Labor Courted on Bush Reform Plan

The Bush administration aimed its energy policy campaign at an unusual constituency Monday, telling union leaders that building more power plants and increasing oil and gas drilling will mean more jobs for their members.

Vice President Dick Cheney and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao courted leaders of about a dozen unions during a private White House session that appeared designed to drive a wedge into the labor-environmental coalition that has blocked previous pro-business initiatives.

“I don’t think we’re being used,” Teamsters President James P. Hoffa told reporters after the meeting. “Don’t forget. American workers will be solving this problem. They will be building the resources to refine and generate new energy.”

It was the latest round in an escalating public relations battle over the comprehensive national energy policy drafted by a task force headed by Cheney. The plan will be unveiled Thursday by President Bush.

Today, House Democrats plan to gather at a Washington gas station to announce their own formula for reducing the nation’s energy problems. It will call for immediate steps to address high energy prices and supply shortages, such as asking federal regulators to investigate allegations of price gouging.

A group of 67 Democratic lawmakers sent Bush a letter Monday urging him to pressure the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase world crude oil production.

“Notwithstanding our confidence in your Cabinet’s extensive knowledge of and experience with the petroleum industry, we remain concerned that your administration has done little at this late date to address the coming crisis in gasoline prices,” the letter says.

Cheney reiterated his belief that there are no short-term fixes for the combination of factors contributing to higher gasoline prices nationwide and continuing shortages of electricity in California.

The vice president criticized Gov. Gray Davis for suggesting that the administration’s opposition to electricity price controls is tied to its political support from Texas-based energy producers who are profiting off California’s troubles.

In the Associated Press interview, Cheney characterized appeals for price controls and a federal investigation of gasoline prices as “exactly the kind of misguided--I’m trying to think how to state this gracefully--politically motivated policies we’ve had in the past.”

Cheney said Bush might back a reduction of the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax, AP reported. Opponents say such a move could threaten highway projects funded by the tax.

The administration’s comprehensive energy plan is expected to call for opening more federal land to oil and gas exploration, promoting increased use of nuclear power and streamlining the approval process for power plants, gas pipelines and oil refineries.

In addition, the plan is expected to propose a massive upgrade of the nation’s electricity transmission system, including granting federal authorities eminent domain authority to acquire private property for power transmission lines.

Environmentalists and their Democratic allies contend the plan leans too far toward the supply side. But the administration has said it will include proposals to promote conservation, energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources.

White House officials disputed the notion that the meeting with union leaders was designed to divide the labor-environmental coalition.

Cheney was scheduled to meet today with advocates of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.

Hoffa said his group was not provided with enough details of the administration’s energy plan to offer an immediate endorsement.

Mike Mathis, government affairs director of the Teamsters, said, “We’re going to be supportive of a program that creates jobs.”