After touring the Monroe plant, Bush said his Clear Skies legislation would allow energy companies to modernize equipment and create new jobs. "We can grow our economy and protect the environment at the same time," Bush said of Detroit Edison and its parent company DTE Energy. "It's not one or the other, it's both. When we talk about environmental policy in this Bush administration, we not only talk about clean air, we talk about jobs." While Bush received applause from the audience of about 300 DTE Energy employees and Republican politicians, protesters gathered about a mile down the road to oppose the environmental initiatives. "It's hocus-pocus to say his plan is not a creation of America's dirtiest industry," said Lana Pollack, president of the Michigan Environmental Council in Lansing. "They have him shilling for them." Pollack, from her Lansing office, said the industry is pushing the legislation to get out of the current Clean Air Act that requires companies to purchase modern control equipment when expanding the plant. Pollack said under Bush's new plan, companies could continue to expand their facilities in 20-percent increments and avoid having to install the modern control equipment, making for a bigger and dirtier plant. "The cost of dirty air is horrendous," Pollack said of rising healthcare costs and the problems associated with polluted air. Bush said plants such as the Detroit Edison facility in Monroe have tried to update equipment and pursue new technology, but federal requirements have delayed changes at the plant. The Clear Skies plan, according to Bush, will cut emissions and improve air quality by decreasing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury pollutants by 70 percent. Anthony Earley Jr., DTE Energy chairman and CEO, said Bush's comments were in line with what his energy company is trying to accomplish. DTE Energy has undertaken a $650 million project to limit pollutants at its Monroe plant by updating control equipment, he said. "His messages for us were right on point," Earley said. Earley said the rules for making improvements on the plant worked fine until about six years ago when the Environmental Protection Agency started interpreting rules differently. "The rules no longer let us make routine improvements to the plant," he said. Bush joked that the impact of the August blackout, which put most of southern Michigan and nine other states in the dark, was an example of the huge economic impacts of an inefficient energy production. "It might have been good for candle sales, but it certainly wasn't good for job growth," Bush said." "It recognizes that we've got an issue with our electricity grid, and we need to modernize it. We need to make sure it works in the future." U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, issued a news release following the speech attacking the president's comments on creating jobs. "All we have seen since his administration took office is job evaporation," Levin said. "One out of every six factory jobs has been lost in Michigan since this president took office." Michigan Democrats wrote a letter to Bush last week urging him to take concrete steps to address the loss of manufacturing jobs, Michigan's main industry. The visit puts Bush in the media limelight as Michigan is considered to be a key state for the 2004 president election, especially after he lost the state by five percentage points to democrat candidate Al Gore in 2000. The southern Michigan stop was Bush's 11th state visit. David Rohde, an MSU political science professor and election analyst, said Michigan is a state that can go either way, but the Monroe visit is only a start for Bush. "This visit alone won't have much of an effect," Rohde said. "Politicians often tour around and try to keep in the public eye." P.I.N//The State News