White House won't back down on oil drilling in energy bill
Democrats call for focus on power grid
From Suzanne Malveaux
CNN Washington Bureau
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Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
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CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- Under fire from Democratic lawmakers in the wake of the worst blackout in U.S. history, a White House spokesman insisted Monday the administration will not back down from pushing its Alaska oil drilling initiative as part of President Bush's national energy policy.
"The president believes strongly that we need a comprehensive solution, not patchwork crisis management," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters at the president's vacation ranch.
Since the massive blackout, Democrats have accused Bush of blocking legislation that would have allowed for upgrading the transmission system. Democrats say if the president would drop his initiative to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the national energy legislation before Congress would stand a better chance of passing.
"This issue has been held hostage to the Republican agenda of trying to drill in the most pristine wilderness, environmentally sensitive areas of the country," Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts said Sunday on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.(Full story)
McClellan dismissed the suggestion as "ridiculous." He asked rhetorically, "Are these the same people that are pointing fingers, saying that if that one provision is taken out, that they will now support a comprehensive energy plan, as outlined by the president? Of course not. I think that what you're seeing is political posturing."
But McClellan did not directly answer when asked if Bush would veto the bill if the oil drilling provision were removed. "We're going to continue to work with Congress and get the most comprehensive energy plan we can get passed," he said.
Democrats have indicated Bush's energy bill won't get through unless the ANWR measure is dropped.
Another measure that threatens the bill's passage is a plan by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to give regional organizations control over the flow of electricity across state lines, and over upgrading the transmission system.
State regulators and private oil companies have objected so vehemently to the measure that many members of Congress refuse to pass Bush's energy bill unless he puts the plan on hold.
Sunday, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the administration would be willing to do just that for the sake of getting the legislation through, but McClellan did not go that far.
"We do believe that regional management is an important issue," he said. "We've been working to encourage participation in regional organizations, regional transmission organizations. That's something that's already occurring at this point ... There's some timing issues and there's some issues of regional concerns that are still being worked on."
McClellan stressed that the administration's priority was to find out how the blackout occurred and to move forward in establishing "mandatory reliability standards" for how power companies do business.
