Snow of Treasury Gets Port Queries -- Issue Overshadows Solar Energy Promotion
Posted on: Saturday, 25 February 2006, 12:00 CST
By Tom Charlier charlier@commercialappealcom
Although he came to Memphis to promote solar energy, Treasury Secretary John Snow spent much of his visit Thursday dismissing an uproar over a decision allowing a Middle East-based firm to operate U.S. ports as a political tempest.
Snow said the Bush administration "carefully and thoroughly" reviewed the scheduled takeover of a British firm that runs six East Coast ports by Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates.
The deal was endorsed by the White House and an interagency panel Snow chaired because the "highly professional, highly competent" staff in the Department of Homeland Security didn't identify any threats, he said.
"If they see an issue that needs to be elevated to discussion for national security purposes, they elevate it. ... They concluded - and they're in the best position - that no issue of national security was presented."
Amid terrorism concerns, the port issue has generated broad- based criticism of the administration, prompting even key Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee to pledge to block the deal.
The controversy dominated Snow's press conference at the Sharp Manufacturing Corp. of America plant on Mendenhall, the nation's largest manufacturer of solar-energy panels.
Barely two years after its startup, the facility has nearly 200 workers producing enough photo-voltaic modules each year to generate 60 megawatts.
Snow's visit was the latest of several trips by Cabinet members highlighting the energy agenda outlined by President Bush during his recent State of the Union address.
Snow said the President is committed to helping eliminate the nation's "overweening dependence" on foreign oil.
He touted the administration's "Solar America Initiative," which will funnel grants toward research and development of solar technology, and the Energy Act of 2005, which provides federal tax credits for homeowners who install solar panels.
- Tom Charlier: 529-2572
Source: Commercial Appeal, The
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