President Bush proposed allowing oil companies to build new refineries at abandoned military bases and encouraging new nuclear power plants in steps that critics said would do nothing to address America's immediate problem of high gasoline prices."The problem is clear. This problem did not develop overnight, and it's not going to be fixed overnight," Bush said in lowering expectations for immediate relief.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Bush's announcement "amounts to little more than half-measures and wrongheaded policies that will do nothing to address the current energy crisis or break the stranglehold that foreign oil has on our nation."

Bush, speaking to a friendly crowd of small business leaders, urged Congress to include in energy legislation now moving on Capitol Hill a plan to let oil companies use former military bases to build new refineries.

No new U.S. oil refineries have been built since the 1970s, mostly because of the lengthy process to obtain environmental permits from state regulators and opposition from local communities.

Military officials say the requested changes, hich could be approved this week as part of the defense authorization bill for 2006 ,[WAS THIS APPROVED????] are essential to preserve the quality of training and to avoid lawsuits over possible violations of statutes that govern air, water and waste.

With more than 100,000 American military personnel in Iraq, training issues have taken on a heightened sense of urgency, giving the request a better chance of passing this year despite opposition from environmental advocacy groups and state and local governments.

"Workarounds, while sounding reasonable and feasible, cannot sacrifice realistic combat training," Paul W. Mayberry, a deputy under secretary of defense, said in a speech last month, referring to interruptions to military exercises. "All too often, such workarounds chip away at basic fabric and underpinnings of the training objectives."

Mr. Mayberry cited several examples, including the way troops headed for Iraq learned to roll up their tents, a security issue at night because of the way light reflects off the material. In training, he said, they were faced with "an environmental requirement"not to disturb desert tortoises in the training area.