President Bush is meeting today with labor leaders in hopes of getting them to endorse his energy plan, which will be released on Thursday. Environmental leaders say Bush is trying to use the plan to split two key Democratic constituencies, unions and environmental groups. Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said, “If the building trades, machinists, and steelworkers look at the difference in the number of long-term jobs from building a few nuclear power plants and from retrofitting thousands of homes for solar panels, they will see there are a lot more long-term jobs in retrofitting.” The president will be visiting strategic spots around the country this week to call attention to “21st-century conservation,” but the heart of his energy plan will emphasize ways to increase energy production by making things easier for the coal industry, the nuclear industry, and the like.
