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From Editor & Publisher:
White House Press Briefing: Save Energy! Turn Off Those Computers!
Aya Kawano
By E&P Staff
Published: September 27, 2005 3:05 PM ET
NEW YORKAt his daily briefing at the White House today, Press Secretary Scott McClellan went a few steps further than his boss in advocating energy saving steps that government workers and, by extension, all Americans should take. Whether the public interprets this as the onset of a Jimmy Carter-like "malaise" remains to be seen.
After asserting that, actually, the White House has been advocating conservation since 2001, such as turning up the thermostat in summer, McClellan said Bush aides have been "looking at additional ways that we can conserve energy. We'll also be sending out notices to staff about -- reminding them to turn off lights and printers and copiers and computers when they leave the office. We'll continue to move forward on more e-government, paperless systems that would reduce the use of faxes and copiers and printers and things of that nature, encouraging all government vehicles to try to consume less....
Back 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney said, "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy." That same year, Ari Fleischer, then the Bush press secretary, called reducing American energy consumption "a big no." He said Bush "believes that it's an American way of life."
...Reporters also wondered whether the president would be willing to cut back on energy-costly trips on Air Force One.
From Reuters.com:
Bush views hurricane damage on 7th trip to region
Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:32 PM ET
By Steve Holland
LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush flew over hurricane-damaged homes and oil installations on Tuesday on his seventh trip to survey recovery efforts as he asked Americans to reduce energy consumption....
One of the heftiest costs of presidential travel entails flying Air Force One, a reconfigured Boeing 747-200B. Bush already has made stops in Mississippi, Colorado, Texas and Louisiana, including four in New Orleans, the low-lying city flooded by Katrina.
While precise costs were not available, Maj. Brenda Campbell, an Air Force spokeswoman at the Pentagon, said that as of a month ago, before Katrina struck, fuel expenses for the biggest airplane of the Air Force One fleet was $6,029 per hour, compared to $3,974 an hour in fiscal year 2004.
09.28.05
