Gephardt Says Bush Administration is "Inexorably Tied to Old Energy and Persian Gulf Oil"

The unfortunate events on the East Coast, parts of the Midwest and in Canada yesterday are further evidence that the Bush administration is inexorably tied to Persian Gulf oil and old energy, and is incapable of devising a comprehensive, forward looking energy strategy. These events illustrate how short-sided the Bush Administration and Republican controlled Congress were in 2001 when they rejected modernization of our nation's power grid.

In June, I outlined an aggressive new Apollo project to develop environmentally sound sources of energy, end our dependence on Persian Gulf oil and create two million new jobs. It won't be easy or inexpensive, but yesterday's events demonstrate once again that it's the right thing to do.

My plan, Apollo 21, will outlaw electricity price manipulation and require FERC to undertake more aggressive early investigations of price gouging by power companies. Apollo 21 also will modernize our nation's antiquated electric power grid by adding new equipment and introducing new technologies that will allow electricity to be distributed more efficiently, avoid more catastrophic accidents or acts of terrorism, and better integrate with our emerging digital society.

We cannot provide our nation with the reliable, predictable energy we need as long as we look to the Persian Gulf region for a quarter of our daily oil supply. It's time we stopped behaving like the United States of Saudi Arabia and started working toward energy independence.

Our goals should be clear. Under my plan at least 10 percent of our energy would come from renewable sources like ethanol, wind, solar, and biomass in 10 years, and at least 20 percent in 20 years.

These steps, as tough as they may be, will ensure that events like the California energy crisis and this latest blackout are truly things of the past.