Liberals don t like this. They rail about pollution from coal plants, but also oppose construction of new natural gas pipelines and gas drilling that would allow operation of gas-fired plants. Bush has correctly labeled the California mess to be just that - a mess California needs to deal with. Power plants are approved by states, not by the federal government. But a state that sucks up energy while refusing to generate electricity seems hopeless.
Gas is just as easy to explain.
Over the last decade, gasoline and oil consumption in America has increased 11 percent. At the same time, oil refinery capacity has grown by only 8 percent. The difference has been made up by importing foreign oil. Now that prices have risen, the oil companies can make money by drilling and refining their own oil. But environmental regulations have discouraged them from doing so.