[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 24, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GREEN ENERGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the Nation watched in horror at the 
terrible situation in Texas this last week with horrific weather 
conditions and then the aftermath dealing with problems with safe 
drinking water and supply. It was leavened a little bit by the plight 
of Ted Cruz who is notoriously struggling to tell the truth this time 
as he fled his State and leaving his constituents behind and then 
watching him contort trying to change his story over the course of the 
next few days. It was sort of a national joke.
  But what was happening in Texas was not a joke. These conditions were 
unprecedented. But they found Texas unable to really respond in a way 
despite the fact that 10 years ago there was a similar situation. It is 
fascinating. Ted Cruz isn't the only one struggling with the truth. The 
Governor of Texas, Governor Abbott, sought to blame wind energy for 
their plight. Wind energy, which supplies less than 10 percent of the 
total energy supply for the State, performed better than fossil fuel 
which provided the majority of it.
  Think for a moment how they attempted to target the Green New Deal 
and AOC. While Ted Cruz was struggling to get his story straight, our 
colleague, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was raising millions of dollars to 
help people in Texas cope. Blaming a Green New Deal which has never 
actually been enacted--it is an aspirational goal--is foolish. What we 
have seen in Texas with those extreme weather events are a preview of 
coming attractions.
  What we saw in Australia this last year and in the Western United 
States with horrific wildfires, looking at a once-in-a-century weather 
event is becoming routine, and it is going to happen more and more 
frequently.
  I would suggest that Texas leadership could take a look at what they 
have done. Their famously deregulated energy system has given the 
family with a $16,000 electric bill or former Governor and Energy 
Secretary Rick Perry said: Well, people would just be happy to have a 
few days without energy to be free of the dangers of Federal 
regulation.
  I think people in the surrounding States that survived much better 
and didn't have $16,000 monthly electric bills might review that. I 
would suggest that the folks in Texas leadership could start first of 
all by telling the truth. It is not renewable energy, it was fossil 
fuel that failed and continued reliance on fossil fuel is going to make 
events like this much, much more frequent.
  We need to deal with reliability in Texas and around the country. 
Last, but not least, we must fight for climate justice and a low carbon 
future. That will help make these situations less frequent and more 
bearable, and it is a path forward that we can take confident that 
history will reflect we were on the right side.

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