Surplus With a Smile

Al Gore pledged yesterday that if he's elected president, he will use some of the federal government's surplus to create a National Energy Security and Environment Trust Fund, which would, among other things, help clean up old, dirty coal-fired power plants. He announced the plan as he kicked off a three-week "progress and prosperity tour," which will include one week devoted to environmental issues. Gore: "Through the power of free markets, through good old-fashioned American ingenuity, we will dramatically reduce pollution and reverse the tide of global warming while creating more jobs, not fewer jobs, for our people."