By Richard Wolffe in Saginaw, Michigan Published: September 29 2000 19:05GMT | Last Updated: September 30 2000 00:29GMT High energy prices and increasing US reliance on foreign oil dominated the presidential campaign on Friday as Al Gore and George W. Bush traded blows ahead of next week's first head-to-head debate. The Republican candidate accused the Clinton-Gore administration of "failed leadership", saying it had watched the Gulf war coalition fall apart, allowing Iraq to increase its influence over world oil supplies. Mr Bush also controversially promised to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling as part of a $7.1bn effort to draft "a comprehensive energy policy". The Gore campaign, highlighting the oil industry careers of Mr Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, said the plan "would allow their Big Oil friends to drill in Alaska's fragile wilderness . . . without necessarily affecting the price of oil for years to come". Mr Bush wants 1.5m acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska - representing about 8 per cent of the environmental sanctuary - to be available for oil and gas exploration. To offset damage to the environment, he would earmark royalties and revenues from exploration bids to fund research into alternative energy sources and conservation work. The Gore campaign responded on Friday by condemning the Texas governor's environmental record in Houston. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, also challenged the Texas governor's energy proposals and his links with the oil industry. Mr Bush and Mr Cheney had lucrative careers as oil executives, including the latter's most recent position at the head of Halliburton, the international oil services conglomerate. Energy policy moved centre-stage in the campaign last week when Mr Gore proposed releasing oil from emergency reserves in an attempt to lower energy prices. The next day President Bill Clinton agreed to release 1m barrels a day for one month. Democrat aides have become alarmed by the prospect of rising heating costs in the north-eastern US this winter. They have also watched with concern how fuel protests in Europe have threatened governing parties. Mr Bush pledged on Friday to make energy security a priority in his foreign policy, promoting greater flows of oil, natural gas and electricity between Mexico, Canada and the US as part of a North American energy policy. But it was US policy in the Gulf that drew his fiercest attack on Friday, citing Iraq's supply of 7 per cent of oil imports. The US now imports 56 per cent of its oil compared with 36 per cent before the 1973 oil crisis. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the Gulf war have become increasingly common features of the Bush campaign as the Texas governor has explicitly recalled the military and diplomatic success of his father, former President Bush. "We fought a war in defence of some of these countries, and today our standing with them is low, our needs are ignored," he told supporters in a Saginaw manufacturing plant on Friday. "On the Clinton-Gore watch, Saddam Hussein's Iraq has become a major supplier of oil to America," he added. "This means that one of our worst international enemies is gaining more and more control over America's economic future." _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
