Bush, Labor Boost Arctic Oil Plan

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, January 17 - President Bush and labor leaders found common ground Thursday on the administration's plan to drill for petroleum in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a project some unions back because it could create thousands of jobs.

``This energy bill that we're working on is a jobs bill,'' Bush told about a dozen union executives at the Teamsters national headquarters. ``And when we explore for power, U.S. power, U.S. energy in ANWR, we're not only helping us become less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil and foreign sources of energy. We're creating jobs for American workers, jobs so that men and women can put food on the table.''

Organized labor groups traditionally support Democrats, but Bush has reached out to unions, and they helped his national energy plan pass the Republican-controlled House in August. The alliance has split two traditionally Democratic-aligned groups: Environmentalists strongly oppose many elements of the plan.

At the same time, unions themselves are divided over the ANWR plan. Many major labor groups oppose it.

The bill, which calls for increased oil and gas drilling, new conservation measures and energy infrastructure upgrades, awaits a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Majority Leader Tom Daschle has promised to take up energy legislation by February, and White House aides said Thursday they believe he will keep the pledge.

The administration and unions have often clashed since Bush took office. Bush repealed a Clinton-era rule favored by unions that prevents the government from awarding contracts to businesses that have broken environmental, labor, tax or other federal laws. He installed conservative lawyer Eugene Scalia, son of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, as inspector general at the Labor Department.

But Bush said he and the union leaders were now focused on the same question: How to create more jobs. ``That's why we're linked up on this issue,'' he said. ``All of us know that the energy bill that's now stuck in the Senate, that can't get voted on in the Senate, will be good for America.''

Bush referred to Teamsters President James P. Hoffa as ``Jimmy,'' and Hoffa joshed that he had learned the Heimlich maneuver should Bush choke on a pretzel.

Hoffa delivered a strong plug for the energy plan, using many of Bush's own arguments. The proposal has become a ``political football,'' he said.

``ANWR to us means a lot of new jobs,'' Hoffa said as journalists crowded around a long conference table. ``We're also talking about reducing our dependence on foreign countries for oil.''

The tentative political alliance over the most divisive piece of Bush's energy bill - drilling in ANWR - could also tie his hands in any dealmaking with Senate Democrats. Organized labor's support for Bush is conditioned upon the promise of thousands of new jobs when ANWR is opened for drilling. Bush would risk labor's wrath in an election year by dropping the ANWR proposal in any compromise.

In a closed-door meeting with the union leaders, Bush pledged that he would not drop the ANWR provision, said Bret Caldwell, the Teamsters' communications director.

In shifting his emphasis to his domestic agenda this year, Bush has renewed his calls for passage of the energy plan. It will be a major component of his State of the Union speech Jan. 29, one adviser said.

The new focus comes at a time when the administration is under renewed scrutiny for the role energy companies, particularly the now-bankrupt Enron Corp., played in developing it.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said in a letter to energy plan architect Vice President Dick Cheney that Enron would have benefited from 17 provisions in the plan.

``This creates the unfortunate appearance that a large contributor received special access and obtained extraordinarily favorable results in the White House energy plan,'' he wrote.