EPA Chief Defends Bush’s Emission Stance

WASHINGTON —  In her first public comments since President Bush reversed himself on a campaign pledge, Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman defended her boss’ decision not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants.

She said Bush had grown worried that restrictions on emissions would create more energy problems similar to those in California.

The country is “in the midst of a national energy crisis [and] this is a long way from being over,” she said in a speech Friday at the National Press Club.

The president “didn’t want to do anything that was going to discourage decisions that would result in a better mix of energy,” she said.

Bush has said that new regulations on carbon dioxide emissions would increase the use of natural gas, a fuel that has more than doubled in price in the last year and is a factor in California’s electricity shortages.

Whitman said the country was “becoming extraordinarily dependent on natural gas.”

“I think most people understand that there are problems when you become too dependent on a single source of energy and . . . that further exploration and transport of natural gas brings up another whole host of problems.”

Bush’s decision to back away from his pledge earlier this month came after intense lobbying by the coal industry. It also seemed to contradict Whitman, who had said in late February that Bush was concerned about global warming and could have an antipollution strategy that included emissions restrictions.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas produced from burning fossil fuels. Environmentalists contend curbing emissions is a key to reducing global warming.

Congressional supporters still intend to push to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant beginning in 2007.