President Bush''s energy plan is the right policy to address California''s energy crisis, according to Lance T. Izumi, author of "Lights Out: California''s Electricity Debacle, Causes and Cures," and Steven Hayward, author of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators 2001.
Izumi and Hayward are senior fellows with the California-based Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy.
"By emphasizing market-oriented solutions, relying on the private sector rather than government, and focusing on increasing energy supplies, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have gotten it right," Izumi said.
"Government intervention in the energy marketplace, through price controls, a slow and cumbersome power plant approval process, and overly burdensome environmental regulations are the direct causes of California''s electricity debacle," he said.
"President Bush has learned California''s hard lesson: more government will increase, not resolve our electricity problems. If we want cheap and plentiful energy, we need to remove the government obstacles that prevent the private sector from producing that energy. The Bush plan will go a long way to doing just that."
by Virginia Sutcliffe