Bush Delivers Remarks on Energy

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Bush Urges Domestic Oil Production

In a Rose Garden speech on Wednesday, President Bush outlines four steps to expand domestic oil production in response to rising gas prices.

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Third, we should expand oil production by permitting exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.

When ANWR was created in 1980, Congress specifically reserved a portion for energy development.

BUSH: 1995, Congress passed legislation allowing oil production in the small fraction of ANWR's 19 million acres. It's a drilling footprint of less than 2,000 acres. Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of this distant Alaskan terrain, America could produce an estimated 10 billion barrels of oil. That is roughly the equivalent of two decades of imported oil from Saudi Arabia. Yet my predecessor vetoed this bill.

In the years since, the price of oil has increased sevenfold and the price of American gasoline has more than tripled. Meanwhile, scientists have developed innovative techniques to reach ANWR's oil with virtually no impact on the land or local wildlife.

I urge members of Congress to allow this remote region to bring enormous benefits to the American people.

And, finally, we need to expand and enhance our refining capacity. Refineries are the critical link between crude oil and the gasoline and diesel fuel that drivers put in their tanks.

Recent changes in the makeup of our fuel supply, upgrades in our refining capacity are urgently need. Yet it has been nearly 30 years since our nation built a new refinery, and lawsuits and red tape have made it extremely costly to expand or modify existing refineries.

The result is that America now imports millions of barrels of fully refined gasoline from abroad.

BUSH: This imposes needless costs on American consumers. It deprives American workers of good jobs. And it needs to change.

So today I'm proposing measures to expedite the refining -- refinery permitting process. Under the reform process that I propose, challenges to refineries and other energy project permits must be brought before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals within 60 days of the issuance of a permit decision.

Congress should also empower the secretary of energy to establish binding deadlines for permit decisions and to ensure that the various levels of approval required in the refining -- refinery permitting process are handled in a timely way.

With these four steps, we will take pressure off gas prices over time by expanding the amount of American-made oil and gasoline; we will strengthen our national security by reducing our reliance on foreign oil; we will benefit American workers by keeping our nation competitive in the global economy and by creating good jobs in construction and engineering and refining -- refining maintenance and many other areas.

The proposals I've outlined will take years to have their full impact. There is no excuse for delay. As a matter of fact, that's a reason to move swiftly.

I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past. Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions.

Congressional leaders leave for their Fourth of July recess without taking action they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act. And Americans will rightly ask how high oil -- or how high gas prices have to rise before the Democratic-controlled Congress will do something about it.

I know it's a trying time for our families, but our country has faced similar strains before and we've overcome them together. And we can do that again.

With faith in the innovative spirit of our people and a commitment to results in Washington, we will meet the energy challenges we face and keep our economy the strongest, most vibrant and most hopeful in the world.

Thank you for your time.