[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H1134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HIGH UTILITY RATES

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, folks at home are wondering about their 
utility rates, why they are going up so high, and it isn't always the 
fault of the utility.
  I look around and see what government does to make things cost so 
much more, whether it is stopping the exploration for oil and gas in 
order to run some power plants or tearing down dams because they don't 
like dams, because it might impede fish passage, so we don't have 
hydroelectric power.
  Sometimes the government demands that in order to give them a permit 
to operate once again, like they have been doing for 50 or 100 years, 
they demand things like building a road and maintaining it, even though 
the utility doesn't necessarily actually use that road or at least a 
big chunk of that road, and they don't have a partnership with the 
Forest Service saying we will do half and you do half. No, they just 
make demands.
  The demands the government makes of people to operate are like Don 
Fanucci walking around in ``The Godfather Part II'' collecting a little 
bit from everybody. It has no nexus on the operation of the utility in 
order to deliver electricity to the people.
  Government needs to be reined in on its demands, on the thuggery it 
is, in order to just do business.
  When people are wondering why their utility bill is so high, it isn't 
just because of evil utilities. It is the government operating permits, 
permits to trim around trees so we don't burn down all of northern 
California, one thing after another. The government needs to be reeled 
in.

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