GOLDEN, Colo. -- President George W. Bush continued his mission to tout alternative energy sources as he visited a federal energy lab in Golden on Tuesday.

"I have come today to discuss an unbelievable opportunity for our country to achieve a great national goal and that is to end our national addiction for oil," said Bush

"I have spent a lot of time worrying about the national security implications of being addicted to oil from other parts of the world, particularly since the demand for oil is rising faster than the supply of oil," he said.

"Some of the nations we rely on for oil have unstable governments, or fundamental differences with the United States," Bush said. "These countries know we need their oil and that reduces influence. It creates a national security issue when we're held hostage for energy by foreign nations that may not like us."

The president was visiting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to take part in a panel discussion of energy conservation. The lab, which is run for the Energy Department by the Midwest Research Institute and Battelle, analyzes everything from solar and wind power to biomass and superconductivity.

"My message today is we realize how important your work is. We want you to keep doing it and we want to help you keep doing it," the president said.

Two weeks ago, the lab workers, including eight researchers, were laid off at the lab because of a $28 million budget shortfall. Then, over the weekend, at the direction of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, $5 million was transferred back to the lab to get the workers back on the job.

Bush addressed the funding problem as soon as he began speaking at the lab.

"Sometimes, decisions made as the result of the appropriations process, the money may not end up where it was supposed to have gone," Bush said.

Lab officials are ecstatic about getting the positions back, although they say the remaining $23 million shortfall has forced delays in research subcontracted to universities and companies. Still, it was an untimely issue for the president, who flew to Colorado to push the energy initiatives he announced in his State of the Union address.

The president has proposed a 22 percent increase in funding for clean-energy technology research at the Energy Department. He wants to change the way the nation fuels its vehicles and powers homes and businesses by focusing on nuclear, solar and wind power as well as better batteries to power hybrid-electric autos and hydrogen-fueled cars.

"The idea is to have an automobile, say, that can drive 40 miles on the battery ... and if you're living in a big city, that's probably all you're going to need for that day's driving," Bush said. "And then you can get home and plug your car right into the outlet in your house. We're close to this."

Critics of the administration's energy policies say Bush's proposals are modest, and that the president is promoting renewable energy because polls show his job approval numbers are being weighed down by American's concern about high utility bills and the price of gasoline.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., who wrote letters and had discussions with Bush administration officials to get the jobs restored, said the president's 2007 budget is a first step toward energy independence, not the last. Breaking America's addiction to foreign oil is not a modest goal and will require more than a modest commitment of effort and funds, he says.

"As the premier renewable energy lab, it makes no sense to begin an effort to achieve America's energy independence with cuts to the lab that will likely lead the way," said Drew Nanis, a spokesman for Salazar.

Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said this year's energy efficiency and renewable energy portion of the budget is slightly smaller than that in the last year of the previous administration. When inflation is factored in, it amounts to a decrease of more than $130 million, he said.

"This is a series of photo-ops entirely driven by polls that tell the president that he isn't doing enough on energy," said Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust. "The president is talking a good game, but his budget doesn't back it up."

Before holding a panel discussion with lab, business and other officials, Bush toured a "mini brewery" where the lab makes ethanol -- a replacement for gasoline -- from the stalks and other nonfood parts of corn, said George Douglas, media relations manager at the lab.

Ethanol already is made from corn. In the late 1980s and 1990s, research was done to see if it was worthwhile to remove sugar, used in making ethanol, from the non-kernel parts of the corn, which farmers typically plow under.

During a panel discussion, Dan Arvizu, director of the lab, explained in scientific terms how the process is done. Bush interrupted to translate for the layman: "I think what he's saying is that one of these days we're going to take wood chips, put them through a factory, and there's going to be fuel you can put in your car. That's the difference between a PhD and a C student."

The last remark was a reference to Bush's schoolastic grades.

On Monday, Bush stopped in Milwaukee at Johnson Controls, which is developing advanced batteries for hybrid-electric autos. Outside Detroit, Bush toured United Solar Ovonic, a maker of flexible film products that convert sunlight into energy.

Additional Resources:

NREL.gov
Energy Department