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Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252

Washington, D.C., February 1, 2006—In his State of the Union address last night, President Bush took a big step toward returning the United States to the disastrous energy policies of the Nixon and Carter years, warns the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“The president's dangerous rhetoric that we are addicted to oil is an indication that the administration is addicted to confused thinking about energy policies,” says Myron Ebell, CEI’s director of energy policy. “As bad as the policies proposed by President Bush are, the addiction rhetoric is much worse. President Bush might as well have said, ‘we're addicted to prosperity, comfort, and mobility, and I've got the policies to do something about it.’

“The goals and methods the president announced in his State of the Union address will be hindrances and obstacles to creating a bright energy future for American consumers. They will interfere with the working of the market that provides incentives for increasing supplies and for technological innovations. In taking these steps in the wrong direction, President Bush also seems to have forgotten the positive energy policies that he has promoted in the past. These include removing the political and legal obstacles to exploiting America's vast conventional energy resources, such as opening portions of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas development.”