FT.com site; Jan 22, 2001 BY NANCY DUNNE IN WASHINGTON AND KEN WARN IN OTTAWA President George W. Bush intends to move swiftly to implement a national energy policy, which would open the National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas drilling, his spokesman said on Monday. "We'll push ahead to develop 8 per cent of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman. He was referring to the 1.5m-acre coastal plain, which straddles the border been Alaska and the Yukon. The drilling is fiercely opposed by environmentalists. It is also unpopular in Canada, where David Anderson, the environment minister, has vowed to oppose exploration. The refuge provides a calving ground for 200,000 caribou, which roam back and forth over the border. Canadian sensitivities could be important to Mr Bush's plan to set up a common market in energy in North America. There are concerns that the new president will be much more focused on relationships with Mexico and Latin American than Canada. Canada will be reluctant to jeopardise its relationship with the new administration over the Arctic, at least initially. It plans to move diplomatically to encourage other drilling sites. Environmentalists will wage war on legislation to open the reserve. "The only real solution is energy efficiency and energy conservation, and these people have been opposed to both of those steps," said Arlie Schardt of Environmental Media Services. "It seems unnecessarily self-defeating to ignore the obvious desire of Canada to protect that region." Although publicly dedicating his first week in office to a relatively uncontroversial push for oil, Mr Bush met on Monday with his new energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, and other appointees to discuss options available for the California's power crisis. "The president continues to believe that the issue is mostly a California matter dealing with the legislation that is before the state," Mr Fleischer said. "We are, of course, concerned about any energy problems that take place in our nation's largest state. Having said that, the real solution long term is to enact President Bush's comprehensive energy policy." Copyright ) Financial Times group _______________________________________________ Crashlist website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
