    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [September 2, 2008]
    [Pages 1168-1169]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to a Cabinet Meeting
    September 2, 2008

        Members of my Cabinet have assembled here, and I thank you all for
    coming. We recognize that the prestorm efforts were important, and so is
    the followup efforts; in other words, what happens after the storm
    passes is as important as what happens prior to the storm arriving.
        And so our discussion today is about energy. The Gulf Coast region
    produces a lot of energy for the United States. And we're now in the
    process of assessing any damage done to the infrastructure and right--a
    little early right now to come up with a solid assessment. There is some
    encouraging signs. For example, during Katrina, rigs would be--rigs
    moved because of the force of the storm, and their anchors drug across
    pipelines, which caused there to be infrastructure damage. We didn't see
    much of that this time, although I will tell you that it's a little
    early to be making any forecasts.

    [[Page 1169]]

        It's not too early, however, for the Federal Government to continue
    to coordinate with the State and local people. That's why Secretary
    Bodman was in touch with Governor
    Jindal. We want to make sure that
    we're in touch with these energy-producing States, to help assess what
    took place and what needs to happen.
        One thing is for certain: When Congress comes back, they've got to
    understand that we need more domestic energy, not less, that--and one
    place to find it is offshore America, lands that have been taken off the
    books, so to speak, by congressional law. And now they need to give us a
    chance to find more oil and gas here at home. I'd much rather American
    consumers be buying gasoline produced from American oil than from
    foreign oil. I'd rather our dollar stay at home than go overseas.
        And I know the Congress has been on recess for a while, but this
    issue hasn't gone away. And this storm should not cause the Members of
    Congress to say, ``Well, we don't need to address our energy
    independence.'' It ought to cause the Congress to step up their need to
    address our dependence on foreign oil. And one place to do so is to give
    us a chance to explore in environmentally friendly ways on the Outer
    Continental Shelf.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:33 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Piyush ``Bobby'' Jindal
    of Louisiana. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of these remarks.