3:03/01. BUSH VOWS TO FIGHT "HUGE ENERGY CRISIS" BY DRILLING AND DAMMING: In an exclusive interview with Reuters, reported 19 January, U.S. President-elect George W. Bush Thursday vowed to fight a "huge energy crisis" by analyzing all federal lands for oil exploration, enlisting Mexico's help for oil imports and rejecting all calls to breach hydroelectric dams. Bush expanded on his previous calls to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil by increasing domestic production. The president-elect said he would respect state wishes not to allow drilling for oil off the coasts of California and Florida, but he said there were a lot of "western lands" that could support energy exploration without undue risk to the environment. "I'm going to analyze ... every piece of property that is federal land and come up with a cost-benefit analysis, basically because we need more supply," he said. Bush dismissed as outdated any calls for breaching hydroelectric dams, criticized by environmentalists and fishermen for disrupting salmon runs, especially in the Pacific Northwest. "I don't notice anybody talking anymore about breaching the dams to save the salmon now that there's a huge energy crisis," he said, adding that the calls to breach dams arose "when it appeared we had an abundance of cheap energy."
For more on the Toxic Texas environmental legacy of George W. Bush, see Texas PEER.