The president, who appeared to be surprised two months ago when told gasoline appeared headed for $4 a gallon, said, "I know you're having to pay more at the fuel pump than you want."
Blaming Congress for blocking efforts to allow Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling, for example, he said the nation needed to move away from "an energy policy that basically prohibits America from finding oil in our own land."
"If Congress is truly interested in helping relieve the price of gasoline," it would recognize that the country needed to drill for oil and gas in areas that have been off-limits largely for environmental reasons, and would encourage the construction of oil refineries.
Bush spoke at World Wide Technology Inc., which he had planned to visit in October. He postponed the visit when he flew instead to Southern California to view wildfire damage. The company, on the outskirts of St. Louis, provides information technology to the government and private industry, particularly in the telecommunications field.
In 2006, according to the White House, World Wide became the first minority-owned company with more than $2 billion in sales, and it reported sales of more than $2.5 billion last year. In seven years it has added more than 500 employees.
From Missouri, Bush headed to a weekend at his home in Crawford, Texas, where next weekend his daughter Jenna is getting married.
"I've got a lot on my mind, by the way," he said as he finished the speech and invited questions. "Getting ready to march down the aisle."
As for the approaching end of his presidency, he said that, having lived in the White House 7 1/2 years, he found "the furniture is interesting, but it is like a museum."
"It's been a fabulous experience," he said -- and singled out welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the White House last month -- but, he added: "I guess I'll go home and mow the lawn."
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james.gerstenzang @latimes.com
