FIRE THEM UP Generating more electricity from nuclear power plants is one of the key recommendations of the Bush energy policy. PHOTO BY DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES

The President and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made the announcement during a tour of midwestern advanced energy facilities. The plan, drawn up by a task force led by Vice President Richard B. Cheney and staffed by former aides to Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska), was crafted during a four-month series of meetings held out of public sight and with heavy reliance on the input of industrial America.

The report enjoys support from U.S. businesses, but its heavy emphasis on exploration and production of oil, gas, and coal, as well as greater reliance on nuclear power, has angered environmentalists.

Included among the 105 report recommendations are the following: begin drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ease siting of new electrical transmission lines, re-examine policies that forbid reprocessing of nuclear fuel, rejuvenate a clean-coal R&D program, and encourage greater use of fossil-based energy sources.

Bush will issue two executive orders: one requiring federal agencies to consider the energy impact of proposed regulations and the other calling on federal agencies to speed issuance of permits for energy projects.

The plan also addresses renewable energy through some $5 billion in new income tax credits, spread over 10 years, for the purchase of renewable energy devices, such as hybrid--gasoline and electric--vehicles. Some $1.2 billion of these credits would be generated through lease sale royalties from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Among plan supporters is Mark D. Nelson, American Chemistry Council vice president for federal relations, who says the plan is a balance of conservation, efficiency, and production.

U.S. chemical companies, he says, have been hard hit this year by the explosion in the price of natural gas, used as both feedstock and energy source. The President's plan, he hopes, will lead to more gas production and gas transmission pipelines. He adds that chemical industry leaders conducted congressional visits earlier this month to express their support for the plan.

On the other hand, a coalition of environmental groups began airing a television ad campaign critical of the plan in 12 cities last week.

The focus now shifts to Congress, since legislation is required to implement about 20 of Bush's recommendations. Several energy policy bills have already been introduced, but have been bottled up awaiting the President's report.

On the Senate side, a spokesman for Republicans on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Murkowski, says the committee will soon take up the task force report as well as competing bills. The aide predicted several hearings with the goal of having bipartisan legislation on the Senate floor by the Fourth of July recess.

These bills, like the President's plan, however, mostly address long-range energy issues. And on the eve of the Bush plan's release, both congressional Republicans and Democrats said they intended to back legislation to immediately help consumers by keeping gasoline and electricity prices down.

House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt (Missouri) called the Bush plan simply a "payback" for energy industry campaign contributions to the President. At a Capitol Hill gas station, he and other Democratic members presented their outline of an alternative energy plan that included reducing consumers' energy and gas bills.

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