The United States needs an integrated, aggressive, activist, long-term energy policy and the country needs it now, according to Mitch Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The nation needs it “although there still seems to be some people who do not have their eye on that ball, or even those who are taking an obstruction approach,” he said.

Speaking at the American Gas Association’s Natural Gas Roundtable in Washington, DC, last week, Daniels said the need for greater energy independence is now “graphically clear.” He added that even though people within the industry have known this for some time, now even “average Americans” can see the vulnerability of placing the United States’ energy needs in another country’s hands.

“This administration believes…that it has put forth a well conceived and balanced plan that takes important steps on the conservation front, on the demand side, but unavoidably and essentially on the supply side as well,” Daniels said. When asked if the drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) issue would ever be dropped from the GOP energy bill so as to attract Democratic approval, Daniels said, “Drilling in ANWR ought to happen and is very, very essential to the energy bill.”

Daniels said electricity’s future relies on affordable natural gas and the infrastructure to support gas delivery. “These things are very essential, they are immediate; they were on Sept. 10, but now they are even more so,” he said. “It is astonishing to me that anyone still wants to debate whether we ought to leave a billion b/d sitting in the ground that could be retrieved for the benefit of America’s future in an environmentally sensitive and safe manner. Be responsible, be balanced, be environmentally sensitive, but for goodness sakes be vocal.”

Speaking on the general economy, Daniels said he is hesitant when financial analysts say the economy could begin to rebound as early as the first quarter of 2002. Pointing out that expert advice can even be comforting when it’s wrong, the OMB director said he believes that there might be “reasons to worry” no matter how widespread the financial consensus is. “This may be harder, slower going than we want it to be, or need it to be,” he added.

Despite President Bush’s backing of further stimulus for the economy, Daniels said there are some wasteful ideas, particularly in the Senate, that could be holding up the stimulus plan. “I am hopeful that some of those will fall away, as they really need to, and it will get back to a centrist balance, at least a core package along the lines that the president proposed,” Daniels said. “We have to do what we can to make sure these positive [analyst] forecasts come true. The clock is ticking. We are in a time, I think, of some real peril until we recover our fiscal bearings.”

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