George Bush Sr. on Energy & Oil President of the U.S., 1989-1993; Former Republican Rep. (TX)

1989: supported cap-and-trade via United Nations

There are many remarkable facts about this period, especially from today's perspective. For one, Washington actually functioned. When some of the left proposed command-and-control regulation of industry, Republicans countered with ideas like cap-and-trade, a market based approach that allows firms to buy and sell pollution credits (an idea many Republicans now oppose and a classic example of how political winds have shifted).

Helped negotiate Kyoto Treaty on climate change

In 1992, the largest group of world leaders in history met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in what became known as the Earth Summit. Pres. George H.W. Bush and others called on the world to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions by 2000 at the 1990 level, especially CO2. The US and other nations ratified this convention. Importantly, Bush negotiated an agreement to allow developing nations to be excluded from the restriction, since industrialized countries are the overwhelming contributors to the troubling emissions.

[In 2001], newly inaugurated Pres. George W. Bush announced that the Kyoto agreement's mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases and short timetable would be too expensive and unwise when the US was facing energy problems.

1948: Moved to Texas to make fortune in oil fields

George neglected to mention the pot of gold that "Uncle Neil" had promised him at the end of the rainbow. According to his brother Prescott, Neil Mallon had told George before he started at Dresser: "You'll have a chance to run the company someday."

"There wasn't anything subtle or complicated about [our move to Texas]," George admitted at the time. "We just wanted to make a lot of money quick." Some people saw it as nothing more than George relocating "to work for his father."

1956: Deregulation encourages more natural gas exploration

On this issue, Prescott voted principle over purse. The negative effect on a member of his own family did not change his decision. Unfortunately, the father's political template would never become the son's. Unlike his father, George needed to be liked by everyone rather than be respected. That left no room for taking an unpopular stand, even if it meant doing the right thing for his constituents.

1950s goal: financial success in oil; then politics

George began his serious ascent toward financial success from 1955-1959, running Zapata Offshore Company. George paid himself a salary of $30,000 ($192,000 in 2004) a year. His biggest responsibility during those years was chasing money. Zapata Offshore started with a $1.5 million stock offering. Among the stockholders were most of George's Skull and Bones class from Yale. George thought the treasure of the oil business lay in foreign offshore drilling. In 1959 George decided to move his family and Zapata Offshore to Houston to be closer to the Gulf of Mexico.

1948: Moved to TX for oil, instead of family's Wall Street

Took no stance nor action on global climate change

1953: Founded Zapata Petroleum Corp. with $350,000 capital

The result of the odyssey back East was a capital investment of $350,000 and the formation of the Bush-Overbey Oil Development Company, Inc. The name chosen for the new company was Zapata Petroleum Corporation, drawn from "Viva, Zapata!", the Marlon Brando film about the Mexican revolutionary. The entrepreneurs later said part of the appeal of the name was the confusion as to whether Zapata had been a part of a patriot or a bandit. "We couldn't afford a public-relations counsel", Bush acknowledged, "but if we had one he would have told us that was exactly the corporate image we were looking for."

Supports environmentally-responsive access to ANWR

Rely on the magic of the marketplace for energy strategy

This strategy relies on the magic of the marketplace, the resourcefulness of the American people, and the responsible leadership of industry &

Some have pushed for radical measures to reduce oil imports and reduce our dependency, measures that, in my view, would hurt American industries and jobs and consumers. So, we've got to act with care; but it is our firm belief that we've g comprehensively. And our energy strategy strikes a balance. We've encouraged the use of a whole range of environmentally sound fuels like ethanol, methanol, electricity, propane, and certainly, encouraging the use of more clean burning natura

Pioneer in the offshore drilling industry

"Our company was a high-risk venture. There was new technology that was unproven, full of half-starts and failures in that--it was all called the offshore drilling business. And we took a gamble, and we invested in new technology, and then we succeeded in pioneering a new way to find America's energy."