May 21 - Houston Chronicle

Oil and coal will continue to power the U.S. economy for many years, even as more emphasis is put on developing alternative sources of energy, U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said Saturday in Houston.

"Fossil fuels will continue to dominate ... for several decades at least," Bodman said during a commencement address to about 350 members of the South Texas College of Law 2006 graduating class at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Bodman, who was sworn in as energy secretary in February 2005, said alternative forms of energy such as wind and ethanol fuel made from corn would contribute to the country's energy future.

But one of the most important sources of energy will be nuclear power, along with the means of safely operating the plants and disposing of nuclear waste, he said.

President Bush's administration goal is to replace 75 percent of the United States' Middle East oil imports with alternative fuels by 2025.

Bodman has told Congress that part of the solution will come from increased research on hydrogen, solar and biological fuels, and fusion, a nuclear reaction that produces no radioactive waste.

The linchpin to the administration's energy policy is the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a plan for developing new technologies in partnership with other countries that will make conventional nuclear power safer.

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