    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [October 12, 2006]
    [Pages 1833-1840]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the National Renewable Energy Conference in St. Louis,
    Missouri
    October 12, 2006

        The President. Thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate the chance
    to come and speak to the Renewable Energy Conference. I hope you're
    excited about being here because I sure am. This is--it's exciting to be
    with--[applause]. I view this as kind of a meeting of pioneers, people
    who are on the leading edge of change, and people whose research,
    thought, and production will all help this country become stronger and
    better. And so I appreciate you giving me a chance to come by and visit
    with you.
        This is a--energy is a subject dear to my heart--as it should be for
    any President--because you can't grow your economy without energy. And
    yet it is apparent, and should be for most Americans, we've got to
    change our habits if we want to remain the economic leader of the world.
        Before I share some of my thoughts with you, I do want to recognize
    members of my Cabinet who have joined you: the Secretary of Agriculture,
    Mike Johanns; the Secretary of Energy, Sam
    Bodman; and the Administrator of the EPA,
    Steve Johnson.
        I think it is interesting that when we got an energy conference
    going on here, that we have the Secretary
    of Energy--which makes sense--[laughter]--but the Secretary of
    Agriculture as well. And the man who runs the
    EPA, whose job it is to make sure our
    environment is clean, is with us. And the reason I find that interesting
    is because we've got an interesting confluence of national security
    concerns and environmental concerns that come together, probably unlike
    any other time in our history. And I want to share some thoughts with
    you about that in a minute.

    [[Page 1834]]

        I do want to thank the United States Senators from the State of Missouri--both
    men believe strongly in the future of renewable energy--and that would
    be Kit Bond and Jim Talent. Thank you for coming. I appreciate
    Congressman Todd Akin being here, and his wife,
    Lulli.
        You know, I--gasoline prices are down, and that's good news.
    [Applause] Yes. I mean, everybody in America ought to be applauding.
    [Laughter] It's like--if you're driving a truck for a living, it helps
    you. If you're trying to put food on the table and you got to drive to
    work, it helps you. If you're a small-business owner, it means you've
    got more capital to invest when the price of gasoline goes down.
        My worry is, however, that a low price of gasoline will make it
    complacent--make us complacent about our future when it comes to energy,
    because I fully understand that energy is going to help determine
    whether or not this Nation remains the economic leader in the world.
    We're doing fine now. We've got a really strong economy, and in order to
    make sure it's strong tomorrow, we need to make sure we work on how we
    use energy.
        Energy is--look, let me just put it bluntly: We're too dependent on
    oil. And, see, low gasoline prices may mask that concern. So, first, I
    want to tell you that I welcome the low gasoline prices; however it's
    not going to dim my enthusiasm for making sure we diversify away from
    oil.
        We need to diversify away from oil for economic reasons. We live in
    a global world. When the demand for oil goes up in China or in India, it
    causes the price of crude oil to rise, and since we import about 60
    percent of the crude oil we use, it causes our price to go up as well,
    which means the economy becomes less competitive.
        And then, of course, there's the national security concern for oil.
    Why? Well, we get oil from some countries who don't particularly care
    for us. They don't like what we stand for. They don't like it when we
    say, ``For the sake of peace, let us work in a way that we don't develop
    nuclear weapons,'' for example.
        I spend a lot of time on national security issues, which you expect
    your President to do. And a lot of times those national security issues
    are involved with countries that have oil. They have something we want,
    and so there's a national security issue when it comes to the status
    quo.
        And then, of course, we have a great debate about the environment in
    America, and that's good. It's an important debate. We all want to be
    good stewards of our environment. We want to be good conservationists.
    And reliance upon oil and hydrocarbons has created some challenges when
    it comes to the environment.
        And so this is one of the reasons why I believe so strongly that
    this country has got to use its talent and its wealth to get us off oil.
    And I believe we will do so, and I believe--I know the best way to do so
    is through technological breakthroughs.
        And the Government has got a role to play. First, I understand there
    are some entrepreneurs here, some people that are investors, venture
    capitalists, and I welcome you here. I think it's a good sign for those
    of us who understand the need to diversify away from oil that private
    money is beginning to make investments into some of the technologies I'm
    going to be describing.
        And we can help you in Washington, and one way we can help you is to
    reward people for investing in research and development. There's a
    research and development tax credit that's on the books. The problem is,
    it expires every year, on a year-by-year basis, which means you've got
    to come back to Congress on a year-to-year basis; which also means
    there's unpredictability in the Tax Code, and that's not wise, if you're
    trying to encourage people to invest dollars in the long term. And so in
    order to encourage private initiative and private investment in new
    energies, we ought to make the research and development tax credit a
    permanent part of the Tax Code.

    [[Page 1835]]

        And we need to continue what we're doing at the Federal level, which
    is spend your money on research. I think it's a legitimate use of
    taxpayers' money, to spend on grants, to find new ways to power our
    economy, new ways to conserve, new ways to protect the environment
    through new technologies.
        Since I've been President, we've spent about $10 billion on
    research. A lot of it goes through Sam's
    shop. He's the Energy man. [Laughter] We will vigorously pursue new ways
    to power our automobiles. If you want to get off oil, the surest and
    quickest way to do so is to change how we power our automobiles. We
    consume a lot of oil through gasoline. And the more inefficient our cars
    are, the more we drive old clunkers, the more gasoline we use, which
    means we're more dependent on oil.
        And so we've got some interesting initiatives at the Federal level
    to help change habits. One of them is--and it's probably the fastest way
    we can begin to change the consumer habits--is to promote hybrid
    vehicles. You all know what hybrids are; it's a combination of gas and--
    gasoline and electric battery that gets the driver a lot more miles per
    gallon.
        And so one way to do this, one way to encourage people to buy
    hybrids, one way to stimulate demand so that the production will follow
    is to provide tax credits. You can get up to, now, $3,400 tax credit
    when you buy your hybrid automobile. In other words, the Government is
    using the Tax Code to stimulate demand, which then should stimulate more
    automobile--more production on the auto lines of hybrids. And the more
    hybrids we get on the road, the less oil we're going to be using.
        Secondly, we're spending money on new battery technologies. See, we
    envision a day in which light and powerful batteries will become
    available in the marketplace so that you can drive the first 40 miles on
    electricity, on batteries, and your car won't have to look like a golf
    cart. [Laughter] In other words, it will be a technology that will meet
    consumer demand and, at the same time, meet a national need, which is
    less consumption of gasoline. These are called plug-in hybrid vehicles.
        And the battery technology is coming. In order to expedite it,
    Sam's shop, the Department of Energy, is
    putting out grants. In other words, we're using your money to expedite
    the arrival of a new technology that will enable folks to drive the
    first 40 miles on electricity.
        That's not going to help rural Missouri or rural Texas, but it's
    certainly going to help those who live in the cities. Most folks in the
    cities don't drive more than 40 miles, so you can envision consumer
    habits beginning to change: You drive to work; you go home; you plug in
    your automobile. And you go--ride to work and go home the next day, and
    you're still on electricity. It's going to change the consumption
    patterns. This new technology will change the consumption patterns on
    gasoline, which in turn will make us less dependent on crude oil, which
    meets a national security concern, an economic security concern, and
    helps us deal with an environmental concern.
        Now, there's another technology that will enable us to help change
    our driving habits, and that's ethanol. See, I like the idea of
    promoting a fuel that relies upon our farmers. I happen to believe a
    good farm economy is important to a good national economy, and I also
    know it makes sense to have our--[applause]. Sounds like we might have
    some farmers here. [Laughter]
        But I also know it makes sense to have our farmers growing the
    feedstock for new energy. The way I like to tell our citizens is,
    Johanns is going to come in someday and say,
    ``Mr. President, corn is up, which means we're less dependent on oil.''
    And that's good news for the country and good news for our economy.
        People are using ethanol. For those of you who are in the ethanol
    business, you're on the leading edge of change. It's coming, and
    Government can help. That's why we

    [[Page 1836]]

    enhanced and extended the 10-cent-per-gallon tax credit. We did that to
    stimulate production. We've extended a 51-cent-per-gallon tax credit for
    ethanol blenders. We provided a 30-percent tax credit for the
    installation of alternative fuel stations, up to $30,000 a year.
        In other words, I believe and Congress agrees that the proper use of
    tax credits will help stimulate a new industry that will help our
    economy and help us when it comes to national security. You know, we're
    up to, now, 5 billion gallons of ethanol sold this year. That's up from
    1.6 billion gallons in 2000. Ethanol--there are now 100 ethanol
    refineries which are operating. There--it's anticipated there are going
    to be 40 more next year. In other words, we're just at the beginning
    stages of a new industry that is evolving. It's one of the reasons I'm
    excited to be here. For those of you on the cutting edge, I want to
    thank you and just let you know we want you to succeed. It's in our
    interests that you do succeed.
        Today, there are 900 stations selling E-85. For those of you who
    don't know what that means, that's 85 percent ethanol. Look, a lot of
    Americans wonder whether or not this is feasible, what I'm talking
    about. A lot of folks aren't exposed to ethanol yet. In the Midwest you
    are; you've got a lot of corn. And it makes a lot of sense to have these
    plants where the feedstocks are. But ethanol is coming, and it doesn't
    require much money to convert a regular gasoline-driven car to a flex-
    fuel automobile. See, the technology is available. It takes about a
    hundred and something dollars to change a gasoline-only automobile to
    one that can use E-85. And it works.
        And in my judgment, the thing that's preventing ethanol from
    becoming more widespread across the country is the lack of other types
    of feedstocks that are required to make ethanol--sugar works; corn
    works. And it seems like it makes sense to spend money, your money, on
    researching cellulosic ethanol, so that we could use wood chips or
    switchgrass or other natural materials.
        And we've got an aggressive effort to research new raw materials to
    be used in ethanol. When I was down in Alabama--I'm going to tell you an
    interesting story when I was down there the other day. But I talked to a
    fellow from Auburn; he's a Ph.D.--just
    reminded me the difference between a Ph.D. and a C student. The C
    student is the President, and the Ph.D. is the adviser. [Laughter]
        But he's telling me how optimistic he is
    that someday we're going to be able to take wood chips from those
    southern pine forests and convert that raw material into ethanol. He
    said it's right around the corner as far as he's concerned. It makes a
    lot of sense for the Federal Government to continue to invest taxpayers'
    money, because the more different raw materials that are practical in
    use, the more ethanol production facilities will spread around the
    country. And the more spread around--the more production there is, the
    more likely it is that the entire industry will evolve quicker.
        So you've got a lot of plants here in the Midwest. The vision has
    got to be for these plants to be able to spread throughout the entire
    country. And when it does, ethanol will become a primary source for the
    fuel people use, which will help us meet our national security and
    economic concerns and objectives.
        The Department of Energy announced $250 million in funding to
    establish and operate two new bioenergy research center, all aimed at
    accelerating basic research into cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.
    I suspect we've got some soybean growers here. I know you've got some in
    Missouri. I have been to a biodiesel plant in Virginia. And it doesn't
    take much capital investment to refine biodiesel from soy, soybeans; it
    just doesn't. Biodiesel is coming. It makes a lot of sense for us to
    continue to invest in biodiesel technologies to make the production
    process even more efficient. I have

    [[Page 1837]]

    seen biodiesel poured into a new truck and watched that truck crank
    right up and realize it emitted no emissions. I know, because I put a
    handkerchief over the stack. [Laughter]
        These are exciting times, and people are beginning to take advantage
    of them. I told you I was down in Alabama. I went to the Hoover Police
    Department. They're using E-85. Their people on the beat are filling up
    their cars with E-85. I asked a guy, one of
    the policemen--I said, ``Why do you use it?'' He said, ``First of all, I
    like the fact that it keeps the environment clean''--that's a good
    reason. He said, ``By the way, when you fill it up with the 85, it gives
    you better get-up-and-go.'' [Laughter] In other words, it works. That's
    a good sign when police departments begin to use E-85.
        I was over at a FedEx place, and they've got what they call the
    OptiFleet E700; it's a new vehicle, all aimed at reducing emissions by
    96 percent. In other words, people are thinking differently now. There's
    a whole new industry beginning to evolve. Users are beginning to
    understand the benefits of using ethanol or biodiesel. And these are
    exciting times.
        And the Federal Government's job is to continue to research so that
    we provide our consumers, the American people, with more options. And
    one of the great options that's coming down the road is hydrogen. That's
    a longer term project. If you notice, I kind of talk about hybrids that
    are on the road today and how we stimulate demand, hybrids that are
    coming with new batteries, ethanol which is now evolving into a
    significant industry. Ultimately, in my judgment, one of the ways to
    make sure that we become fully less dependent on oil is through
    hydrogen. And we're spending $1.2 billion to encourage hydrogen fuel
    cells. It's coming; it's coming. It's an interesting industry evolution,
    to think about your automobiles being powered by hydrogen, and the only
    emission is water vapor.
        Oh, I'm sure there are some people out there saying, ``Well, you
    know, he's just dreaming.'' Well, I'm just listening to the dreamers who
    happen to be good, smart, capable people who know what they're talking
    about----
        Audience member. Out of Iraq now! Out of Iraq now! Soldiers are not
    renewables!
        The President. Since 2003, my administration has made hydrogen and
    fuel-cell technology a priority----

    [At this point, there was a disruption in the audience.]

        The President. ----and we will continue to research to make sure
    America is less dependent on foreign sources of oil.
        As you can tell, I'm excited about new technologies. But I think
    we've got to be realistic about the timing. And in order to become less
    dependent on foreign sources of oil, we've got to explore for oil and
    gas in our own hemisphere in environmentally friendly ways. And one of
    the interesting technological developments is the capacity to find oil
    in unique places. I don't know if you followed recently the exploration
    in the Gulf of Mexico, where there was a well that was drilled five
    miles in depth in thousands of feet of water.
        In other words, these new technologies enable us to go to new
    places, and they enable us to be wise stewards of the environment. I
    understand there's a big debate about whether or not you can explore for
    oil and gas and protect the environment. I believe you can. And I
    understand that as we transition to the ethanol era, we must also--or
    the hydrogen era, we must also find oil and gas in our own hemisphere if
    the objective is to become less dependent on foreign oil.
        They estimate that the new discovery in the deep Gulf of Mexico
    could increase our reserves from 10 to 50 percent. In other words, this
    is a big deal. And Congress is debating an energy bill. They passed a
    good energy bill, by the way, in the past, that encourages conservation
    and

    [[Page 1838]]

    encourages a lot of the research that I was talking about, understands
    we've got to diversify away from our current structure. But there's
    another bill out there, and they need to get the work done. They need to
    come together between the House and the Senate version to encourage
    exploration in the Gulf of Mexico in new areas to make sure that we
    transition to a new day when it comes to energy.
        And I believe that States ought to share in the royalties, because I
    know in the State of Louisiana, for example, they have committed their
    share of new royalties in this new exploration to help protect their
    coastline. And I believe Congress needs to get the bill to my desk as
    quick as possible. So when you finish the elections, get back and let me
    sign this bill so the American people know that we're serious about
    getting off foreign oil.
        And that's going to be important because we can find a lot of
    natural gas offshore, for example. And we need natural gas in order to
    make sure we meet our second objective, and that's how we protect the
    environment and power our society.
        I don't know if you know this or not, but electricity is generated
    from natural gas, about 18 percent; coal, 50 percent; nuclear power, 20
    percent; and then solar and wind. And the fundamental question is, can
    the Federal Government help make sure that we have energy so we can
    power our economy, protect the environment, and grow? And the answer is,
    we can, and we can spend money to help you.
        One thing we don't need to spend money on but need to do is permit
    more liquefied natural gas terminals. LNG is a new technology that is--
    it's not that new, but it's evolving technology. It means you can get--
    buy natural gas from overseas in liquefied form and deliquefy it.
    There's a lot of natural gas in the world, and it makes sense for us to
    be in a position to receive that natural gas in order to make sure
    you've got energy in your home.
        A shortage of natural gas causes your electricity bills to go up.
    Supply of natural gas, increased supply, makes it more likely that
    you're going to have rational bills, more likely the economy will
    continue to grow. And natural gas protects the environment.
        Secondly, on coal, we got a lot of coal. We got 250 years of coal.
    That's a lot, and yet coal presents us with an environmental challenge.
    And so we're spending quite a bit of money here at the Federal level to
    come up with clean-coal technologies. If you want to be less dependent
    on foreign sources of energy, it seems like it makes sense to me that we
    use the energies we have here at home and do so in environmentally
    friendly ways.
        We're spending $2 billion to promote technologies that will enable
    our coal-fired plants to protect the environment. As a matter of fact,
    we got what's called a FutureGen Initiative. By the year 2012, we'll
    build the first clean-coal powerplant that will remove virtually all
    pollutants and greenhouse gases from burning coal. In other words,
    there's a way coming that's going to enable us to use this plentiful
    resource.
        A controversial subject is nuclear power. You might remember, we've
    had a time in our country where people liked nuclear power, thought it
    was a strong solution to energy independence, and then we just shut her
    down because of engineering concerns. I strongly believe that if we want
    to keep this country competitive, if we want to make sure we can compete
    globally, we must promote civilian nuclear power. We must have more
    energy coming from nuclear power.
        Nuclear power is renewable, and there are no greenhouse gases
    associated with nuclear power. One of the problems we've had is that
    nobody wants to build any plants. They're afraid of the costs of
    regulation and the litigious nature that surrounds the construction of
    nuclear powerplants--

    [[Page 1839]]

    litigious problems surrounding the construction of the nuclear
    powerplants.
        And so in the energy bill that I signed, the Congress wisely
    provided incentives and risk insurance for nuclear powerplant
    construction. Last year, only three companies were seeking to build
    powerplants, nuclear powerplants. Today, 14 have expressed new interest
    in construction. In other words, there's a new industry beginning to
    come back.
        I think it's very important for us to spend dollars on how to best
    deal with the waste--in other words, research new ways to be able to
    assure the American people that we'll be able to deal with the nuclear
    waste in a smart way. And that's why we're teaming up with France and
    Japan and Russia to spend money--$250 million from the United States
    perspective, and they're matching it--on what's called the Global
    Nuclear Energy Partnership, all designed to research reprocessing and
    fast-burner reactors.
        The idea is to take the nuclear industry, take the spent fuel,
    reprocess it, put it into a fast-burner reactor, which will yield about
    90 percent less of the waste than under the current system. What I'm
    telling you is, is that the engineering is much safer today than it has
    been in the past, and we're spending money to make sure that we can deal
    with the waste in a sane way, so that we can, with confidence, say to
    the American people, now is the time to accelerate the expansion of
    nuclear power, for the sake of national and economic security.
        I believe that with the proper amount of research, whether it be
    public or private, we will have solar roofs that will enable the
    American family to be able to generate their own electricity. And it's
    coming.
        I believe wind power has got the opportunity to help. All we need is
    to put a couple of windmills right there in Washington, DC, and we'll
    be--[laughter]--less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
        What I'm talking about is a comprehensive approach to solving a
    national issue, which is dependence on oil and how best to protect this
    environment. You know, it's time to get rid of the old, stale debates on
    the environment and recognize new technologies are going to enable us to
    achieve a lot of objectives at the same time.
        Technology will enable us to be able to say we can grow our economy
    and protect our environment at the same time. It's not a zero-sum game
    anymore. These technological breakthroughs are going to say to our
    farmers, ``You're energy producers.'' And that's good for America. It's
    going to say to those entrepreneurs that are risk takers, this is a good
    place to try to make a good return on capital.
        There's a lot of smart money in the United States going into energy
    diversification and to research. And for those of you here, thanks. I
    hope you make a good return. I think you will. There is no question in
    my mind that we're on the verge of significant breakthroughs. And so
    what I wanted to come and tell you is, one, thanks for your interest;
    thanks for showing up at a conference like this. You're the beginning of
    what's going to be a new environmental debate, an economy based upon new
    technologies, a new way to power our automobiles, and a way that says by
    making good decisions now and researching now, we'll leave behind a
    better world for our children.
        Someday, some--the 56th President will be standing up here saying, I
    appreciate the fact that there was some pioneers back in America in
    those days; I can't spend too much time because I've got to go get my
    limousine filled up by hydrogen--[laughter]--but I appreciate the fact
    that the solar panels are working so you can see me. [Laughter] In other
    words, it's coming, and I'm excited to be a part of it. And I hope
    you're excited as well.
        Thanks for letting me come by. God bless.

    [[Page 1840]]

    Note: The President spoke at 12:29 p.m. at the St. Louis Convention
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to David Bransby, professor of
    agronomy and soil, Auburn University.