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The Oily-Boy Network
Bush’s National Energy Policy
• Energy secretary Spencer Abraham met with 109 representatives of the nuclear power, electric utility, coal, oil, and gas industries during the three months he spent preparing the Bush administration’s national energy policy. Environmentalists weren’t entirely shut out, however. In March 2001, an Energy Department official telephoned 11 environmental groups (including the Sierra Club) and gave them less than 48 hours to fax in recommendations.
• The Bush-Cheney energy plan would increase America’s reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power rather than promote energy efficiency or renewable resources. The plan proposes building 1,300 new electric power plants, weakening environmental standards, implementing fast-track permit procedures for nuclear power plants, opening wilderness areas to gas and oil exploration, and adding over $25 billion in subsidies to polluting industries.
• Eighteen of the energy industry’s top 25 donors to the Republican Party helped Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force develop its plan.
• The Energy Department has been trying to lower efficiency standards for air conditioners, a move that would increase national electricity demand by the equivalent of 39 power plants.
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Illustration by Simon Shaw
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