Power Engineering - Bush calls for change in the way America generates electricity

24 January 2007 -- U.S. President George W. Bush called for Americans to "continue changing the way America generates electric power" in his State of the Union address last night.

Bush focused on the same areas he has emphasized before -- more clean coal, nuclear power, wind and solar energy. As his words implied, these projects, especially clean coal and nuclear, have been heavily funded by the president's Energy Policy Act and enjoy a flow of federal money for ongoing research and development.

Although he did not address the growing debate in the Congress over a mandatory cap-and-trade program, the president did talk briefly about the "technological breakthroughs" that will help the United States become "better stewards of the environment." He did not mention the efforts of 10 influential businesses and interest groups who called for a cap-and-trade system Monday.

The group, called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), made the announcement so close to the president's State of the Union to draw attention to the issue and influence policy that would create a program that would balance industry's interests with environmental stewardship. USCAP consists of the following energy providers, financial institutions and equipment manufacturers: Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, FPL Group, General Electric, Lehman Brothers, PG&E, and PNM Resources, along with four non-governmental organizations -- Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and World Resources Institute.

Bush leaned heavily on the promise of future technology that "will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change," but did not propose any legislation for regulating greenhouse gases that many scientists blame on rising temperatures. Bush currently supports voluntary reductions of carbon dioxide and other unregulated greenhouse gas emissions.

The NRDC, an environmental lobby and member of USCAP, issued its statement on the speech that the president "has no plans to shift away from a largely voluntary program to address climate change."

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said after the president's speech that he was "disappointed" that the president did not say much about addressing global warming in a "comprehensive way." He pointed to what he observes as "a great desire across the country" to curb greenhouse gas emissions and that by "ducking the issue" the president had missed an opportunity.

The president did receive support from friends and foes for his initiative to cut gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years and increase the production of renewable and alternative fuels to 35 billion gallons by 2017. He encouraged investment in new methods of producing ethanol, biodiesel and fuel cell battery research for hybrid vehicles.

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