Bush Backs Nuclear Energy, Alcohol Fuel

President Bush on Wednesday called for increased use of nuclear power and alcohol fuels to help meet national clean air goals.

“We need a national energy policy” that “must use more safe nuclear power,” Bush said in remarks to a joint session of the Texas Legislature.

Greater use of alcohol fuels, he added, “will rapidly improve the air quality of our most heavily polluted cities.”

Bush’s statements did not involve any departure from his past policies. But the remarks, particularly the endorsement of alcohol fuels, take on added significance now because the Administration is working toward a late-May deadline for preparation of revisions to the federal Clean Air Act.

Bush’s statements are an early indication that whatever package the Administration presents to Congress is likely to include further incentives for “fuel switching” from traditional gasoline to alcohol blends.

Several of Bush’s advisers on clean air issues, particularly White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, are strong alcohol fuel boosters. His White House chief of staff, former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu, is a strong backer of nuclear power.

The measures are expected to reduce smog because alcohol burns more cleanly than gasoline.

To applause from his Texas audience, Bush also called for continued incentives to increase domestic oil production. “I find it disturbing that nearly 50% of America’s oil is imported,” he said. “This is not good for the national security of the United States of America.”

“I am as concerned as anyone” with the “environmental tragedy in Prince William Sound” caused by the wreck of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez. “But shutting down our domestic energy production is not the answer and would merely increase our dependence on foreign oil,” he said.

The speech was heavily laden with references to symbols of Bush’s adopted home state from Pearl beer and chicken fried steak to advice he once received from former President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Bush made a joking reference to the scathing criticism he got last summer at the Democratic National Convention from Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards. “Ann Richards was right,” he said. “I kept putting the silver foot in my mouth all along the way. But the bottom line is, when they ask, ‘where’s George?’ say he’s in Austin among friends and very proud.”

The state, he noted, has been through difficult economic times in recent years because of low oil prices. “There may be a few more bumps and bruises ahead,” he added, “but make no mistake, Texas is back in the saddle again.”

Texas’ new emphasis on high technology is leading to an economic resurgence, he said, and he pledged continued federal money for major Texas projects including the superconducting super collider, a massive project designed to aid in the study of subatomic particles.