Congressional Record, Volume 146 Issue 136 (Thursday, October 26, 2000)

[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 136 (Thursday, October 26, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H11317-H11321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SENSE OF HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO RELEASE OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
BY FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION REGARDING ELECTRICITY CRISIS IN
CALIFORNIA

Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 650) expressing the sense of the House with respect
to the release of findings and recommendations by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission regarding the electricity crisis in California.
The Clerk read as follows:

H. Res. 650

Whereas the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has
completed its investigation of the California energy crisis:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the United States House
of Representatives that, before November 1, 2000, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission should make public its findings
and recommendations regarding the electricity crisis in
California.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox).

General Leave

Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on H.Res. 650.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 650, introduced by
my colleague, the gentleman from San Diego (Mr. Bilbray).
The resolution expresses that it is the sense of the Congress that
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should release its findings
and recommendations regarding the electricity situation in California
as soon as possible.
San Diego Gas and Electric is the first utility in California to pay
off its stranded costs. Customers served by San Diego Gas and Electric
were the first in the Nation to experience the effects of unregulated
electricity pricing without unregulated competition for new supplies of
electricity.
So while there is no new generating capacity in California and no
free-wheeling competition in the wholesale market for electricity,
consumers are facing unlimited prices.
As a result, beginning this summer, customers of San Diego Gas and
Electric in San Diego and Orange Counties will have seen their
electricity bills double and triple. And that has continued over the
last several months. The small businesses have closed, and consumers
are suffering.
On July 26, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission opened an
inquiry into this situation. They have written their findings and their
recommendations, and yet they have not been released to the Congress or
to the public. Considering the seriousness of the situation in
California, there should be no further delay in releasing this report.
This resolution, introduced by my colleague, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Bilbray), will help assure that his constituents in San
Diego and all other San Diego Gas and Electric customers and Orange
County and all other California electricity consumers in the near
future do not have to continue to wait even longer before finally
getting answers they need simply because the Federal bureaucracy is
dragging its feet.
The Committee on Commerce has spent nearly 6 years holding hearings
on the best way to modernize our laws governing the electric utilities
so that electricity will be more affordable and reliable. In that
process, we have talked to consumers, regulators, and power generators.
We have learned from our California situation that interstate
electricity markets pose complicated issues of Federal and State
jurisdiction.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's report, if we can see it,
will speak to the important question of interstate transmission of
electricity. The situation in California highlights the importance of
getting it right for consumers.
In conclusion, I commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray),
my colleague, on his resolution; and I urge my colleagues to support
it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the electricity price spikes in California have gained
national attention and have moved to the center of the debate on the
question of electricity industry restructuring.
Consumers in some California communities have faced unprecedented
electricity prices and are rightly asking what the Federal Government
might do to help bring down the price of this vital commodity.
This evening we consider a resolution which expresses the sense of
the House that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should make
public its findings and recommendations regarding California's
electricity price problems by November 1, 2000. It is, to say the
least, a modest measure.
I will take the occasion of these comments, Mr. Speaker, to note for
a moment the very fine work which has been done during the course of
the last 2 years by the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and
Power, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton).
Under his able guidance, the Subcommittee on Energy and Power
reported a number of measures which, taken together, would have
achieved

[[Page H11318]]

substantial progress toward the creation of a national energy policy.
Unfortunately, on the most significant of these topics, nuclear waste
disposal and electricity industry restructuring, the legislative
process stalled following the reporting of the legislation from the
subcommittee of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton). And that
happened despite the sound efforts of the gentleman to move the process
forward.
As a result of this legislative inaction, we find ourselves no closer
to having a national energy policy today than we were finding ourselves
when this Congress convened approximately 2 years ago. And I think that
is sad. And so, today we find ourselves debating relatively modest
policy initiatives, such as the measure that is now before us, which is
a nonbinding resolution that merely expresses an opinion.
While the measure might have some marginally beneficial effects, I
would suggest that it is no substitute for leadership on energy policy.
MR. COX. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 10 minutes to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner).
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the
time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) for
bringing this resolution to us tonight. I thank his colleague and my
friend, the gentleman from San Diego, California (Mr. Bilbray). Our
hearts and prayers are with him, as he has suffered a terrible loss in
his family and cannot be here tonight.
I thank my colleagues for bringing this to us. Because San Diego is
the poster child for the future of California what is going on in San
Diego, what happened after the deregulation to a monopoly market, will
happen to the rest of California in another year or so and perhaps the
rest of the Nation if we do not take heed of San Diego's crisis.
The measure before us tonight is not the proper response to the
crisis that we have in San Diego. It is a very weak response. If the
gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) was not my friend, I would say
it was a meaningless response to the level of crisis that we face.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) introduced this
resolution yesterday. Magically, it comes to the floor today. The
Republican leadership, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), and the
gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) could have brought meaningful
legislation to this floor tonight to really help us in San Diego.
I introduced, for example, H.R. 5131 on September 7. I will explain
that bill in a minute. But it can solve the crisis we have in San
Diego. I asked the Speaker of the House to schedule this before we
recessed.
San Diego is panicking. San Diego faces enormous debts. We have had
no response from the leadership of this House to really deal with the
crisis that we face in San Diego.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) gave a good summary of the
situation, the doubling and tripling of prices in San Diego over a 3-
month period. The average small business in my district, my colleagues,
in our districts in San Diego went from let us say $800 a month in May
and June to $1,500 a month and then to $2,500 a month. No business can
survive with these kinds of increases.
A person on a fixed income had his bill or her bill go from $35 a
month to $70 a month to $120 a month. No person who is on a fixed
income can survive this. And literally life-and-death decisions had to
be made given that situation.
This was not an issue, Mr. Speaker, of supply and demand in
California. We do not have enough supply for the future developments.
But this crisis was brought about by manipulation of the market by
wholesalers and marketers of electricity. They caused a crisis which
did not have to exist.
When the FERC report that is referred to in this resolution is made
public on November 1, it will show that there was incredibly close to
criminal manipulation of the market, withholding of capacity by the
major generators, laundering electricity through Northwestern States to
get a higher price in California, artificially creating a sense of
dearth of supply through manipulation of the transmission capacities
and on and on. And the FERC report will outline that.
This was a criminal gaming of the rules that were set up in
California. This was not an issue of supply and demand. And as my
colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), knows within
those 3 or 4 months of this crisis, after deregulation occurred in San
Diego and Orange counties advertise, close to $600 billion was sucked
out of our economy by these marketers and generators, $6 billion. I
hope I said that with a ``B.'' Over $600 million from the consumers of
San Diego alone.
Now, the State legislature acted on this to the limit of their
ability to act. They froze retail prices. As the gentleman from
California (Mr. Cox) knows, they froze retail prices at 6\1/2\ cents a
kilowatt hour. And that took the gun away from the head of San Diego
consumers because their prices and my bill that I got was frozen at
this figure.
But, Mr. Speaker, that debt is mounting up for the consumers of
California and San Diego. That retail price freeze was merely a
deferral of the cost. The debt that individual businesses and consumers
have is adding up in the so-called balancing account. Our Northern
utilities in San Diego, not only San Diego Gas and Electric, which now
has a mounting debt, but PG&E and Edison have debts mounting up again
to almost $6 billion between them.
This is an economic crisis, an economic recession hanging in the
balance if we do not act here in this body and at the national level.
A crisis was created by deregulation to a monopoly situation, $6
billion being sucked from our economy. And how do we respond? How does
this body respond? The Republican majority gives what kind of
resolution? That we will get a report 5 days earlier than FERC said it
was going to come out.
They issued a finding in the last couple of days. That said they will
issue the report November 1. I would like to see that earlier. I would
like to see it today. I will vote for the resolution, but that does
nothing for San Diego consumers. That does nothing for the California
economy.
What we need and what H.R. 5131 does is a roll-back of wholesale
prices to their prederegulation levels in the Western market and
refunds to the consumers in California. That I will tell my colleague,
the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), is the only solution to
San Diego and California's problem.

{time} 2045

We must go after the folks who took our money away, and that is the
wholesale generators and marketers. They, illegally in my opinion, in
the opinion of the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) raised their
prices to an unjust level, five, six, seven times what was the previous
price. They charged what the market could bear. And now their earnings
report have just come out, Mr. Speaker, the earnings report of the
major generators in this country who provide the western market, and
they have reported 200, 300 percent or more profit increase over the
year before. That is unconscionable. They have taken away our
businesses, they have taken away our future, they threaten our whole
economy. And yet the majority motion on the floor is give us a report a
few days earlier.
What this Congress should do, I say to the gentleman from California
(Mr. Bilbray), is to put H.R. 5131 on the floor tomorrow. You have the
power to do it. You showed you can take a resolution and put it on the
floor within a day. Let us go after those who have caused this enormous
panic and frightening situation in San Diego. Let us instruct FERC to
roll back the wholesale prices in the western market and refund that
overcharge to consumers.
That is what this House ought to do. That is what our Federal
regulatory commission ought to do. San Diegans and Californians are
holding our breath to see what the Federal Government will do. We have
another day, 2 days, 3 days, we do not know yet, in this session of
Congress. I ask the majority, I ask the gentleman from California (Mr.
Bilbray), I ask the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) to bring us a
real motion, a real resolution to solve this problem. Let us really
help San Diego and not embark on this weak and meaningless response.

[[Page H11319]]

I thank my colleagues. I really do thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. Cox) for spotlighting San Diego's situation. If the
rest of California and the rest of the country deregulates through this
monopoly situation under the rules that we had, the rest of the country
is going to face the same panic and economic crisis that is brewing in
California.
The majority party can help San Diego now. Let us do it tomorrow.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
I want to thank the previous speakers for their bipartisan
cooperation in the passage of this resolution; and I would add that
there is a big difference between this resolution which, as has been
pointed out, is a sense of the Congress resolution urging simply that
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission release a report that has been
shelf-ready since October 19, bearing directly on the kinds of
legislation that are under discussion here, and substantive legislation
to remake the electric utility industry in the largest State of the
union or in the rest of the country.
My colleague referenced H.R. 5131, his legislation, and he was good
to point out that he has introduced this legislation for the first time
just last month in the closing days of the second session of the 106th
Congress. Even though this legislation, which is sweeping in its
effects, was introduced by such a distinguished Member as the gentleman
from San Diego, I think he recognizes it would not be regular order for
it to be simply whisked into law in a matter of weeks without even
being able to know the results of the significant study that has been
underway since July at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
And so I would return to the point and the purpose of this
resolution, which is to put before the Congress and to put before the
general public for the requisite 3-week period of comment the already
completed study and recommendations of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission bearing on what we have all agreed is an extraordinarily
difficult and complicated problem with very, very egregious
consequences for consumers in Southern California.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. COX. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. FILNER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
As the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) said, this is simply a
resolution, a sense of the Congress. It does absolutely nothing for the
citizens of San Diego.
Mr. COX. Reclaiming my time on that point. This resolution does
nothing more, nothing less than it purports to do, which is to put
before the Congress a report which we ought by rights to have seen on
October 19, and I think that on that we should all agree.
Mr. FILNER. As the gentleman pointed out, I introduced H.R. 5131 a
month and a half ago. That was plenty of time, given the crisis that
San Diego has, for this Congress to go through hearings, to go through
anything they want.
We have had bills put on this floor in the last couple of days that
nobody has ever seen before, incredibly complicated tax business and
appropriations bills that nobody had ever seen. The resolution of the
gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) did not have the light of day
until yesterday and here it is on the floor today. So you can act when
you want to. We have had a month and a half to act.
I will tell the gentleman that the crisis in San Diego mounts every
day. People are going out of business as they face the mounting debt.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thune). The time of the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner) has expired.
Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner).
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman knows, the major utilities
in our State which are major economic forces have appealed to the
Public Utilities Commission of California, have appealed to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission to give them some relief because their
debts are mounting and their bond ratings have gone down. If any one of
those utilities goes under, the gentleman knows the domino effect on
California.
I cannot overstate the crisis for my city, my State or my Nation. Yet
we are not doing anything in the waning days of this session. We should
have the hearings. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) and his
Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Commerce did come
to San Diego, and we are very grateful for that. They had findings at
that hearing. They heard San Diegans testify all day. They heard the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They had enough to go on to have
hearings on my bill or any other bill that anybody thought would solve
the problem.
By the way, I am joined in my bill by the gentleman from California
(Mr. Hunter) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray). Also the
gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) and the gentleman from
California (Mr. Packard) have expressed support. We do have time to act
when you want to. The majority should put our bills on the floor now.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute and simply agree with
the essential points that have been made on both sides here this
evening. That is, first, that the crisis for consumers and small
businesses alike in Southern California, in particular in San Diego and
Orange Counties is very real.
Second, that we should take swift action and prudent action to
address it both in the State legislature in Sacramento and here in
Washington, D.C. And, third, that to inform those decisions, we are
entitled to see the report and the study and the recommendations of the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on this very topic.
I would finally observe that as my colleague from San Diego points
out, the legislation to which he refers, H.R. 5131, not the only bill
on this topic but an important one, is sponsored jointly by Democrats
and Republicans, highly respected Members of this body, and it is
therefore in the interest of both Republicans and Democrats that we
move rapidly on such legislation.
Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, let me just say to my colleague on the
other side from California, there is really no purpose to this
resolution whatsoever. I think he has been trying to justify it, and I
know he is trying by suggesting that somehow this puts the report or
the recommendation into the Record, but the resolution does not even
accomplish that. There is a FERC order from October 26 that says that
the commission will place in the public record the report. So not only
is this just a sense of Congress which accomplishes nothing, but the
report would be put in the Record, anyway, it would be made a public
record that anybody would have access to. There is nothing here.
Mr. Speaker, I would urge opposition to this resolution. It is bad
policy, it is bad process. I want to back up what the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner) said. The bill was introduced last night, it
has not seen the light of day let alone any proper committee process.
Essentially the bill does nothing. It is purely political. The FERC is
expected to come out with its findings and recommendations regarding
California's energy price spikes on November 1. This bill just asks the
FERC to release its findings 1 day sooner. It is already a matter of
public record once it comes out. And California already has legislation
in place to freeze energy rates.
Now, I say this is an exercise in futility not only because it is,
and I want to bare the reality of it here tonight and support what the
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) said but also to stress that in
the meantime, the House Republican leadership is not bringing other
measures to the floor that would truly address California and the
Nation's rising energy costs.
In fact, the tax package that we debated today eliminates important
energy conservation and alternative energy measures that would save
energy and money for our businesses and consumers and would protect our
environment. For example, the tax package does not include $400 million
for electricity produced from renewable sources. The package also does
not include tax credits for alternative fuel or hybrid vehicles.

[[Page H11320]]

We all know that oil and gas prices have been higher than in previous
years. If the average fuel economy of the 131 million cars driven in
1998 were to have been increased by just one mile per gallon, we would
have conserved 3.2 billion gallons of gasoline that year. Furthermore,
if we now were to increase the fuel efficiency of vehicles by just
three miles per gallon, we would save one million barrels of oil per
day. I say this because I would like to preclude the need for even
suggesting the drilling in ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
which Governor Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress also are
advocating. Unfortunately, we do not see any measures being brought to
the floor by the Republican leadership that would encourage greater
fuel efficiency in vehicles.
The point is this bill is futile. It is bad policy. It accomplishes
nothing. We should be doing a lot more important things.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes.
I would simply correct for the record one statement that my
distinguished colleague has just made, and, that is, that the purpose
of this resolution is to advance by 1 day the release of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission report. It is, to the contrary, to release
the report immediately, whereas it has been completed since October 19.
Let me read from the concurring opinion of one of the FERC
commissioners on October 19 when that report was released:
``Rather than wait for November to release the findings of our
staff's investigation, I urge the chairman to release the completed
report now. Our open government requires it. Fairness does as well. The
people of California should have as much time as possible to digest our
staff's findings and consider the options presented.''
The commissioner continues:
``Justice Brandeis often remarked, `Sunlight is the best
disinfectant.' Let the sun shine on our staff's report. It could only
help heal the raw emotions rampant in the State of California. I hope
that the commission will proceed in the right path from now on.''
The bureaucracy here, to put it relatively impolitely in this case,
is dragging its feet. This is a report on a very significant topic, the
result of a significant and long study. It should not be gathering dust
on the shelf. There is a 3-week comment period once it is released that
will have to expire before the recommendations can be made final. The
California legislature is going into session at the beginning of
December.
Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner).
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out one more factor in
all this before I conclude and, that is, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission has claimed both in public and in private conversations they
do not have the authority to roll back wholesale prices retroactively.
My legislation, cosponsored by the gentleman from California (Mr.
Bilbray) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), gives them
that authority to roll back prices retroactively. That is the only
thing that can save San Diego and the rest of California from its
mounting debt which has now reached $6 billion as I pointed out. We
must go after those who have gouged us with these prices.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that although the
gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from California
(Mr. Bilbray) are saying that the bureaucracy is dragging its feet,
actually FERC has acted with incredible speed in this investigation. It
is the Congress that is dragging its feet. What San Diego wants to see
from this Congress before it adjourns is some meaningful action to stop
the mounting debt that threatens big and small business alike and
threatens the very income of all of our residents.

{time} 2100

San Diego is watching this Congress. What San Diego sees, because the
majority party will not schedule any meaningful legislation to be voted
on, is Congress dragging its feet. That is the issue, Mr. Speaker, that
we must address. California is waiting. San Diego is waiting. This
Congress should act before we adjourn.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this is an important resolution, because it will lay
before the Congress, lay before the public, lay before legislators in
California, vitally important information, the results of a study by
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the energy crisis in
Southern California caused by the deregulation legislation enacted in
the legislature in Sacramento.
Without question, this is a situation that we must not allow to
continue; but without question, we also must know where we are headed
with reform in Sacramento.
When the Democratic legislature adopted the deregulation that has led
to this crisis, they did so with the best of intentions, and they did
so with bipartisan cooperation.
It has not turned out as people would have wished. The best of
intentions or acting in haste, therefore, as we have seen from
experience is not what is required; what is required is immediate
remedial action based upon the facts; and right now, the best facts lie
with the FERC.
We ought to in this Congress, while we are still in session, have
that information. This resolution, which I expect will be unanimously
adopted by Republicans and Democrats, is, in fact, what the FERC needs
to hear, because it is true, as Justice Brandeis has said, that
sunshine is the best disinfectant. Let us get that information out. Let
us get that report released.
Let us enact this Bilbray resolution so that we may then swiftly move
to the more fundamental legislation that has occupied so much of our
debate here this evening.
Mr. Speaker, I submit the following for the Record:

Statement of Congressman Brian Bilbray for H. Res. 650

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Chairman
Bliley and leadership for working with me to bring this
resolution to the floor. H. Res. 650 is a simple,
straightforward resolution that expresses the sense of
Congress that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
release it's completed report on the California electricity
crisis before November 1, 2000.
FERC has been investigating the electricity market place in
California as a result of unexpected rate of volatility this
summer, San Diego and Orange Counties were the first in the
nation to experience the effects of an unregulated
electricity markets.
After speaking with the Commission and writing a letter, a
copy of which is included for the record, requesting that the
completed report be released as soon as possible, I
introduced H. Res. 650 to ensure that the report be made
public sooner rather than later, so that all interested
parties can examine, analyze and make response to the report
as quickly as possible. The initial report is complete. Why
not let the public have access to it now?
The consumers in southern California have had a difficult
time this summer, and the crisis is not over. The entire
state of California will be facing these hardships unless
consumers, industry, utilities, generators, legislators, the
Governor, and regulators--both FERC and the California Public
Utility Commission,--come together to fix the flaws in the
California electricity market. Until the FERC report is
released, all of these interested parties are in limbo.
Help San Diego. Help California. Vote for H. Res. 650.
Thank you.
____

Congress of the United States,

House of Representatives,

[[Page H11321]]

possible, in order to enable them to ``hit the ground
running'' on this critical matter once they gather again in
Sacramento in December. It is my intention to do everything
within my power to make this information available to the
decisionmakers who will need it to help bring some relief to
the long-suffering electricity consumers in San Diego and
elsewhere throughout California.
I greatly appreciate and thank you in advance for your
attention to this request, and your anticipated affirmative
response. Please don't hesitate to contact me directly with
any questions or to further discuss this important matter.
Sincerely,
Brian Bilbray,
Member of Congress.

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to
thank Chairman Bliley and leadership for working with me to bring this
resolution to the floor. H. Res. 650 is a simple, straightforward
resolution that expresses the sense of Congress that the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission release it's completed report on the California
electricity crisis before November 1, 2000.
FERC has been investigating the electricity market place in
California as a result of unexpected rate volatility this summer. San
Diego and Orange Counties were the first in the nation to experience
the effects of an unregulated electricity market.
After speaking with the Commission and writing a letter, a copy of
which is included for the record, requesting that the completed report
be released as soon as possible, I introduced H. Res. 650 to ensure
that the report be made public sooner rather than later, so that all
interested parties can examine, analyze and make respond to the report
as quickly as possible. The initial report is complete. Why not let the
public have access to it now?
The consumers in southern California have had a difficult time this
summer, and the crisis is not over. The entire State of California will
be facing these hardships unless consumers, industry, utilities,
generators, legislators, the Governor, and regulators--both FERC and
the California Public Utility Commission--come together to fix the
flaws in the California electricity market. Until the FERC report is
released, all of these interested parties are in limbo.
Help San Diego. Help California. Vote for H. Res. 650

Congress of the United States,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, October 20, 2000.
Chairman James J. Hoecker,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Hoecker: I am writing regarding the ``Order
Announcing Expedited Procedures for Addressing California
Market Issues'' issued October 19, 2000--the result of the
staff fact-finding investigation you commissioned on July 26,
2000, of the conditions of the electric bulk power markets in
various regions of the country, particularly California.
I commend you for initiating this process, the results of
which will surely be critical in developing a strategy for
moving beyond the crisis we are now enduring in California.
It is my understanding,that the results of this investigation
are complete; however, they are not currently scheduled for
public release until November 9, 2000.
Given the time-sensitive nature of the electricity crisis
in California, with small businesses closing and consumers
suffering, I would strongly urge you to make the results of
your investigation public immediately, so that this
information can be put to use as soon as possible in
developing sound remedies for the adverse situation to which
California electricity consumers have been subjected.
Additionally, with the State legislature set to reconvene in
December, it would seem to make sense to provide California's
legislators with this information as soon as possible, in
order to enable them to ``hit the ground running'' on this
critical matter once they gather again in Sacramento in
December. It is my intention to do everything within my power
to make this information available to the decisionmakers who
will need it to help bring some relief to the long-suffering
electricity consumers in San Diego and elsewhere throughout
California.
I greatly appreciate and thank you in advance for your
attention to this request, and your anticipated affirmative
response. Please don't hesitate to contact me directly with
any questions or to further discuss this important matter.
Sincerely,
Brian Bilbray,
Member of Congress.

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 650, which
encourages the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make public its
findings and recommendations regarding the electricity crisis in
California.
While I have no substantive objection to H. Res. 650, I'm
disappointed that the Majority party failed to bring forward
comprehensive electricity legislation this Congress which would help
prevent another crisis next year.
According to industry figures, power transactions across the national
grid have jumped from 200,000 transactions in 1997 to over 1.5 million
projected for this year. Reliability of energy, therefore, is likely to
get worse without comprehensive action.
We must have open and non-discriminatory access to transmission
lines. We must ensure the reliability of the electricity market. And we
must take action to stem the threat to stable prices caused by market
manipulation
If the leadership of this Congress had been willing to take a first
step, we could have considered H.R. 4941, the National Electric
Reliability Act, which I'm proud to cosponsor. The bill would create an
independent organization to ensure the reliability of the interstate
transmission grids. This legislation has already passed the Senate with
overwhelming bipartisan support.
Yet this House failed to consider any of these measures. Now it's
likely that price spikes, power market abuses, and reliability problems
will continue, especially in my state and in places like San Diego
where there have been such problems. What a dismal outcome.
Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution. For those who come from
states who haven't yet felt the impact of higher energy prices, the
failure of this House to take meaningful steps to ensure reliable
electricity, prevent price spikes, and protect against market power
abuses in the electricity market will come home to your state and your
constituents as well.
Mark my words. We'll be back here next Congress in a crisis mode
because of the House leadership's failure to take on the hard
challenges this issue confronts us with.
Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thune). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 650.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8, rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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