[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 22, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4588-H4589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               UNREASONABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY REQUIREMENTS

  (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the Democrat leadership is moving 
forward on the change that they've promised. Last week, the EPA, 
Environmental Protection Agency, moved forward to regulate carbon 
dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act, with or without 
congressional consent.
  This week the Committee on Energy and Commerce is holding hearings on 
cap-and-tax legislation. And this is what we're learning. The renewable 
energy requirements in the bill are entirely unrealistic.
  Currently, 3 percent of our electricity that is generated is by 
renewable energy, and the chairman's bill is mandating 25 percent by 
2025. That would require 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy to come 
online every year until 2025. That is far above what the projections 
are, the government-generated projections.
  So our question is, are we saddling our States and our energy 
consumers

[[Page H4589]]

with unrealistic demands and mandates at prohibitively high prices? 
Well, basically, the Democrat leadership presents a choice. We can 
acquiesce to bad regulation that will have certain and disastrous 
impacts on our economy, or we can legislate an even more harmful 
system.
  Basically, Mr. Speaker, it's as though, when faced with a gun to our 
heads, we are taking it and opting to shoot ourselves in the chest.

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