    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [September 14, 2008]
    [Pages 1199-1200]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Briefing on Hurricane Ike Recovery Efforts
    September 14, 2008

        I want to thank senior members of the administration for coming in
    this Sunday morning to discuss Hurricane Ike. I was on the phone to--
    with Secretary Chertoff before coming into
    this meeting. The Secretary went down yesterday. He gave me a briefing
    from Austin; he'll be heading into Houston. This is all part of our
    efforts to help Texas and Louisiana with a focused, effective recovery
    effort.
        Administrator Paulison briefed us on
    how we're doing on our priorities. First priority is search and rescue,
    and I want to thank the people at the Federal and State levels for
    working so hard to rescue our fellow citizens from harm's way. Rescue
    efforts continue on as we speak.
        I do urge people in the affected areas to listen closely to local
    authorities before they attempt to get back home. There are people now
    surveying damage, people reporting in to the State as to the conditions
    there in the different communities. And it's very important for
    citizens, who I know are anxious to get home, to take your time and
    listen, take the advice of the local folks.
        Our priorities, along with the State and local folks, is to make
    sure electricity gets up as quickly as possible. Secretary
    Bodman gave us a briefing on the outages.
    Interestingly enough, some electricity is already being restored in
    Houston, I'm told. And I do want to thank the utility companies for
    working hard to get electricity up. And to the extent that you need help
    on stringing lines, I'm confident other utility companies from around
    the country will help provide manpower.
        Secretary Chertoff and David
    Paulison tell me that the Federal
    Government will be providing 1\1/2\ million liters of water a day and 1
    million meals a day to help the people who have been displaced. That'll
    of course be coordinated with Governor Perry's office and the State of Texas, as well as the mayors.
        One of the things that's very important for the city of Houston and
    the other cities is to get the water up and running, the sewage plants
    running. And that'll be a priority of ours to help them. And finally,
    debris removal, it's very important that our Corps of Engineer, working
    with local officials, implements a coordinated debris removal plan.
        And so that's what we discussed this morning. This is a tough storm,
    and it's one that is going to be--it's going to require time for people
    to recover.
        As well, the Secretary of Energy
    briefed us on, you know, preliminary reports on gasoline production,
    pipeline distribution. And it's a little early to fully assess where we
    stand, although I can say that, you know, one of the plant--one of the
    pipelines coming out of the Gulf Coast area is running--the Plantation
    Pipeline. And we are watching very carefully as to when the Colonial
    Pipeline can get up and running.
        In the meantime, as I mentioned yesterday, in coordination with the
    Department of Energy, we suspended--and the EPA--we suspended
    reformulated gasoline rules so it would make it easier to import
    gasoline from abroad so as to take pressure off of our consumers.
        And I repeat what I said yesterday, that the Federal Government,
    along with State governments, will be monitoring very carefully as to
    whether or not consumers are being mistreated at the pump, in other
    words, gouged. It's very important for our fellow citizens, during the
    period of temporary disruption, to be treated fairly.
        And so I'm considering--have considered my plans over the weekend,
    and I will be going down to Texas on Tuesday to express

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    the Federal Government's support--sympathy on the one hand and support
    on the other to--for this recovery effort and rebuilding effort.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:50 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. J. Richard Perry of
    Texas.