Bush flatly refuses to hand over energy papers

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - A defiant President George W. Bush flatly refused on Wednesday to divulge details of internal energy task force meetings to congressional investigators, calling the information privileged and the request a threat to executive authority.

The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, sued the administration in February for records of the task force's meetings. Democratic lawmakers allege Enron Corp. and other energy companies played a disproportionately large role in the task force's deliberations, whereas environmentalists were largely shut out.

The task force, headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, produced a policy favoring more oil and gas grilling as well as a revival of nuclear power. Cheney's office has acknowledged that representatives of Enron (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - news) (NYSE:ENE - news), Bush's biggest financial backer in the 2000 campaign, were among industry experts the task force consulted.

But Bush insisted that releasing the documents would damage the executive branch's ability to obtain candid outside advice, signaling he was ready for courtroom combat.

``When the GAO demands documents from us, we're not going to give them to them,'' Bush told a White House news conference. ``These were privileged conversations.''

``I have an obligation to make sure that the presidency remains robust and that the legislative branch doesn't end up running the executive branch,'' he added.