    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [September 15, 2003]
    [Pages 1159-1165]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1159]]

    Remarks at the Detroit Edison Powerplant in Monroe, Michigan
    September 15, 2003

        Thank you all. Please be seated, unless you don't have a seat.
    [Laughter] Thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate the chance to come
    to this vital facility to meet the workers who make it go, meet the
    planners who keep it modern, and meet some of the people who benefit
    from the electricity that's generated out of here.
        I come knowing our Nation faces some great challenges. The biggest
    challenge we face is the security of our people. We've got to make sure
    that America is secure from the enemies which hate us. And we've got to
    make America secure by having an economy that grows so people can find
    work.
        On the first front, to make sure America is secure, we're making
    good progress. The 2 years from September the 11th--we got hit. We got
    hit by people who cannot stand what America believes in. We love
    freedom, and we're not going to change. And they probably won't either.
    Therapy won't work with this bunch. [Laughter]
        So we will bring people to justice. It doesn't matter how long it
    takes. America and many of our friends will find those who would harm
    the American people and bring them to justice. The only way to win the
    war on terror is to stay on the offensive. We can do a lot of things
    here at home. We can support our first-responders. We can make sure our
    law enforcement agencies talk to each other. We can make sure our ports
    are more secure, our borders are reasonable about understanding who is
    coming in and why they're coming in. But the best way to make sure the
    homeland is secure is to hunt these killers down one by one and bring
    them to justice, which the United States of America will do.
        As part of making sure America is secure, I laid out a doctrine that
    said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you hide
    a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorists. To provide money
    to terrorists, you're guilty. And we will hold you account.'' And the
    Taliban found out what we meant.
        We gave an ultimatum to Mr. Saddam Hussein. We said, ``Get rid of your weapons.'' He ignored not
    only the United States but the civilized world. That regime is no more.
    And one thing is for certain: No terrorist organization will ever get a
    weapon of mass destruction from Mr. Saddam Hussein.
        Our Nation is more secure. The world is becoming more free and,
    therefore, more peaceful. This Nation yearns for peace, but we
    understand the nature of the enemy. For those of you who have got
    relatives in the United States military, I want to thank you, for a
    grateful nation. And you thank them, on behalf of the Commander in Chief
    and the people of this country, for the sacrifices they are willing to
    make on behalf of the rest of us.
        Economic security is on my mind. I'm sure the numbers are beginning
    to look better, but there's still people looking for work. My attitude
    is, so long as somebody is looking for work, then we've got to continue
    to try to create the conditions necessary for job growth. We want our
    people working. We want the moms and dads to be able to make a living,
    to be able to put food on the table for their children.
        National security means economic security for every single citizen.
    And one of the lessons we learned a while ago was that a reliable,
    affordable electrical power is essential for economic growth in America.
    It's an essential part of an economic plan. If you're interested in
    creating jobs, you'd better have energy. You're not going to have an
    economy grow without reliable sources of energy.
        Lights went out last month--you know that. [Laughter] It might have
    been good

    [[Page 1160]]

    for candle sales, but it certainly wasn't good for--job growth. It
    recognizes that we've got an issue with our electricity grid, and we
    need to modernize it. We need to make sure it works in the future. The
    first thing we're going to do is find out what went wrong and address
    the problem. Secretary of Energy Spence Abraham, right here, from the State of Michigan, is leading
    that investigation. We want the facts. We'll put the spotlight of truth
    on the facts, and then we'll deal with it. But also, it's clear that the
    power grid needs an overhaul. It needs to be modernized. As we go into
    an exciting new period of American history, we want the most modern
    electricity grid for our people.
        When I first got in in Washington, I put out a plan, a national
    energy strategy. I felt like we needed an energy strategy for the
    country. If energy is an issue, first of all you need a strategy and a
    plan. And we laid one out. And part of that plan modernizes--called for
    the modernization of the electricity grid. We need more investment. We
    need research and development to make sure we're--as we invest new
    technologies, they're the latest and best for the people of this
    country. We also want to make sure voluntary reliability standards for
    utilities are now mandatory reliability standards. When somebody says
    they're going to be reliable, we don't want it to be maybe reliable or
    perhaps reliable. We want mandatory reliability standards, so people can
    count on the deliver--to have their electricity delivered.
        This is part of the plan I announced, as well as we've got to make
    sure that the energy we use, we have the best technologies to make sure
    we burn it as clean as we can. That's why I have a strong initiative for
    clean coal technology. We want to make sure we encourage conservation.
    But the truth of the matter is, we need to become less dependent on
    foreign sources of energy, For the sake of economic security.
        We lead the world in new technologies when it comes to energy, and
    we not only can find new ways of producing energy and make sure we do so
    in an efficient way, we can make sure we do so in a clean way. You know
    right here what I'm talking about, at this plant. We lead the world in
    technologies to make the production of energy cleaner. And so therefore,
    I'm confident in predicting to the American people, not only can we
    promote job security and increase jobs, but we can do so in way that
    protects our environment. And I believe we have a duty to do so. I
    believe a responsible nation is one that protects the environment.
        Yet the Government sometimes doesn't help. And that's what I'm here
    to discuss--[laughter]--those moments when the Government doesn't help,
    when the Government stands in the way. For example, powerplants are
    discouraged from doing routine maintenance because of Government
    regulations. And by ``routine maintenance,'' I mean replacing wornout
    boiler tubes or boiler fans. And all that does is, it makes the plant
    less reliable, less efficient, and not as environmentally friendly as it
    should be. So I changed those regulations--my administration did. And
    I'm here to explain why we did, in a way that I hope the American people
    can understand.
        Before I begin, I do want to thank Tony Earley for that introduction. I just had a great tour of your
    facility, Tony, by Paul--Paul Fessler. He said
    to make sure I didn't bring up the Michigan-Notre Dame game. [Laughter]
    So I won't bring it up. [Laughter]
        I'm traveling today with Marianne Horinko, who is the Acting Administrator of the Environmental
    Protection Agency. She's a good, commonsense lady. She's smart. She's
    capable. She understands that we can grow our economy and protect the
    environment at the same time. It's not one or the other; it's both. When
    we talk about environmental policy in this Bush administration, we not
    only talk about clean air;

    [[Page 1161]]

    we talk about jobs. And I believe we can do both, and so does Marianne.
    I want to thank you for your service.
        I thank Paul for the tour, and I was joined
    on the tour by Mike Smith, who is a senior union
    committeeman, Local 223. I appreciate Mike taking me around and
    introducing me to some of the fellow workers in the plants. At least the
    ones I met, morale seemed high. People enjoy working here. You're
    providing a service. For all the workers who work here, I want you to
    know you're providing an important service. You're creating the
    conditions so people can find a job. You're working hard to make sure
    somebody can turn on a light switch, and they can realize the comforts
    of modern life. Thanks for what you do.
        I'm also traveling today with Members of the United States Congress,
    Congresswoman Candice Miller and Congressman
    Fred Upton. I want to thank you all for coming. I
    appreciate you being here. We've got the secretary of state, Terri Lynn
    Land, with us, the attorney general, Mike
    Cox, the speaker of the house, Rick
    Johnson, members of the--all working hard at
    the State level. I'm glad they are here too. And finally, Mayor
    Al is with us, the mayor of Monroe. Al
    Cappuccilli is here. Thank you, Mayor, for being with us. You must be
    filling the potholes--[laughter]--picking up the garbage--[laughter]--
    that's the way to go.
        Today when I landed, I met Claire Jennings. Let me describe right quick--[applause]--it sounds
    like they know you, Claire. [Laughter] One of the things I try to do
    when I come to communities is to herald those folks who are volunteering
    their own time to make the world a better place. It's amazing the people
    I've been able to meet in our country. We've got all kinds of people
    from all walks of life taking time out to mentor a child or to take care
    of a--somebody who is lonely, to help heal a broken heart, surround
    somebody who hurts with love. It's really the strength of our country.
    I'm proud of our military. I intend to keep our military strong. But the
    strength of the country is the heart and souls of our citizens. It's the
    willingness of people to lend a helping hand. What Claire has done is,
    she decided to enhance the wildlife growth around this plant. She
    decided to make this important facility a wildlife refuge as well.
        And it worked. It's a beautiful setting. It's a wonderful--she's
    done a wonderful job, as have coworkers, in making sure the 800 acres
    here at the Monroe plant is spectacular to look at. And it will leave
    behind something like a legacy for future generations. So
    Claire, I want to thank you for setting a
    good example. I'm glad you brought your daughter too.
        I said as plainly as I could that I believe we can grow our economy
    and protect the quality of our air at the same time. And we made
    progress doing just that. Let me give you a statistic or two. Our
    economy has grown 164 percent in three decades. That's pretty good
    growth. And yet, according to a report that the EPA is releasing today,
    air pollution from six major pollutants is down by 48 percent during
    that period of time. So you nearly double your economy, and yet
    pollution is down by nearly 50 percent.
        That should say to people that we can grow our economy, that we can
    work to create the conditions for job growth, and that we can be good
    stewards of the air that we breathe. And this plant is a good example of
    that achievement. Since 1974, the power generated from here has
    increased by 22 percent. You've created more power so more people can
    live a decent life. And yet, the particulate matter emissions have
    fallen by 80--81 percent. You're good stewards of the quality of the air
    as well. You work hard in this plant to put energy on the grid, and at
    the same time, you're protecting the environment.
        There's reason for this progress, and it's because our Nation made a
    commitment. Starting in the Clean Air Act of 1970, we set high goals. We
    said, ``This is a national

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    priority. Let's work together to achieve these priorities.'' And we are
    working together. This administration, my administration strongly
    supports the Clean Air Act, and I believe that by combining the ethic of
    good stewardship--in other words, convince people that it's an important
    goal--and the spirit of innovation, we will improve the quality of our
    air even further, and, at the same time, make sure people can find a
    job.
        There is more to do, and so I want to talk about three ideas that--
    three commonsense steps that I put out to help us meet the new air
    quality standards and further improve quality of life. I hope you find
    that they make sense. They certainly do to me. They're commonsense ways
    to deal with our environment.
        First, we're going after the pollution that comes from diesel
    vehicles. We worked with the energy companies and the agricultural
    concerns and the manufacturers; we worked with environment groups; we
    worked with union groups to come up with a commonsense policy. And we
    did. We developed one, and it's now being implemented. Oil companies
    will lower the sulphur in diesel fuel. We'll enforce new emission limits
    on diesel truck engines. And we're going to put forward new rules that
    will control pollution from off-road vehicles like heavy construction
    equipment. The stakeholders came; we developed good policy. Everybody is
    on board, and now we're headed toward a cleaner--cleaner quality air for
    all Americans.
        Secondly, I proposed what's called Clear Skies legislation. Again,
    you heard the CEO talk about this legislation. Clear Skies legislation
    will help cut powerplant emissions without affecting job growth and/or
    jobs at this plant. We're interested in reducing the nitrogen oxide,
    sulphur dioxide in mercury, coming out of the powerplants around
    America. We've put forth a plan; we brought people in a room; we
    discussed it with them. The stakeholders agreed; union workers--union
    leaders have agreed; utilities have agreed; manufacturing companies have
    agreed to a plan that will reduce those three key pollutants by 70
    percent over a reasonable period of time.
        We've got an interesting approach. It's been tried in the past. It's
    a cap-and-trade system. We put mandatory caps on emissions. It's a
    little different look than maybe you're used to. Instead of the
    Government telling utilities where and how to cut pollution, we will
    work with them to create a cap, how much to cut and when we expect it
    cut by, but you figure out how. You're a lot better in figuring out the
    how than people in Washington, DC.
        Each year, each facility will need a permit for each ton of
    pollution it emits. Companies that are able to reduce their pollution
    below the amount can sell the surplus to others that need more time to
    meet the national goal and the national standard. In other words,
    there's an incentive system built into it. The system makes it
    worthwhile for companies to invest earlier in controls and therefore
    pollute less. It ensures that high standards are met in a commonsense
    way that is cost-effective and saves jobs. And under the legislation,
    communities that have had trouble meeting air quality standards will
    finally have a clear and a more effective method to get them help.
        I'm going to be talking about this tomorrow at the White House. I'll
    be doing it in Washington because I expect Congress to act. Instead of
    playing politics with environmental legislation, we need to come
    together and do what's right for American workers and American families.
    Clear Skies is good, sound legislation and needs to be passed.
        Finally, I want to speak to one other matter. It's called New Source
    Review. We need to fix those and have--we're in the process of fixing
    what they call New Source Review regulations. After I explain it, I
    think it will make sense as to why we're doing it.

    [[Page 1163]]

        The old regulations, let me start off by telling you, undermined our
    goals for protecting the environment and growing the economy. The old
    regulations on the book made it difficult to either protect the economy
    or--protect the environment or grow the economy. Therefore, I wanted to
    get rid of them. I'm interested in job creation and clean air, and I
    believe we can do both.
        One of the things we've got to do is encourage companies to invest
    in new technologies, convince utilities to modernize their equipment, so
    they can produce more energy and pollute less. In other words, as
    technologies come on, we want to encourage companies to make investment
    in those technologies. Yet old regulations, the ones we're changing,
    actually discourage companies from even making routine repairs and
    replacing old equipment. That's the reality. Regulations intended to
    enhance air quality made it really difficult for companies to do that
    which is necessary to not only produce more energy but to do it in a
    cleaner way.
        Powerplants and companies wanted to make one change they could
    afford. The regulators could come in and order them to change
    everything, making every change a massive multiyear battle. That's the
    reality here at Monroe plant. The people who are trying to modernize
    this plant and do their job on behalf of the people of Michigan found
    out that the regulations were so complex that they could be interpreted
    any different way. And that's what happened. And when you have complex
    regulations that are open for interpretation, guess what happens? The
    lawyers come in. [Laughter] And then you have litigation, and then
    things grind to a standstill.
        So a lot of planners and people who were charged with providing
    electricity and to protect the air decided not to do anything. They
    didn't want to have to fight through the bureaucracy or fight through
    the endless lawsuits. And when that happens, fewer powerplants are
    upgraded. They become old and tired, which means people start losing
    their jobs, which means our economy is not robust so people can find
    work if they're looking for work, which means some cases, energy costs
    are higher than they should be.
        And so we decided to do something about it--I did. It's been in the
    process for a while, and I decided to move, particularly when I heard
    stories like this one here at Monroe. In 1999, Detroit Edison made a
    decision to upgrade the turbine steam generators here. That's a vital
    decision. For the men and women who work at that plant, you understand,
    when I say ``vital decision,'' that it is a vital decision. The company
    wanted to give more efficient--wanted this plant to have new, efficient
    blades on the turbines, which will allow more electricity to be
    generated with the same amount of coal without causing emission
    increases. It seems like a commonsense policy. If I were running this
    plant, I would want to modernize it so we could produce more energy for
    the same amount of input and continue doing a good job of protecting the
    quality of the air. That's the kind of corporate behavior that I
    appreciate.
        Yet when the company took the plan to the EPA, the first thing that
    happened is they had to wait a year for an answer. [Laughter] They said,
    ``We've got a good way to do something, but please tell us if we can
    move forward.'' And the answer wasn't forthcoming. And when the answer
    did come back, it was so complicated, because the rules are so
    complicated, that Detroit Edison decided to delay part of the project
    until its experts could decipher the details of the ruling. On the one
    hand, the rules are so complex that the answer coming back was even more
    complex, evidently, because nothing happened for a while.
        Now, finally, the project is going to be complete. Detroit Edison
    decided to move forward, 5 years after it decided to begin. That's
    inefficient. That doesn't make any

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    sense. The quicker we put modern equipment into our powerplants, the
    quicker people are going to get more reliable electricity. If we're
    interested in job creation in America, we'd better have the most modern
    facilities to make sure that electricity is available so people can
    expand their job base. And yet the rules didn't let that happen. The
    rules created too many hurdles, and that hurts the working people.
        And so, as I said, we decided to do something about it. We began to
    review the old rules and regulations. And we wanted to do so in a
    careful way. The EPA held five public meetings. More than 100 groups
    were represented, citizens and industry and local officials. There were
    thousands of comments. In other words, we said, ``If you've got a
    problem with the change, please bring them forward. Or you support the
    change, bring them forward.'' We wanted to hear from people, and the EPA
    did a good job of collecting data.
        In December, we issued the first set of rules to clarify and
    simplify regulations for manufacturers to do projects in an energy-
    efficient way and to promote policy that would discourage pollution. And
    now we've issued new rules that will allow utility companies like this
    one right here to make routine repairs and upgrades without enormous
    costs and endless disputes. We simplified the rules. We made them easy
    to understand. We trust the people in this plant to make the right
    decisions.
        There is a lot of debate about New Source Review--the change of New
    Source Review. It makes sense to change these regulations. It makes
    sense for the workplace environment. It makes sense for the protection
    of our air. Not only do I believe that, but union leaders believe that.
    Manufacturers believe that. The utilities believe that. A bipartisan
    coalition in Congress believes it. We have done the right thing.
        Monroe plant is a living example of why we acted. The people at this
    plant wanted to put the most modern equipment, use the most modern
    technology to make sure the people of Michigan got energy at a
    reasonable and affordable price and at the same time protect the
    environment. Government policy prevented them from doing so. We have
    changed the Government policy for good of the people of this country.
        I mentioned the challenges we face, but I'm an optimist, because I
    understand America. It's been my privilege to see the character of the
    American people. We are resolute. We're plenty tough when we have to be
    tough. We're also compassionate. Ours is a resourceful nation. We set
    goals, and we work together to achieve those goals. Ours is a nation
    that, when we hear that somebody is looking for work and can't find
    work, cares about that person.
        I want to make sure this environment, economic environment of ours
    is as healthy as it can be. The American people have got to understand,
    a healthy economic environment means we'd better have energy. We'd
    better be producing that energy. There's electricity so people can
    expand their manufacturing facilities. If you've got an issue with the
    manufacturing base, you'd better make sure you've got a reliable supply
    of energy for the manufacturers, like they've got right here in
    Michigan.
        We can overcome problems. We're smart and resourceful people. We're
    also a compassionate people, people who are willing to love a neighbor
    just like we love ourselves. That's what I love most about America. I
    love the fact that there are people who hurt--I love the fact that when
    somebody is hurting in your neighborhood, you're likely to walk across
    the street and say, ``What can I do to help?'' It's a fabulous country
    we have.
        Oh yes, we've got problems, but there's no doubt in my mind, because
    of the character of the American people, we can overcome any problem
    that's in our way.
        I want to thank you all for coming out today. May God bless you, and
    may God continue to bless America.

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    Note: The President spoke at 12:40 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
    Anthony F. Earley, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, DTE
    Energy; Paul Fessler, director, Monroe Power Plant; Mike Smith, chief
    steward, Utility Workers Union of America Local 223, Power Generation
    Division; Mayor Al Cappuccilli of Monroe, MI; and former President
    Saddam Hussein of Iraq.