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CNN Live Today

President Bush Addresses Energy Situation in Wake of Hurricanes; Should Military Take on Increased Role in Disaster Relief?

Aired September 26, 2005 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Parts of Louisiana's coast appeared to have weathered the worse of Rita, but when the hurricane moved out, a tidal surge poured in. Floodwaters swallowed much of the town of Erath after the storm passed, and some 1,000 people had to be rescued across Vermillion Parish. And problems still remain today.
Our Ed Lavandera is in that part of the world with the latest. Hello.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, here in Vermilion Parish, water levels are starting to recede. And for the first time in the last couple of days, residents are getting a chance of seeing what they're coming back to.

We have here with us Susan Cassidy, who just pulled up seconds ago. And we'll show you her home quick, but it's this house right over here. We're going to pan back over and talk to her. Susan, have you had a chance to go in?

SUSAN CASSIDY, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: No, I haven't. But my son did and my brother.

LAVANDERA: How are you handling everything that you're seeing? I know this is tough.

CASSIDY: It's very tough. As a matter of fact, my mother just died about six weeks ago. And she lives right around the corner and the stuff that means the most to me is the stuff I inherited from her. And we just renovated and remodeled all the interior of my home with her furniture. And a lot of it is probably going to have to be replaced.

LAVANDERA: Did you evacuate before the storm?

CASSIDY: Absolutely. We were made to evacuate on Thursday.

LAVANDERA: And there were a lot of people who thought the worse had gone by and came back. I'm sure you probably talked to a lot of those folks.

CASSIDY: Sure. The following day, my house was pretty dry, and so was all the members of my family. We had not had water. I had water in the yard and on carport, but not inside the home. But it rose so rapidly that you know, actually, people were having to be picked up. And it went up probably two feet after the storm. LAVANDERA: What's it like seeing your town? Someone told me 90 percent of this town is underwater.

CASSIDY: That's the truth, 90 percent. And it's devastating. Every member of my family has water except my brother and a cousin.

LAVANDERA: All right, Susan, thank you very much. Good luck to you.

CASSIDY: Thank you.

LAVANDERA: It was good to meet you.

CASSIDY: Same here.

LAVANDERA: Susan is like everyone else in this town. I mean, if you watch, this is kind of the main road into town. And it's a little bit dryer once you get over that hump. And the water levels are going down. But it's going to be a long day and a long couple weeks for many of the residents in this area -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And what's the status? Are folks allowed to come back in?

LAVANDERA: Well, here's the deal. We've talked to officials. They would prefer that people don't come back, because they say today they're checking on the roadways and there's -- everything south of Highway-14 in this area has suffered all of, most of the water damage. And they'd like to get a day of being able to survey those roads to make sure everything's OK.

But having said that, you're going to find a lot of people who just want to be able to check on their belongings and the situation in their neighborhoods. So as you imagine, as we reported all along the Gulf Coast in the last couple of weeks, sometimes it's just hard to keep people away.

KAGAN: Yes. Ed Lavandera, thank you. From Vermilion Parish.

LAVANDERA: Sure.

KAGAN: Question about the military and leadership role that it could take when disasters strike. President Bush is asking Congress to consider the idea.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is at her post with more on that -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

We've talked to a number of very senior military officials who have been involved in disaster relief over the last month. And what they're trying to explain here is, are they willing and able to take on that mission? Certainly. But do they want to at this point? Here's what's really on the table. What the president is talking about is in the event of a huge natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, something that is so massive, should the military take a leading role, in front of civilian authorities, state and local governments and civilian law enforcement?

Now, what military officials are telling us, even as they have seen General Honore operate on the streets of New Orleans, people directly involved in his operation believe that's something that probably should not have had to have happened. If the evacuation had taken place, if the local and state government had been able to really get those people out of town, perhaps that would not have had to have happen.

What they are saying is the military would, indeed, like to see a greater coordination with civilian authorities, but does the military want the lead role in front of civilians? We have not found anyone on a senior level so far who believes that's a good idea. No one really wants active duty U.S. military troops in a city in a law enforcement role, possibly being put in the position of shooting looters, of taking people into custody.

No one wants the military -- no one thinks it's a good idea at this point for the military, for example, to be in charge of those types of huge traffic jams that we saw in Texas. These are issues, they say, for civilian authorities and for civilian law enforcement.

Is there a role for better coordination with civilian disaster assistance? All military officials we've talked to say certainly. But at the end of the day, even Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said in massive civilian disasters, in massive natural disasters, he doesn't really see a role for the military in law enforcement. Better coordination, that is certainly something that is on the table for discussion -- Daryn?

KAGAN: So coordination, yes; but leadership, it crosses a line that most of the military leaders are just not comfortable with?

STARR: That's right. What they say is their first job foremost is for their troops to engage in defending the nation, in conducting the nation's wars outside of the country. None of them are really looking for this.

You know, there's been endless hurricanes in this country. The military, the National Guard, has been on the streets in a support role, of course, over the years. And that has worked pretty well. So what really did happen in New Orleans? What happened in Louisiana? The feeling here is that issue must be much better understood, what went wrong, before deciding how exactly to fix the problem -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you for that.

Just a little bit ago, we were telling about Cameron Parish. It's a coastal area of the southwest corner of Louisiana. In this photo, you see a Louisiana National Guard helicopter flying over the parish. That is before Hurricane Rita. Now this is Cameron Parish after Rita tore through. As you can see, homes have been blasted from their footings and foundations. Entire fishing villages fare no better. Louisiana's governor says they are just simply gone.

So a lot of folks in southern Louisiana will tell you that behind Katrina and Rita, there is another force to be reckoned with. Lieutenant General Honore, he is the native son of the state. He is also leading the military response to hurricane relief.

Our Randi Kaye accompanying him as he marshaled his forces in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. This is a story you're going to see only here on CNN.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE: We'll leave here and go down to Cameron. Get eyes on Cameron and . . .

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): This is a man who knew where he wanted to go and we were going with him. Lieutenant General Russel Honore wanted to get a look at Cameron Parish, on the southwest tip of Louisiana, the area hardest hit by Hurricane Rita.

(on camera): Compare this operation, if you would, to that of Katrina. How does Hurricane Rita compare?

LT. GENERAL RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY: Rita was a girl compared to a big league, mean lady named Katrina.

KAYE (voice-over): For a girl, Rita did plenty of damage, drowning the parishes along the coast. The general wasn't waiting for Cameron Parish to ask for help. That's not his style. He was going straight to them.

HONORE: When you get here, you've got to make stuff happen. People are not interested in filling out a requisition.

KAYE: As we made our way to Cameron, the general worked the phones, arranging for supplies before he'd even assessed the damage. He knows what it will look like. He's done this before.

HONORE: Because I don't think we need one there. Will need one in Cameron.

KAYE (on camera): This is where the road to Cameron ends. For the next five or six miles or so, nothing but water. In fact, most of Cameron is under 15 feet of water. The only way to get there these days is either by boat or helicopter.

(voice-over): We flew over Cameron Parish in the general's Black Hawk helicopter. It was getting dark, but the destruction below was clear. Water up to the rooftops. Homes ripped off their foundation. In some areas of the parish, 100 percent of the homes were destroyed. In the town of Kreo (ph), the only building left standing is the courthouse. There is water everywhere.

FREDDIE RICHARD, CAMERON PARISH EMERGENCY MGMT.: I flew over and saw the slab where my home was two days ago. So I mean a lot of these guys that are looking at the same thing. We just saw slabs.

KAYE: Our mission was also a rescue mission.

HONORE: The other thing I want is I want Marines doing search and rescue in Cameron before nightfall with a presence, a 24/7 presence.

KAYE: Late into the night we searched for two missing fishermen. No luck. General Honore continued to work to secure the parish.

HONORE: But you want your city off limits to anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

KAYE: And to get supplies to those he knows need them most.

HONORE: Our job is to come in and help safe live and limb.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: It was one of the worst hit area by Hurricane Rita. Much of Lake Charles, Louisiana, like New Orleans before it, now underwater. Our meteorologist Rob Marciano goes back to check out the damage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The water is receding in Lake Charles, Louisiana, following Hurricane Rita, but the city still has no power, sewer systems, or open gas stations or stores. And with many downed trees and power lines, it can be very dangerous to get around.

Our meteorologist Rob Marciano made the trip to see the city where he once lived and to seek out a friend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Now we're going to drive into Lake Charles. We're going to catch up with some people and see how their lives have been changed.

All the exits are blocked. They don't want you getting off the highway, obviously. There's going to be streets flooded and blocked all over this place. Wow!

This is the -- this is like the Lake Charles signature buildings. It's made out of glass, or at least the walls are, and that's not a good recipe when a hurricane is coming through. Look at how all that glass is blown out. It kind of looked somewhat like this. There was an ice storm the last year I was here. See these trees don't see a lot of ice storms and haven't seen a hurricane in a while, either.

(voice-over): I used to live in this neighborhood.

(on camera): My house is on the other side of those trees. It's like every tree on this street is knocked down. It's not Katrina, but it's going to be tough living here for a while, that's for sure. I can't even see the house where I used to live. Every big tree is down for the rest of this block.

(voice-over): Block by block, signs of Rita were everywhere. It was time to track down an old friend. I couldn't connect with him on phone the lines were down.

(on camera): We're just going to drive down there and see how far we get and hopefully not run into too much high water.

(voice-over): Along the way, we ran into Sonny Lannin.

SONNY LANNIN, FRIEND: Hurricane Audrey was a drop in the bucket compared to Rita.

MARCIANO (on camera): No kidding?

LANNIN: Yes -- sir.

MARCIANO: He's using his boat to go back and forth between his house where he rode out the storm and dry land. And as Sonny left, we continued our search.

Is there a way for me to get to Rick Poole's house?

SHERIFF TERRY FAULK, CAMERON PARISH, LOUISIANA: No, we're not allowed to let anyone off of the main highway other than maybe the residents.

MARCIANO (voice-over): We tried anyway. And just when we had given up...

(on camera): How you doing -- bud?

RICK POOLE, FRIEND: Good to see you -- bud.

MARCIANO (voice-over): My friend, Rick Poole, is a builder who was helping in New Orleans.

POOLE: Your heart goes out to them people, and I was thinking, my god, this is terrible. But when it hits home, it seems to be, I mean, it's just -- it changes things.

MARCIANO: Rick gave us a ride to his house on the back of his tractor.

POOLE: It's worse than I thought it would be.

MARCIANO (on camera): Welcome home. POOLE: There's nothing that soap and water can't clean up. You know it doesn't look like it got too, too high in here. This is my son's room and this is our bedroom. But you know the roof held. I don't know who put the roof on, but they must have done a good job.

This is something that happened and good lord gave us the house and he'll give us the strength and the ability to fix it up again. But we are still blessed, our lives still in tact, so we're in good shape.

MARCIANO (voice-over): For the Poole's, and many other families, the long cleanup begins after the water finally recedes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that was CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano. He lived in Lake Charles and worked in the area for three years in the mid 90s.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and take a look at what's making news coast to coast. Most schoolbuses will be idle in Georgia today and tomorrow. Late Friday, the governor here, Sonny Perdue, called on state schools to close for two days to conserve fuel. The proactive move was made ahead of Hurricane Rita's landfall. A lot of parents, they are not liking this here in Georgia. They're scrambling to arrange daycare for their children.

A trial about the teaching of evolution in public schools begins today in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. School district there defending its policy requiring ninth-graders to hear about intelligent design. The district argues that Darwin's Theory of Evolution cannot fully explain the origin of life. Critics say intelligent design is the biblical of creation hidden in scientific language.

A Delta rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral just before midnight with a new GPS satellite. The satellite is the first of eight new spacecrafts, designed for stronger signals for both civilian and military users. The mission follows the tenth anniversary of the global positioning system going -- excuse me, going online.

And we have a Hollywood wedding to tell you about. There are reports that Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were married on Saturday night. About 100 guests reportedly attended the ceremony at a private home. And Moore's ex-husband Bruce Willis and their three daughters were there. It is the 42-year-old's Moore's third marriage. For 27- year-old Kutcher, it is his first.

Checking the markets just ahead. And she didn't spare much of the Texas and Louisiana coastline, but Rita did spare most of the oil refineries. That's good news. President Bush, too, to speak in just a few minutes on the state of emergency and oil supplies after both Rita and Hurricane Katrina. We will bring that to you live when it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Live picture from the Energy Department. President Bush being briefed right now on the energy situation in the wake of two major hurricanes. He is expected to make some comments within the next five to ten minutes. You'll see that live here on CNN.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, the oil industry may have been spared the worst from Hurricane Rita, but production will be affected for a while. CNN's Ali Velshi is following the story for us from New York City. And, Ali, we should just say we are standing by for the president.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are standing by for President Bush's speech -- comments to the Energy Department in just a few minutes.

What we do know right now, Daryn, is that the word around today is that the damage was a lot less than expected. The pipelines taking gasoline and refined products to the rest of the country are back up. We have some refineries damaged. It should be back up in the next little while.

Oil is trading down. Gasoline is trading down. Natural gas is trading down. We're still getting some reports of rigs and offshore stuff that experienced some damage, but at the moment, we are looking at less of a problem than we were looking at going into the weekend because Rita came in not as strong as was expected.

You're looking there at the areas affected. Port Arthur was most hard hit, in terms of the refineries. We know about half a million gallons of -- barrels of oil a day are not going through to at least two refineries there, Valero and Motiva.

Keeping a close eye on this and what President Bush says the government's prepared to do about this. And we'll be back with you in about ten minutes -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, let me ask you this, Ali. Just driving to work, my own unscientific survey, gas coming down quite a bit. I think it was $2.59 here in Atlanta.

VELSHI: Sorry, Daryn, we'll have to get back to you in a few minutes. We don't have an ability to hear you. So I'll get back to you in just a few minutes.

KAGAN: We will work on that. Thanks a lot.

Once again, we are standing by for President Bush to speak at the Energy Department. Also, there's a lot ahead in the next hour of CNN LIVE TODAY. We're awaiting comments from President Bush on the state of oil and energy supplies after the hurricanes, due to start any minute now.

Plus, 24 suspected al Qaeda members learn their fate in a Madrid courtroom today. Reaction to the verdicts, live from Spain, as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: President Bush speaking at the Energy Department. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... about the effects of Hurricane Rita on the energy situation in the Gulf of Mexico.

A lot of our production comes from the Gulf and when you have a Hurricane Katrina followed by a Hurricane Rita, it's natural, unfortunately, that it's going to affect supply.

There's about 1.56 million barrels of oil that is shut in. And before Rita, just to put that in perspective, that was approximately 880,000 barrels a day that was shut in due to Katrina.

So when you really look on a map, if you follow the path of Katrina and the path of Rita, it pretty much covers a lot of the production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Right now, the producing companies are assessing damage to the platforms and rigs. It's important for our people to know that we understand the situation and that we're willing to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to mitigate any shortfalls in crude oil that could affect our consumers.

And I've instructed the secretary of energy to be mindful, once again, about the effects of the SPRO and how it can help settle price.

BUSH: He did a fine job after Katrina, and we're paying close attention to the markets as we speak.

Secondly, gasoline prices obviously are on our minds, and so we've watched carefully the assessments done on the refineries there on the Gulf Coast. There's a lot of gasoline refineries in the Houston area, in the Beaumont area and the Port Arthur area, as well as Lake Charles and the Louisiana area.

There was about 5.4 million barrels per day that were shut in as a result of Rita and Katrina. A million of it is back up already. And we expect another 1.8 million barrels a day to get back online relatively quickly because the storm missed a lot of refining capacity down the Texas coast.

We don't know yet about 1.7 million barrels a day that were located right in the path of Rita, and the secretary has got his people in contact with the energy companies to find out exactly what we have to deal with.

About 90,000 barrels a day still shut down as a result of Katrina. For those of you who went with me to the Chevron plant in Pascagoula, Mississippi, might remember the size of that facility and the scope of the damage it had sustained. They're working hard to bring these plants back up.

The other thing that's going to affect the ability for people to get gasoline is, of course, the pipelines. In other words, you manufacture the gasoline in your refinery; you have to ship it across the country.

BUSH: Three of the four major gasoline pipelines -- three of the four pipelines in the affected area are major gasoline pipelines that supply the Midwest and the East Coast.

The Plantation Pipeline, which is an East Coast pipeline, is at 100 percent capacity. It's one of the real success stories of this storm. In other words, it didn't go down at all.

Colonial, which sends gasoline up to the Midwest, is at 52 percent capacity. It will soon be about 70 percent. It should be at 100 percent by the end of the week. The Explorer in the Midwest, sending gas to the Midwest is 67 percent capacity. It should be at 100 percent next week.

The Capline, which sends gasoline to the Midwest as well, which is the major crude gas pipeline, by the way, that sends crude to be refined in the Midwest, will be at about 75 percent capacity to now. And, obviously, they're going to do everything they can to get it up to capacity.

My point is that the storm affected the ability to get gasoline to markets. I know the governors of Florida and Georgia have done some creative things to try to anticipate what will be a temporary problem.

Governor Perdue of Georgia, I thought, showed some leadership by saying we've got a -- anticipating a problem and here's what we need to do to correct it.

BUSH: There's going to be some -- by the way, here's what we have done and will continue to do. We have suspended certain EPA winter blend rules so it makes it easier to import gasoline from overseas.

In other words, there's a supply of gasoline in Europe and by suspending these rules, it's a lot more likely to be able to get gasoline into our markets. And so while there's a shortfall because of down refining capacity, we will work with -- we instructed EPA to leave the rules in place, or to suspend the rules that were in place, keep the suspension in place, which should make it easier to increase supply and continue to get a supply of gasoline here. And that's important for our consumers to know.

In Houston, the challenge in Houston, as I understand it, is to get drivers and trucks into Houston so they can deliver gasoline to the retailers. And the secretary is working with the local authorities there to help do anything we can to help get that done, so the people in that big city are able to get some gasoline.

BUSH: Beaumont, Port Arthur are still under assessment. We're not sure yet the full extent of the damage. I'll be going down there in the area tomorrow and by then there will be a pretty clear assessment. I look forward to dealing with local and talking to local leaders about the situation and the problems they face.

Let me repeat: We'll use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help refineries with crude oil. We will continue the waivers to allow the winter blends of fuel to be used throughout the country. We will continue to waiver -- to allow broader use of diesel fuel. We understand there's been a disruption in supply, and we want to make sure that we do everything we can to help with the supply disruption.

The Homeland Security (INAUDIBLE) the Jones Act on restrictions on fuel transportation -- we're allowing foreign-flagged ships to temporarily transport fuel from one U.S. port to another. That's going to be important for expediting supply to deal with bottlenecks. We will continue that waiver.

The Treasury and IRS announced (INAUDIBLE) diesel fuel for off- road use would be allowed on on-road use without penalty. In other words, we're taking action to help deal with a shortfall caused by Katrina and Rita.

Two other points I want to make.

One, we can all pitch in by using -- by being better conservers of energy. People just need to recognize that these storms have caused disruption and that if they're able to maybe not drive on a trip that's not essential, that would be helpful.

The federal government can help and I've directed the federal agencies nationwide, and here are some ways we can help. We can curtail nonessential travel. If it makes sense for the citizen out there to curtail nonessential travel, it darned sure makes sense for federal employees.

We can encourage employees to carpool or use mass transit.

BUSH: And we can shift peak electricity use to off-peak hours. That's a way for the federal government to lead when it comes to conservation.

And finally, these storms show that show that we need additional capacity in America. We need additional refining capacity, for example, to be able to meet the needs of the American people.

The storms have shown how fragile the balance is between supply and demand in America. I've often said one of the worst problems we have is that we're dependent on foreign sources of crude oil, and we are. But it's clear as well that we are also really dependent on the capacity of our country to refine product. And we need more refining capacity.

And I look forward to working with Congress as we analyze the energy situation to expedite the capacity of our refiners to expand and/or build new refineries. It is clear that when you're dependent upon natural gas and/or hydrocarbons to fuel your economy and that supply gets disrupted, we need alternative sources of energy. And that's why I believe so strongly in nuclear power.

And so we've got a chance once again to assess where we are as a country when it comes to energy and do something about it. And I look forward to working with Congress to do just that.

I'll be glad to answer a couple of questions.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to ask you about a different result of these storms, and that is the racial divide that's been exposed in this country. Blacks and whites feel very differently about what happened.

We all recognize that the response to Rita was much better than the response to Katrina, but there are some strong feelings in the black community that that difference had a racial component to it. That the white rural residents got taken care of better than the black urban residents.

QUESTION: How do you respond to that?

BUSH: Well, I think about Houston, my own hometown of Houston, which is an incredibly diverse city, and we had what looked like a Category 5 hurricane headed right for Houston. And the federal, state and local officials worked together to warn the citizens of the impending storm. But the message wasn't sent to one group of people, it was sent to the entire city.

Texas is a diverse state. The rural part of Texas you're talking about has got a significant African-American component to it.

But I can assure you that the response efforts and now the recovery efforts are aimed at saving everybody and the response was directed toward everybody.

I think that what a lot of Americans saw was some poverty that they had never imagined before. And we need to address that, whether it be rural or urban.

And I have done that as the president. I have said that education systems that simply shuffle children through can be discriminatory in nature. And, therefore, we have to have high standards and high expectations and focus money on Title I children so that children can learn to read. And we're beginning to make progress.

I have said that ownership is a way to counter poverty and being stuck in impoverished situations.

BUSH: And so homeownership is up and business ownership is up amongst minorities.

I have said that the faith-based programs are more likely able to address some of the hopelessness of people. And, therefore, I have empowered faith-based programs to interface with people.

We've promoted mentoring programs for children whose parents might be in prison as a way to help provide hope for people.

But this is an issue that this country must continue to address. Poverty is an issue that's an important issue. And poverty exists in New Orleans, Louisiana, and exists in rural Texas and it needs to be addressed in a significant way.

QUESTION: Mr. President, now that Judge Roberts is heading for confirmation, how close are you to choosing your second nominee for the Supreme Court? And how much of a factor is diversity going to be in your choice?

BUSH: First of all, I'm cautiously optimistic about Judge Roberts' vote in the Senate. He's done a fantastic job of showing the Senate and the American people he's not only a brilliant person but a decent person with a great heart. And so I await confirmation and hope it goes well.

It looks like it might. Your question indicated that it looked like it was headed in the right direction. I will withhold judgment until the Senate exercises their consent part of the advise and consent relationship with the White House.

I have interviewed people in the past and thought about people from all walks of life.

BUSH: And I will put the person who can do the job. But I am mindful that diversity is one of the strengths of the country.

Any other questions?

QUESTION: In suggesting that the Department of Defense might become the first responder in catastrophic disasters, are you not conceding that the Department of Homeland Security is not up to the task?

BUSH: Oh, no, no. I appreciate you asking that question.

One of the reasons I went out to NORTHCOM was to see the operations there, to look at how well-organized NORTHCOM is, to listen to them talk about lessons learned from a major storm like Katrina, to think about ways for our country to properly respond to a catastrophic event, whether it be a natural catastrophic event or perhaps a terrorist attack.

And I want there to be a robust discussion about the best way for the federal government, in certain extreme circumstances, to be able to rally assets for the good of the people.

I don't want to prejudge the Congress' discussion on this issue because it may require a change of law. But I do want them to think about a circumstance that requires a lot of planning and a lot of assets immediately on the scene in order to stabilize. And so, what I was speculating about was a scenario which will require federal assets to stabilize the situation -- primarily DOD assets -- and then hand back over to the Department of Homeland Security, for example.

BUSH: And I think it's very important for us, as we look at the lessons of Katrina, to think about other scenarios that might require a well-planned, significant federal response right off the bat to provide stability.

That's what I was talking about.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you had mentioned refining capacity. I'd like to ask you about an offer from the Kuwaiti oil minister who has said that he is willing to offer to build a refining capacity in the U.S. It would be the first time in about 30 years. He says he's asked for White House assistance in getting permits, (INAUDIBLE) and so forth.

What do you think of a proposal like that?

BUSH: I am for increasing supply, because I understand the more supply there is of a product, that will take pressure off of price.

I haven't seen this specific proposal. But I've also talked to U.S. refiners who've said, "We'd like to expand on-site but the amount of paperwork necessary to do so is staggering."

The issue of new source review, for example, is one we've reviewed and said that for the sake of, in this case, expeditious expansion and wise and careful expansion of refining capacity, we ought to look at those rules and regulations. And yet we're back in court.

And so I think, if you take a good look at what it means to build a refinery or expand a refinery, you'll find there's a lot of regulations and paperwork that are required, thereby delaying the capacity for more product to come onto the market and discouraging people from building refineries. That's why we haven't had one since 1970-something.

So it's an interesting offer. And we'll, of course, look at it.

The first thing we need to look at is how to encourage people to do just that without getting -- you know, without all kinds of time being taken up through bureaucratic hurdles.

OK. Thank you.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) idea of the reconstruction czar. Has your administration reconsidered having someone in charge -- a federal person in charge of this?

BUSH: "Reconsidered" means we've ruled it out -- I never have. I'm considering. See "reconsidered" means that at some point in time I decided not to have that. But I think the idea of having, you know, a federal interface with local folks might be a good idea.

First things first, however.

BUSH: Remember in my speech in New Orleans, I strongly said that this reconstruction vision ought to be a local vision. And if you might remember, the other day I went down to Mississippi and was with Governor Barbour and Jim Barksdale -- he was the founder of Netscape, a local business guy -- who has put together a group of distinguished citizenry to help plan what South Mississippi ought to look like. And we'll see what else comes from that idea in Louisiana.

But the idea is, once these groups get up and running, they're going to have to interface with the federal government. And so I'm considering how best to balance the need for local vision and federal involvement.

Now, there's going to be a lot of federal involvement because we're going to spend money -- wisely, I might add. And so it's an idea that I'm still considering. And I just want to watch and -- the reason why I'm comfortable about saying "still considering" is because we're still recovering. And we've got a lot of work to do to recover.

I mean, when I go down to Mississippi, I appreciate the vision that they're beginning to think about, but my first priority was to help those local folks remove debris. And then the next question, is what do we do with the debris once it's removed. And there's a lot of immediate needs.

If I were to go down to New Orleans today -- I'm not -- if I were, I'd be talking to the mayor. I'd be interested in the vision, but I'd be more interested in how we're going to get that water out of the Ninth Ward.

And so I'm now interested -- the next step of the recovery is how to get temporary housing in place to get workers back so the jobs can get cranked up again.

In terms of Texas, when it comes to where my thought process is now, I'm interested in getting electricity to people and gasoline to people.

But the vision element of reconstruction is just beginning. And there may be a need for an interface with a particular person to help make sure that the vision becomes reality.

It's a long answer to a short question.

Thank you all. Appreciate it.

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