Energy chief says nation faces crisis

By Bill McAllister Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief

Thursday, July 26, 2001 - WASHINGTON - Striking out at Bush administration critics, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham appealed to the public Wednesday to "stop kidding ourselves" over the nation's energy crisis.

Energy prices may have dipped, the secretary acknowledged, but the crisis remains very real.

Prices will continue on their roller-coaster path, he predicted.

"But for us, each day, each new spring, the situation gets a little worse across the board," the secretary warned in a speech to the National Press Club. "... If we don't act to change this scenario, we will confront higher prices, supply shortages and infrastructure failure year-round."

The former Michigan senator ridiculed opponents of the president's plan, saying they have closed their eyes to the nation's dependence on foreign oil and its failure to build new electric generating facilities.

That philosophy is not just the old "NIMBY" - not in my backyard - approach, the secretary said. It is "BANANA" - "build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone," Abraham said.

However, Alyssondra Campaigne, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, later accused the administration of trying to worry Americans.

"They have been trying to create a crisis in order to push proposals that benefit the oil, nuclear and automobile industries instead of consumers," she said.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E76344,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 26, 2001