[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 15, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H2154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CALIFORNIA'S ELECTRICITY CRISIS

  (Mr. FILNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, we now know what GOP means. It means gas, 
oil and petroleum. What is the administration's answer to the 
electricity crisis confronting the West and soon the rest of the 
Nation? Drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, cut 
research into renewable energy research, cut conservation programs.
  Mr. Speaker, that is not the answer for the western electricity 
crisis. We must conserve. We must move more into renewable sources. We 
must do more research. But most of all, we have to bring down the 
criminal prices that are being charged for wholesale electricity in 
California and the rest of the West. The Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, this Congress, this administration, must act now. It is the 
prices that are killing the California and western economy. It is the 
prices that are going to kill the rest of this Nation's economy. 
California is being bled dry by electricity wholesalers. We are being 
charged $2.5 billion a month for our electricity. This cannot stand. It 
is time for Congress, it is time for this administration to act. Let us 
get away from a gas, oil and petroleum policy for this administration.

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