Bush orders California energy conservation measures, may impose wider ban
WASHINGTON (AFX) - President George W. Bush ordered all federal agencies in California to cut power usage and may impose wider limits on energy usage. "Today I am instructing all federal agencies to reduce their peak hour electricity use in the state of California," Bush told reporters at the White House, adding that "what this nation needs to do is review all options." Bush said the federal government will make power generators available to help states that face blackouts and that the Defense Department will work to reduce its energy consumption in California by 10 pct from a year earlier. He dispatched his Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to California to meet with Governor Gray Davis later today. Bush added that conservation is not the only answer to solving California' energy shortage, and that his administration will have a two-pronged approach that includes both conservation and searching for new sources of energy as a solution. "Conservation has got to be an integral part of making sure we've got a reasonable energy policy," Bush said, "but we darned sure have to do a better job of finding more supply. It is naive for the American people and its leaders and those who purport to speak for the American people, some of those, to say that we can be okay from an energy perspective by only focusing on conservation."
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