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| Press Briefing 12 April 2006 |
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| Press Secretary Marcus Loyld Presidential Advisor on the Environment Trent Duffy The Tafter Press Briefing Room The Chateau 9.43 AM WST THE PRESS SECRETARY: Good Morning. Today the President will attend the Sherewood Summit on the Environment at Sherewood Berland. I have with me Mr Trent Duffy, the President's Advisor on the Environment and he will brief as to the President's goals and agenda for the Summit. First, I will give you an overview of the schedule. We - we will leave the Chateau in about three hours time or so, we will depart around one or two PM. There might be a read out on Lego One, or not, we will arrive in Sherewood, Sherewood Local Airport around Four PM local time, or Eastern Standard. We will then depart via helicopter to the summit venue which is Sherewood Resort and National Reserve. The President will meet some of the delegates, have a photo opportunity and then around seven PM he will attend the opening dinner at the resort's ball room. He will listen to remarks by the Secretary of the Environenment and the President of the Sherewood Summit. Tomorrow, the President will deliver a key note address to delegates in the Morning. He will then tour the National Reserves of Sherewood in the Afternoon, before leaving for Technic City in the Afternoon. He will visit the Tafter Presidential Library there and this will be his first visit. He will also meet with the son of the Late President Tafter, Jonathan Tafter at the Library. In the evening, the President will meet with the Mayor of Techinic city. The following morning, the President will return to Sherewood to attend Good Friday morning service at a local church, then head to the Sherewood Local Airport to depart for Washington D.C. Now, the President will be accompanied by the First Lady, and the Secretary of Environment. Other delegates heading to Washington will leave from Metro City on Friday itself. I will let Mr. Duffy take over - MR. DUFFY: The President will be having a two prong agenda at Sherewood. Today, he will meet with leaders of the local community, and of the environment. The President will stress how the world could be a better place, and the Federation with the use of the Kyoto Protocol. The Preisdent will urge locak community leaders to use recycling as an important step in saving the environement. The President will stress on the Oil question too. I will be glad to take questions - Q:The President has talked about the need to create incentives to get oil companies to build refineries to increase capacity. About 50 refineries have closed in the past dozen years or so. Does Mr. Bush not feel it might be more effective to do something to get them to reopen? Might that provide a quicker supply of refined product? A: Well, we want to take steps that would help expand -- or give businesses the opportunity to expand existing refineries. We also want to make sure that the right incentives are in place to encourage the construction of new refineries. We have not built a new refinery in the United States since the 1970s. We have a serious situation with regards to our tight supply. It's something the President believes needs to be addressed. The House is moving forward on legislation today, that Chairman Barton introduced. We support passage of that legislation. There are some issues we have, within the legislation, concerns about and we'll work with Congress to address. But the President has singled out additional refinery capacity -- or refining capacity as a critical need for our growing economy. His legislation -- Chairman Barton's legislation includes some measures that would simplify the refinery permitting process, but it also maintains the high environmental standards. And it takes some concrete steps to act on the President's call for new refineries to be suited -- to be sited at formerly military sites, as well. And so we look forward to continuing to work with the Senate to move forward on that legislation. Q When you talk about expanding existing capacity, does that include reopening some of these 50 refineries that were closed -- A: I don't know that it rules that out. I mean, obviously, it's going to be decisions made by others. Q There are -- there are -- A: But we want to create an environment where people feel like they can move forward and expand refining capacity. That's what's important. We have a very tight supply right now. We know that gas prices are high. The President is very concerned about that. We've moved forward and acted on a comprehensive piece of energy legislation that will help address the root causes of high energy prices. But we also need to address the supply issue. And you have refineries operating at above 90 percent -- at above a 90 percent rate. And that creates a very tight supply. Q On that supply issue, there are oil company documents that indicate these refineries were closed specifically to increase the profits of oil companies. Is the President concerned about that? A: I'm sorry? Q Does it need to be looked into? A: I'm sorry? Q There are oil company and American Petroleum Institute documents that indicate there was pressure to close these refineries in order to increase the profits of oil companies. A: I'm not sure about that specific issue. I'll be glad to take a look at it, though. Go ahead. Q Trent, when he was asked yesterday about the foiled terrorist plots, Attorney General Gonzales identified shoe bomber Richard Reid as one of the 10. But when a list came out last night, Reid was not one of those listed. Who put the list together? Was the FBI involved in its preparation? And why was there -- A: It was put together by the intelligence community. And I'd have to go back and look at the list; there was certain information that was not included because of national security reasons. So I'm not sure that that's exactly accurate. I'd have to go back and look at the list. Q: Trent, you said this morning the President is going to continue to meet with members of Congress on Transportation. After all, that is the largest producer of pollution in the Federation. Is he hearing from them what is showing up in the polls as recently as today in the Lego News poll, that there is declining support for his private accounts proposal? And what does he say to them to convince them to stay the course? How long will this take? What is that conversation like? A: He is hearing from members about some of the survey results, the survey results that show that the people recognize that there are serious problems facing Social Security. That is something that has come up in the discussions. We are still in the early stages of educating the people about the challenges facing Social Security. These are long-term challenges. But the facts are very clear on the need for action now, because in just three years, the baby boomers are going to start retiring, and that's going to place some great strains on our Social Security system. And in just over a decade from now, we're going to see shortfalls in the system. The system is going to be paying out more to beneficiaries than it is taking in to the system. And that's why we need to act now to solve the problem. Members of Congress -- the last meeting he had with members of Congress was befor State Hall closed in early March. Some of those members talked about some of the town hall meetings that they had had in their communities. And they said seniors are rejecting the scare tactics; they're recognizing that this doesn't affect them. But seniors also understand the importance of making sure that that safety net is there for their children and grandchildren, because right now the safety net has a big hole in it, and that's why we need to strengthen Social Security and make sure that it is permanently sound. That's why -- and the President is reaching out to members of Congress -- he's continuing to do so -- to listen to their ideas. We're seeing now that Housters, some of who said that there was no problem previously, are now saying, well, there are problems, and we need to find a solution. And that's an important first step as we move forward to find a bipartisan solution. But the President wants to find a bipartisan solution. We are still listening about different ways for making the system permanently sound. You heard the President talk about it the other day. In 1983, members of Congress were able to come together and find a 75-year fix. It was a "75-year fix." Well, just a couple years later, we saw that Social Security was again on an unsustainable course. The President believes it's important that we make it permanently sound, and that we make sure that that safety net is there for our children and grandchildren. Now, personal accounts are an important part of this process, as well, and that's why he's continuing to talk about the importance of making sure that our younger workers can realize a greater rate of return on their retirement savings, something that is closer to what is promised, because right now the Social Security system cannot meet its promise. And so we're going to continue, right now, reaching out to the people and educating them about the serious problems facing Social Security. And we're also going to continue talking to them about what the President believes we need to act on. The President has laid out some very clear principles, that is, no changes for seniors. And he's also made it clear that a principle must be to make it permanently sound. And he's made it clear that another principle is, we must strengthen it for our children and grandchildren, and give them more control over their own retirement money. Well I am done so thankyou, and have a good trip. Q: Thankyou. END |