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OCR Page 1 of 40RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Julia E. Chamovitz (CHAMOVITZ_J) (OPD)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 9-MAR-1995 09:33:45.05
SUBJECT: OIL-STATE SENATORS WANT DOMESTIC ENERGY PRODUCTION
TO: Elgie Holstein
HOLSTEIN_E) (OPD)
READ: 9-MAR-1995 10:17:08.61
TEXT:
Date: 03/09/95 Time: 08:44
Oil-State Senators Want Domestic Energy Production Initiatives
WASHINGTON (AP) Oil-state lawmakers are chiding the Clinton
administration for failing to propose initiatives to boost domestic
oil and natural gas production, even though the country is becoming
increasingly reliant on energy imports.
``We're not doing everything we can to promote domestic energy
production," Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Chairman Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, said as his panel met
Wednesday.
In sharp criticism of the administration, Sen. Don Nickles,
R-Okla., added: ``I am very troubled by the lack of leadership by
this president and by the secretary of energy."
President Clinton last month accepted a Commerce Department
finding that petroleum imports accounting for half of all oil
used domestically in 1994 are threatening U.S. national security.
But he declined to offer any new domestic production initiatives,
sparking a sharp outcry from the energy industry and oil-state
lawmakers.
Deputy Energy Secretary Bill White defended the administration's
efforts. ``I disagree with some of the characterizations of blame
or that this administration is doing nothing," he testified.
``I hope we can work on a bipartisan basis, not to assign blame
but to go forward and do something constructive."
Within the last month, White said, the administration has
supported relaxation of the ban on exporting Alaskan North Slope
oil, proposed new rules for alternative-fueled vehicles, and sought
to maintain a U.N. Security Council embargo on Iraqi oil.
But the senators repeatedly questioned why the administration
hasn't proposed any initiatives to stimulate domestic production,
which hit a 40-year low last year.
Oil imports accounted for $50 billion of the United States' $108
billion trade deficit with the rest of the world last year,
according to Commerce Department figures.
``What's the biggest driver of the balance of trade? Imported
oil," said Sen. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, who is ranking
Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
What the energy industry and its supporters on Capitol Hill want
are tax breaks and regulatory relief.
George Alcorn, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association
of America, told the committee the problem is that U.S. tax and