Bush: US Needs A Strategy To Cope With Energy Prices

By Alex Keto, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- In a sign he believes higher energy prices aren’t going away anytime soon, U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday the U.S. needs to devise a national energy strategy.

“We got a problem with energy. And it’s a problem that didn’t happen overnight. It’s a problem that’s been brewing for quite a while, because the country has yet to implement a strategy that will make us less dependent on foreign sources of energy,” Bush told the annual gathering of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington.

Bush noted that in Fort Hood, Texas, recently, a soldier asked him to lower the price of gasoline and Bush said he wished he could.

“I said the problem is that supplies are out of balance with demand when it comes to the major feedstock of gasoline, which is crude oil,” Bush said.

The president pointed to China and called it a country “that is growing like mad.” This growth is being powered, in part, by rising demand for crude oil which has placed new strains on global supplies, Bush said.

“That is one of the reasons why Americans are seeing over $2 gasoline, because the demand for energy in China is huge and supply around the world hasn’t kept up with the increase in demand,” Bush said.

Bush said the country must think “long term” about its energy supplies and pursue a variety of options including boosting conservation efforts, spending more on research and development, and encouraging the use of ethanol and biodiesel fuels.

As he has done in the past, Bush said it was high-time for Congress to pass his package of energy legislation.

“I know we need to continue to explore for natural gas in our own hemisphere in environmentally friendly ways. But Congress needs to get off the dime. I’m looking forward to working with them. And so one of the initiatives that I will push again is to get an energy bill out,” Bush said.

The one option Bush said he wasn’t interested in was giving oil companies more incentives because current prices are incentive enough.

“I will tell you, with $55 oil, we don’t need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. There’s plenty of incentive. What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country, over time, become less dependent, ” Bush said.

Bush is scheduled to give a major speech on energy next Wednesday, according to the White House. The following week, he will meet with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah in Crawford, Texas. Oil issues are expected to be high on the agenda of that meeting.

-By Alex Keto, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; Alex.Keto@dowjones.com

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