Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Energy Crunch: Bush to Introduce Plan; Gas Station Co-Owner Describes Customers' Annoyance

Aired May 17, 2001 - 11:14   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is set to lay out his energy blueprint this hour, during a speech in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Standing by there is CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett.

In Chicago, we have CNN Financial News correspondent Lisa Leiter, who's going to bring us the latest on skyrocketing gas prices in the Midwest.

And our congressional correspondent Kate Snow has the view on all of this from Capitol Hill.

Let's start first of all with Major Garrett, who is with the president in St. Paul -- Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the purpose of this trip is for the White House to seize control of the energy debate and douse political fires ignited by short supplies and rising prices.

But there a group of protesters behind me, here in St. Paul, who illustrate the battle of perceptions the White House is up against. There is a widespread perception around the country -- at least the polls would indicate -- that this Bush energy plan is light on conservation and heavy on domestic energy production. That is certainly the opinion of dozens of protesters here. I can tell you that a few minutes ago, they were right behind me and very low, but authorities here have were moved them steadily back from our camera position outside this lot here in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Bush energy plan is long on long-term proposals and very light on short-term proposals. Let's review.

Among the four items most important in the Bush plan is easing federal regulations dealing with bringing power plants and other supplies of energy on line faster.

Also, to build new power plants. This reports says that the country will need at least 1,300 new power plants over the next twenty years.

Then more exploration for oil and natural gas, especially on federal lands, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge among them, but also offshore, in California and Florida.

And conservation -- there are a number of steps that this plan recommends to Congress: increasing fuel efficiency for cars, and providing tax incentives for customers who want to buy superefficient automobiles.

The president came to St. Paul to highlight new forms of energy efficiency. He toured District Energy, which is a cogeneration plant here in St. Paul. What is a cogeneration plant? Essentially, it uses oil and natural gas to run an electricity-producing turbine. That turbine produces steam. The steam is then trapped and used to heat water that heats other buildings here in St. Paul. The White House wanted pictures of this newer type of energy production to emphasize new types of conservation and new forms of creating energy, so as not, at least, to feed into the perception that much of his plan is old- style energy production: oil and natural gas -- Leon.

HARRIS: Thanks much, Major Garrett. We will talk with you later on -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The energy crunch has become quite a political hot button for Republicans and Democrats, what with blackouts in California and soaring pump prices, especially in the Midwest. AAA reports that the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Chicago right now is $2.07. That is up 32 cents per gallon from last month.

With more on gas prices, CNN Financial News correspondent Lisa Leiter joins us from a Chicago gas station, where I'm sure there are many frustrated customers -- Lisa.

LISA LEITER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about that. There are many frustrated customers this morning. Not only is the price up from a month ago, but it's also 36 cents above the national average, among the highest prices in the nation.

We've talked to a lot of angry customers today, frustrated about the high prices, and also not understanding why.

We are here right now with a joint owner-dealer. Sumer Awisha and her husband Sam own this Shell station here on the North Side of Chicago.

Summer, what are the customers telling you when they come in?

SUMER AWISHA, SHELL STATION OWNER: Generally, they're upset about the high gas prices, especially people with the larger-size cars, and lot of cab drivers, also, because they're feeling the pain with the high gas prices. And they are concerned that they're going up. But, hopefully, we're expecting them to go down in near future.

LEITER: What are you doing in the meantime to improve sales?

AWISHA: What we're offering our customers is a frequent customer card. When they come in and fill their cars X amount of times, we're offering them a discount on repairs for their cars. That will ease the pain a little bit.

LEITER: Have your sales dropped off significantly?

AWISHA: They have dropped a little bit. We're concerned about that. But like I said, hopefully, it will be going down next month, and we'll increase sales again.

LEITER: Sumer, thanks for joining us today.

Daryn and Leon, as Sumer said, most analysts do expect the prices to come down after Memorial Day. Gasoline prices typically peak around Memorial Day, but that is certainly not soon enough for the customers we've talked to around here, some of whom are paying over $50 to fill up their tanks in those SUVs, and even more than that.

This is one of those times when we all wish we lived by you, in Atlanta, where the prices are the lowest in the nation -- Daryn and Leon.

KAGAN: That's absolutely right -- and don't think we don't boost about that to our friends and family around the country.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com