[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14508]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       TIME TO IMPLEMENT COMPREHENSIVE AND BALANCED ENERGY POLICY

  (Mrs. CAPITO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to urge this 
Congress to act immediately and implement a comprehensive and balanced 
energy policy.
  The Bush administration has provided much-needed leadership on this 
issue, stepping up to the plate and articulating a clear plan to 
address our energy needs.
  One part of the President's plan calls for the construction of 1900 
new power plants to catch up with the current demand for electricity. 
Yesterday, I introduced a bill that calls for construction of one of 
those plants, using clean-coal technology called coal gasification.
  Building more coal gasification plants makes sense for a number of 
reasons. Number one, the process removes virtually all the sulfur, 
nitrogen, and other pollutants, leaving cleaner air and water for 
future generations. Two, it uses an abundant resource, coal, which is 
the dominant source of power in our country; and three, it means jobs. 
Building new power plants, coal-based or not, creates lots of new jobs, 
creates rail operators, barge captains, truckers, construction workers, 
and also those that will be running the day-to-day operations in the 
plant.
  Today, more than ever, the U.S. needs to adopt a policy making 
advanced clean coal technology easier and more productive. I look 
forward to working with this Congress to advance this technology.

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