President Bush is expected to stress the need for greater conservation and energy efficiency when he introduces his long-anticipated energy plan to the nation this Thursday, but this will be only half of his message. He also will propose significant upgrades to the country’s aging energy infrastructure to boost supplies of natural gas, electricity, nuclear energy and coal.

“I think it [conservation, efficiency] is actually an important issue, and I think there will be a lot of discussion” on these issues in the president’s speech and the Cabinet-level energy task force’s report, which is due out this week, said Martin Edwards, director of legislative affairs for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA). But conservation and energy efficiency are “only half of the solution” to the energy fix that the nation is in, he noted, adding that “they alone are not going to get you where you need to go.”

Edwards believes that Vice President Dick Cheney “was dead on on this issue” when he said that conservation and energy efficiency by themselves won’t be enough to cure the country’s energy ills. Cheney, who has headed up the task force’s three-month effort to develop a national energy policy, favors aggressive development of new energy supplies and improvements in the existing infrastructure as well.

The task force’s expected emphasis on conservation and efficiency isn’t a last-minute decision, he said. “I think it was always in there [task force report]. I think they’re highlighting it now because they’re getting so beat up” over these issues by environmentalists and other critics.

Edwards thinks a renewed emphasis on conservation and energy efficiency can reduce energy demand nationwide and in California, but the task won’t be easy. “It’s very difficult to get the average person focused on these issues, but when they are focused it can make a big difference.” In California, “the only thing that I think that can help in the short term is to urge Californians to conserve,” he said, “but that’s a hard thing to do in a state where air conditioning is considered a god-given right.”

The Bush plan is expected to offer tax incentives to encourage companies and the public to take conservation/energy efficiency more seriously.

Edwards said he isn’t expecting the Bush speech or the task force report to outline many recommendations to provide relief to California in the short term. Aside from conservation, “there’s not a lot you can do,” Edwards said. “Infrastructure issues are at the heart of the energy problems, and they will take time.”

Bush will unveil his energy plan Thursday in St. Paul, MN, after touring a heating plant that uses renewable fuels and efficient technologies. His speech will be based on the energy task force’s report, which will make recommendations to Congress and federal agencies on the direction they should take to resolve the nation’s growing energy crisis.

INGAA, which represents interstate gas pipelines, anticipates Bush will recommend that federal agencies — such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — engage in “coordinated” permitting of gas pipes. “As it is now, pipelines are playing shuttle diplomacy between eight different agencies,” Edwards said. “The goal isn’t to circumvent [or roll back] the environmental laws. It’s simply to coordinate the permitting agencies to save time.”

The group also expects Bush to recommend that streamlining of the certification process for gas pipelines be made a “higher profile issue” at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Edwards pointed out there already is strong support for the pipeline issues in Congress. Similar measures were contained in the Senate Republican and Democratic comprehensive energy bills that were introduced earlier this year. Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) is scheduled to roll out a House energy bill today.

He also thinks Bush will propose opening the coastal region of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling. Moreover, he believes there’s a good chance Bush will address the construction of a long-line natural gas pipeline from Alaska. “I don’t think including this [in the task force report] hurts them. I think it’s a no-brainer.”

In addition, Edwards said he expects the president to call for greater land access for producers in the Lower 48 states, such as in the Rocky Mountain region.

On the electric side, construction of new power transmission lines will be high on the Bush agenda, he believes, as well as quicker construction of generation and transmission facilities. Toward this aim, Edwards said he expects the Bush administration to give FERC the power of eminent domain in the siting of new transmission facilities. “I think this will be in there.”

It also will propose that the nation begin the task of constructing 1,300 to 1,900 power generation facilities over the next two decades.

Edwards said he’s not looking to Bush or the energy task force to favor one energy fuel over another for the future. “I think it’s going to be relatively fuel neutral” in that it will advocate a lot of options — coal, nuclear, renewable fuel, electricity and natural gas. He also expects to see recommendations addressing the construction of new refining capacity.

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