    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
    [February 6, 2003]
    [Pages 132-135]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Energy Independence
    February 6, 2003

        Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm glad you're here, and I'm glad I'm
    here. The technology that we have just seen--and I hope you take a look
    at--is going to be seen on the roads of America. And it's important for
    our country to understand that by being bold and innovative, we can
    change the way we do business here in America. We can change our
    dependence upon foreign sources of energy. We can help with the quality
    of the air. We can make a fundamental difference for the future of our
    children.
        But what we do today can make a tremendous difference for the future
    of this country. How we invest taxpayers' monies today can help change
    the world. And that's what we're here to discuss.
        I want to thank my Secretary of Energy, Spence Abraham, for doing a fine job, for being willing to help us
    think beyond the normal by leading an important Department, a Department
    that's going to help America maintain a technological advantage when it
    comes to energy and devices that require energy.
        I also want to thank Christie Todd Whitman
    Todd for being a really, really good Administrator of the
    Environmental Protection Agency. And I want to thank all of the
    employees from both the Energy Department and the EPA who are here
    today. Thank you for your service to the country. I appreciate so very
    much Members of the United States Senate who are here, Pete
    Domenici from New Mexico and Byron
    Dorgan from North Dakota. Thank you all for
    your interest in this project. I look forward to working with both
    distinguished Members of the Senate to get this initiative through.
        And I want to thank the folks who have brought your technologies
    here for me to see. I wish I had more time to spend, but in the brief
    tour I took, it is--we're on the cutting edge of change that is going to
    dramatically change this country for the better. And it's exciting to
    see the products that you're producing. More importantly, it's exciting
    to meet the entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risks necessary to
    produce those products.
        I also want to thank the students who are here, the science and
    technology students who are here--our future scientists, those who are
    going to take what appears to be dramatic innovation today and improve
    on it in the coming years. And so thanks for your interest, and thanks
    for caring about your country. Keep studying hard. Don't watch too much
    TV. [Laughter] Read a lot.
        We've got some responsibilities in our Nation. We've got a
    responsibility to our environment. That's why I've sent up to the United
    States Congress a Clear Skies Initiative. It's an initiative that I take
    very seriously. It's an initiative that we worked closely with Christie
    Todd Todd and Spence on to develop, that makes sense for our country. It's
    an initiative that will reduce air pollution from powerplants by 70
    percent by the year 2018. It's an initiative that seriously addresses
    sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury. It's an initiative which
    must get a hearing in the United States Congress. It's an initiative I
    expect to pass this year.
        I laid out a comprehensive energy plan last year. It got--there was
    a lot of debate about it, a lot of discussion. It didn't pass the
    Congress. I expect it to pass this year. I look forward to working with
    you, Mr. Chairman. It's a plan that will encourage conservation. It's a
    plan that will increase production at home in an environmentally
    sensitive way. It is a plan which will modernize our electricity
    delivery systems. It is a plan which is needed. It is a plan needed for
    economic security. It is a plan

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    needed for national security. I want to sign a comprehensive energy bill
    this year.
        Today, we have a chance to move beyond the environmental debates of
    the past, debates that centered around regulation and lawsuit--what I
    like to call the command-and-control era of environmental policy, where
    all wisdom that seemed to emanate out of Washington, DC, where things
    got hamstrung and stuck because lawyers got more involved in the process
    than the people on the frontlines of actually improving our environment.
        We can move beyond that through technology, and that's what I want
    to discuss today. Hydrogen fuel cells represent one of the most
    encouraging, innovative technologies of our era. And if you're
    interested in our environment and if you're interested in doing what's
    right for the American people, if you're tired of the same old endless
    struggles that seem to produce nothing but noise and high bills--let us
    promote hydrogen fuel cells as a way to advance into the 21st century.
        We saw cars engineered to run on hydrogen. When you walk around this
    curtain and you take a look at those vehicles, they are going to run on
    hydrogen. We saw cell phones that can run on hydrogen, laptop computers.
    There's going to be all kinds of applications for the use of hydrogen-
    powered fuel cells in our society.
        And there's a lot of advantages that I want to explain to the
    American people about why this initiative makes sense. First, the
    hydrogen can be produced from domestic sources: initially, natural gas;
    eventually, biomass, ethanol, clean coal, or nuclear energy. That's
    important. If you can produce something yourself, it means you're less
    dependent upon somebody else to produce it.
        And not only that, the sources of hydrogen are abundant. The more
    you have of something relative to demand for that, the cheaper it's
    going to be, the less expensive it'll be for the consumer. The more
    supply you have of something, one, you're not going to run out of it,
    and two, it means that society is going to be more friendly for those
    who are trying to purchase the supply for needed--for life's needs.
        Hydrogen power is also clean to use. Cars that will run on hydrogen
    fuel produce only water, not exhaust fumes. Eliminating pollution from
    cars will obviously make our air healthier. Hydrogen power will
    dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, helping this Nation take
    the lead when it comes to tackling the long-term challenges of global
    climate change.
        One of the greatest results of using hydrogen power, of course, will
    be energy independence for this Nation. It's important for our country
    to understand--I think most Americans do--that we import over half of
    our crude oil stocks from abroad. And sometimes we import that oil from
    countries that don't particularly like us. It puts us at a--it
    jeopardizes our national security to be dependent on sources of energy
    from countries that don't care for America, what we stand for, what we
    love. It's also a matter of economic security, to be dependent on energy
    from volatile regions of the world. Our economy becomes subject to price
    shocks or shortages or disruptions or, one time in our history, cartels.
        If we develop hydrogen power to its full potential, we can reduce
    our demand for oil by over 11 million barrels per day by the year 2040.
    That would be a fantastic legacy to leave for future generations of
    Americans. See, we can make the world more peaceful, and we will. We can
    promote freedom, and we will. Those will be wonderful legacies, but also
    think about a legacy here at home, about making investments today that
    will make future citizens of our great country less dependent on foreign
    sources of energy. And so that's why I'm going to work with the Congress
    to move this Nation forward on hydrogen fuel cell technologies. It is in
    our national interest that we do so.
        So I'm asking Congress to spend $1.2 billion on a new national
    commitment to

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    take hydrogen fuel cell cars from the laboratory to the showroom. And as
    I said in my State of the Union: The idea is to see that a car born
    today--I mean, a child born today--will be driving a car, as his or her
    first car, which will be powered by hydrogen and pollution-free.
        It won't be easy to get there because there are obstacles. It's
    important for the American people to know there are obstacles to
    overcome. I wouldn't be proposing this initiative if I didn't think we
    could overcome the obstacles. We must make hydrogen more plentiful and
    produce it in the most efficient, cost-effective way. That is one of our
    challenges. We must lower the cost of fuel cells, so that the automobile
    can compete--the cost of the automobile is cost effective. We must
    increase the capacity of hydrogen storage systems.
        And we put in place the infrastructure to get hydrogen to the
    consumers. There would be nothing worse than developing a car and having
    no place for somebody to find the fuel. People aren't going to buy many
    cars if they can't refuel their car. [Laughter] We're--work has well
    begun. The FreedomCAR initiative created partnerships between our
    Government and the automakers to engineer the next generation of
    hydrogen fuel cells to power cars. And we're making progress.
        The new effort that we're undertaking with Congress' help is to
    develop a system for producing and delivering hydrogen fuel so that when
    the cars are ready, people can fill them up at their convenience. It's a
    big project because we're--we'll be changing years of habit; years of
    infrastructure must be replaced by a modern way. But we'll achieve this.
    It's going to make economic sense to do this. It's going to mean that
    our air is cleaner and our national security is more secure. It's going
    to happen, and I look forward to working with Congress to start the
    process.
        Pete, I don't know if you and I are
    going to be driving one of these cars, but our grandkids will. And we
    can be--we can say we did our duty. You know, we can look back and say,
    ``We came, stayed here for just a little bit, proposed some initiatives
    that would fundamentally alter the American way of life in a positive
    way, got it started, and went home--knowing we were called upon and we
    answered the bell.''
        And as we--and I believe we can lead the world for creating a market
    for hydrogen. We're also going to work to produce electricity and
    hydrogen through a process called fusion. Fusion is the same kind of
    nuclear reaction that produces--that powers the sun. The energy produced
    will be safe and clean and abundant. We've spent quite a bit of money,
    as the Senators here will tell you, on whether or not fusion works. And
    we're not sure if it will be able to produce affordable energy for
    everyday use, but it's worth the try. It's worth the look, because the
    promise is so great.
        So the United States will work with Great Britain and several
    European nations, as well as Canada, Japan, Russia, and China, to build
    a fusion test facility and create the largest and most advanced fusion
    experiment in the world. I look forward to working with Congress to get
    it funded. I know you all have considered this in the past. It's an
    incredibly important project to be a part of.
        Imagine a world in which our cars are driven by hydrogen and our
    homes are heated by electricity from a fusion powerplant. It'll be a
    totally different world than what we're used to. The quality of life
    will be advanced. People will say, ``Gosh, I'm glad those folks went to
    Washington and were willing to think beyond the current.'' We're willing
    to have a vision for what is possible. After all, that's what a lot of
    our forefathers used to think. That's how they envisioned a better
    America, for the America we have today. And we have that opportunity
    here in Washington, DC. We have the opportunity to blaze new paths. I'm
    willing to get on a path. I know the Members of Congress here are
    willing to get

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    on the path. It makes sense for America to do so.
        For the entrepreneurs here--thanks for being an entrepreneur. Keep
    dreaming your dreams. It's the collective dreams of the American
    entrepreneurial set which really define our future for us. Here today,
    I'm going to say your Government is not to stand in your way but stand
    by your side as we blaze new paths for our country.
        Thank you all for your interest. God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:35 p.m. at the National Building Museum.
    The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
    transcript of these remarks.