Bush Signs Overhaul of U.S. Energy Policy

President Bush on Monday signed the nation’s first comprehensive energy legislation in 13 years, saying it eventually would “help every American” by boosting the economy and lessening the nation’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

“This bill launches an energy strategy for the 21st century,” Bush said. “It’s an economic bill.... It’s also a national security bill.”

But Bush cautioned against unreasonable expectations that the law would produce quick results.

“This bill is not going to solve our energy challenges overnight,” he said. “Most of the serious problems, such as high gasoline costs or the rising dependence on foreign oil, have developed over decades. It’s going to take years of focused effort to alleviate those problems.”

Bush signed the measure on a day when oil prices hit a new high on the New York Mercantile Exchange, touching $64 a barrel for September delivery of light, sweet crude before closing at $63.94.

Critics, and even some people who backed the bill, said it did not go far enough, noting that the legislation did little to reduce the price of gasoline at the pump and contained inadequate provisions to improve U.S. energy independence or encourage conservation, such as requiring automakers to produce cars that were more fuel-efficient.

“The bill signed today by the president does not do nearly enough to put America soundly on the path toward energy independence, nor will it relieve customers from skyrocketing costs,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement.

He acknowledged that the legislation took “important steps” to increase the use of renewable energy, reduce global warming and cut dependence on foreign oil. For example, it provides as much as $3,400 per vehicle in tax credits, based on fuel savings potential, to people who buy hybrid cars.

But overall, Reid said, the measure “looks too much to the solutions of the past and not nearly enough to the future.”

Included in the law’s 1,745 pages is an extension of daylight saving time, beginning in 2007, by starting it three weeks earlier and ending it a week later. The legislation also requires greater use of ethanol, made largely from corn, as an additive to the nation’s gasoline supply, and provides $11.5 billion in tax breaks to spur production of oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy and to promote conservation.

The bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), called it “the most important piece of energy legislation by the Congress in almost 50 years.” But he acknowledged: “It’s not a bill for today or necessarily a bill for tomorrow.”

But in the long term, Domenici said, the legislation would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil while fostering alternative sources of energy and investing “billions of new dollars” in electricity generation and power transmission.

The brief signing ceremony at the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories marked the culmination of a 4 1/2 -year drive by Bush that gained significant momentum only after petroleum prices reached historic highs this year.

Bush had made energy legislation a priority when he took office in 2001, amid California’s power crisis. Two years ago, the bill was scuttled before final passage in a House-Senate dispute over a provision mandating legal protection for manufacturers of a gasoline additive that fouled water supplies. The legislation Bush signed Monday omitted that language, ensuring passage by both chambers.

Among those who called for additional energy measures was Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“We also need to rededicate ourselves to making further progress toward national energy security,” said Bingaman, who joined Domenici and Bush for the ceremony.

Bingaman called for “flexible but mandatory measures to address global warming” and new efforts to tap renewable energy in order to lessen America’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

The United States imports about 60% of its oil -- up from 45% a decade ago -- and, Bingaman said, the legislation “will not markedly reduce these imports.”

The $11.5 billion in tax breaks was almost twice the amount Bush had originally requested, and the price tag of the bill -- along with provisions funding a wide variety of local projects -- led environmental and taxpayer groups to contend that corporations, and not the public, were the prime beneficiaries.

“The nation deserves an energy policy that is not powered by pork,” said Jill Lancelot, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. “We can do better than this package of government giveaways to mega-rich energy companies.”

The president, who is spending this month at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, is to meet today with his top economic advisors and plans to highlight recent gains in a session with reporters later in the day. He previewed his message during his remarks Monday.

“Workers are ... taking home more of what they earn,” Bush said. “Inflation is low, mortgage rates are low. Homeownership in America is at an all-time high. In other words, this economy is moving. And what this energy bill does is it recognizes that we need more affordable and reliable sources of energy in order to make sure the economy continues to grow.”