    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 21 (Monday, May 28, 2001)]
    [Pages 778-779]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    The President's Radio Address

    May 19, 2001

        Good morning. This week I outlined a new energy strategy for our
    Nation--more than 100 specific recommendations to promote energy
    conservation, enlarge and diversify our energy supply, and modernize the
    networks that link energy producers to energy consumers.
        We need to act to protect family budgets. Since 1998, the energy
    bill of the average family has skyrocketed by 25 percent. That's a
    hardship for every family. We need to act to prevent more and more
    widespread blackouts. Blackouts disrupt businesses and put public health
    and safety at risk. We need to act to reduce our reliance on foreign
    crude oil. And if we fail to act, our environment will suffer, as
    Government officials struggle to prevent blackouts in the only way
    possible, by calling on more polluting emergency

    [[Page 779]]

    backup generators and by running less efficient old powerplants too long
    and too hard. So we will act to protect our economy and to safeguard our
    environment.
        Too often Americans are asked to take sides between energy
    production and environmental protection. The truth is, energy production
    and environmental protection are not competing priorities. Both can be
    achieved with new technology and a new vision.
        Most of the new electric powerplants we build over the next 20 years
    will be fueled by clean and safe natural gas. Many of the others will be
    powered by wind, solar, hydropower, nuclear, and other energy sources
    that emit no pollution at all. New cars emit 95 percent less pollution
    than cars built 30 years ago. And my energy plan fosters the development
    of a new generation of cars that is even cleaner still.
        Wise regulation and American innovation will make this country the
    world's leader in energy efficiency and conservation in the 21st
    century. We will use less and less additional energy to fuel more and
    more economic growth. Yet, even as we grow more efficient, we will
    always require some additional energy to power our expanding economy.
        Advanced new technologies allow entrepreneurs to find oil and to
    extract it in ways that leave nature undisturbed. Where oil is found
    underneath sensitive landscapes, rigs can now stand miles away from the
    oilfield and tap the reservoir at an angle. In Arctic sites, like ANWR,
    we can build roads on ice that literally melt away when summer comes and
    the drilling stops to protect wildlife.
        I was just in Pennsylvania and paid a visit to the Susquehanna
    River. After years of being endangered, American shad have been restored
    to this great waterway, and the fish are thriving alongside the dam that
    is generating emission-free hydroelectric power to meet the needs of
    Pennsylvania's people.
        It's time to leave behind rancorous old arguments and build a
    positive new consensus. With new technology, sound regulation, and plain
    good sense, we can expand our energy production while protecting the
    environment. And that is exactly what my energy approach is designed to
    do.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 5:20 p.m. on May 18 in the Cabinet
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 19. In his
    address, the President referred to ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife
    Refuge. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary on May 18 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.
    The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
    transcript of the address.