3, 2001
Remarks by the President, Secretary of Energy Abraham and Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz After Energy Advisors Meeting
The Roosevelt Room
1:55 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank you
all for coming today. I've assembled a team within my
administration, in particular, the Secretary of Energy, as well as the
Deputy Secretary of Defense, to discuss energy.
As the country knows, we're in the process of
developing a comprehensive energy plan that will work to increase
supplies, as well as encourage conservation. This is a
long-run solution to the energy problems we now face.
This administration is deeply concerned about
California and its citizens. We're worried about blackouts
that may occur this summer. And we want to be a part of any
solutions. Since I became sworn-in, we've been working with
the state of California to provide regulatory relief to encourage an
increase in the amount of supplies available for the consumers in that
state.
Today, I am instructing all agencies, federal
agencies, to reduce their peak hour electricity use in the state of
California. And the Secretary of Energy will be traveling to
the state today to consult with the governor of the state of
California, as well as work with our respective agencies in that
state.
Secondly, I am pleased to report that the
Secretary of Defense, after a careful review, believes that this
Department, which has got a large presence in the state of California,
can reduce peak hour usage by 10 percent -- and can do so without
harming military readiness.
We're also -- and the Secretary is going to
make it clear to the officials in the state of California that should
Governor Davis, or any other governor, for that matter -- request power
generating units owned by the federal government, they'll be available
to help in the case of an emergency.
As well, FEMA, under Joe Allbaugh, is
developing plans to help states that do face blackouts, to make sure
the citizenry doesn't get harmed in any way.
This is a serious situation in the state of
California. And as I said from the very beginning of my
administration, we'll work to help California in any way we
can. And the best way we can is to be good
citizens. So I want to appreciate very much, Mr. Secretary,
all your work, and I know you'd like to say a few words.
SECRETARY ABRAHAM: I'll be
brief. As I think everybody knows from the very first day of
this administration, the President has directed me and other members of
the administration to work with California and respond to requests they
have made -- whether it's to extend emergency orders, to make sure
electricity and natural gas was provided, or to try to expedite permits
so that new energy supply could be brought on line, we have done that
consistently.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has,
of course, also ordered refunds where charges were unjust and
excessive. We want to continue to play the role that we can
to try to avert the most serious crisis confronting California, which
is the now-anticipated 30 to 35 rolling blackouts that may hit the
state during various peak periods this summer.
Today, I'll be traveling to California, I'll
be meeting with the governor and then in the morning, with the
representatives of all the federal facilities of the state to talk
about ways that we can and to implement a plan to begin to reduce peak
load usage at our federal facilities, so that we can play our part in
trying to make sure we avert, to the degree we possibly can, blackouts
this summer.
We consider this to be a top priority of the
Department, so we're going to be maintaining close vigilance on those
efforts and the agencies in California will be reporting back to me in
30 days on the measures they're taking to help make sure we achieve our
objectives.
THE PRESIDENT: And we have with us
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
DEPUTY SECRETARY WOLFOWITZ: The
Department of Defense, I think, consumes roughly 1 percent of
California's peak load, which does make us probably the largest single
consumer in the state. And we are going to do our part to
try to mitigate the energy shortage through a combination of
conservation, power generation and investment in energy efficient
methods.
With this initiative that the Secretary will
be announcing -- Secretary Rumsfeld will be announcing this afternoon,
we are focusing on reducing peak loads in California. And we
plan by this summer to achieve a 10 percent reduction in our total
electricity load from the California commercial grid during peak demand
hours. That's a 10 percent reduction from the levels of 12
months before.
We're going to work down, hopefully by summer
of next year, we'll be 15 percent below peak loads of a year
ago. Ultimately, our investments should make some 200
megawatts of additional power available in California, the equivalent
of building a 200 megawatt power plant. But 75 percent of
that 200 megawatts will come from energy efficiencies; 25 percent will
come from new power sources, including some fairly innovative ones,
among them, hooking up the idle wind generation plant in the California
desert to Edwards Air Force Base.
We'll be investing $32 million this fiscal
year and $19 million in fiscal year '02. That $50 million
investment should leverage almost $300 million from additional private
sector investment and produce about $25 million a year in savings for
Department of Defense operations when we're finished.
So as the President said, this not only
provides energy efficiency for California, but frees up some funds to
improve the operation of our bases in the state, as well.
Q Mr. President, are
you asking federal agencies nationwide to cut back? And what
will the White House do?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think we
ought to ask all agencies to review energy policy. We're
focused right now on California because that's a state that's going to
suffer blackouts. But we've always got to be mindful of
being energy efficient.
And since I've asked other agencies to review
their policy, I'm going to ask the White House to do the
same. Chief of Staff Andy Card has done just that
today. We want to be good, efficient users of energy here in
the White House.
Stretch.
Q Mr. President, your
energy team is preparing a long-term report and the Vice President
earlier this week gave a speech in Toronto that really, frankly, gave
short shrift to the concept of conservation and concentrated, instead,
on exploration, finding new ways to get natural gas pipelines built.
Will conservation be a primary
focus of the long-term plan, or is this really just something that's
for the here and now and the short-term in California?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think
conservation has got to be an integral part of making sure we've got a
reasonable energy policy. But what the Vice President was
saying is we can't conserve our way to energy independence; nor can we
conserve our way to having enough energy available. So we've
got to do both. We must conserve, but we've also got to find
new sources of energy.
I haven't seen the final report yet, but I
suspect the American people will find a balanced
approach. But what people need to hear, loud and clear, is
that we're running out of energy in America. And it is so
important for this nation to improve its infrastructure so we can not
only deliver supplies, but we need to go find new supply.
And I strongly believe we can do so in an
environmentally friendly way. This nation is confronted with
a major problem. And this administration is going to be
honest with the American people about the nature of the problem and
we're going to come up with some solutions. And it's going
to take a lot of political will for people to buck some of the trends
that somehow believe -- who believe that without finding additional
supplies of energy, this nation is going to be okay.
Q If I could follow-up,
sir? Will there be a more prominent role for nuclear power,
as part of your plan?
THE PRESIDENT: You must wait until
the report comes out, because I'm going to have to, too, until I see
the final copy. But I would suggest that what this nation
needs to do is review all options.
John.
Q Sir, the Vice
President seemed to be saying on Monday that Americans were already
pretty energy efficient, so there's not much to be gained by
conservation. Do you agree with that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I agree that
we've made great strides in energy efficiency; home building materials
are more efficient. But we just found a place where we can
reduce energy during peak hours by 10 percent. We must
continue to find.
But what the Vice President and I understand
is that you cannot conserve your way to energy
independence. We can do a better job in conservation, but we
darn sure have to do a better job of finding more supply. It
is naive for the American people and its -- and those who purport to
speak for the American people, some of those, to say that we can be
okay from an energy perspective by only focusing on
conservation. We've got to find additional supplies of
energy.
One thing this administration will do is we're
going to do our part when it comes to conservation in the state of
California. But we will be honest with the American
people. And the American people need to have an honest
assessment of the issues this country faces, not only short-term, but
long-term. And that's exactly what the Vice President was
saying the other day in Canada. And this report will be that
way.
Steve, final question.
Q Sir, on the China
policy, could you -- could I ask you to explain what happened yesterday
with the Rumsfeld order, and what will it take now to have
military-to-military exchanges with the Chinese?
THE PRESIDENT: In terms of what
they call the tick-tock, you need to talk to the folks at the Defense
Department. But what the Secretary was rightly doing was
saying that we're going to review all opportunities to interface with
the Chinese. And if it enhances our relationship, it might
make sense. If it's a useless exercise and it doesn't make
the relationship any better, then we won't do that.
But each opportunity will be reviewed on a
case-by-case basis. That makes sense. We've only
been in office for 104 days. We've got to review all policy
that we inherited.
But what the Chinese must understand is that
we'll be firm in our philosophy, consistent in our beliefs and we want
to work to have a relationship that is a positive relationship for both
countries.
Q Do you feel better
after seeing Foreign Minister Peres this morning?
THE PRESIDENT: Had a good visit
with him.
Q -- better after
talking to him?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, he's an
optimistic person. And I was so pleased that Mr. Peres came
by. I don't know what his statements were like to the press,
but he leaves knowing full well this administration is actively engaged
at, first and foremost, trying to break the cycle of terrorism that
grips that part of the world.
But he gave me a very good assessment of how
he viewed the world. And he's always been an optimistic
person, so I do feel better having talked to him. He's a
fine statesman, as well.
Q Thank you, Mr.
President.
2:06 P.M. EDT
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