President George W. Bush, in a Feb. 28 press conference, on what he would advise consumers facing the prospect of paying $4 for a gallon of gasoline as some analysts have predicted:
"People got to understand that our energy policy needs to be focused on a lot of things: One, renewables, which is fine, which I strongly support as you know, and two, conservation. But we need to be finding more oil and gas at home if we're worried about becoming dependent on oil overseas.
"I view it as a transitory period to new technologies that will change the way we live, but we haven't built a new refinery in a long time. We're expanding refineries, but we haven't built a new refinery in a long time. I strongly suggested to Congress that we build new refineries on old military bases, but no, it didn't pass. But if you've got less supply of something, as demand continues to stay steady or grow, your price is going to go up.
"The more oil we find at home, the better off we're going to be in terms of the short run. And yet our policy is, you know, let us not explore robustly in places like [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]. There are environmental concerns and I understand that. I also know there are technologies which should mitigate these environmental concerns.
"They got a bill up there in Congress now. Their attitude is let's tax oil companies. Well, all that's going to do is make the price even higher. We ought to be encouraging investment in oil and gas close to home if we're trying to mitigate the problems we face right now."
