[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8244-8245]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     DEVELOPING A COMMONSENSE, COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kirk). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, this week there will be a number of 
different energy policy proposals that will be introduced, a number of 
events that will attract a lot of attention, attract a lot of press; 
and we are at the outset of a time when Congress will be asked to take 
on the very difficult task of trying to develop a commonsense, 
comprehensive national energy policy.
  This is a complicated issue, and we really should not take a 
simplistic approach. In that context, we should not take a simplistic 
partisan approach. Energy should not be a partisan issue. We should 
find a common ground within this body to tackle such a complicated 
issue.
  We are going to hear concerns about this issue, where we talk about 
some short-term issues and some long-term issues, and it is important 
to consider both of those time frames in terms of making good public 
policy decisions.
  The short-term is the set of issues that we can all relate to the 
most, because we are all consumers in this

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country and we have all felt the pain of the gas pump. We have all seen 
our electric bills come in at higher prices. We have all seen our gas 
bills come in at higher prices.

  The short-term issue is the more tangible issue. Although it is the 
more tangible issue, it is also one that is very complicated to solve, 
because there are not too many options we have right now. But we should 
recognize that consumers are feeling the pinch.
  We should promote policies that encourage any potential incremental 
production that we can accelerate quickly to bring to market, and we 
also need to encourage policies that are going to encourage efficiency 
and better use of our energy supplies.
  That is really the best weapon we have got in terms of short-term 
solutions to our energy supply problems, because if you really want to 
take a step back and talk about the problem, as I said, it is very 
complicated in nature. It comes down to where we have a supply and 
demand imbalance. And in the short-term, supply is going to be very 
hard to affect so we really need to take a look at the demand side and 
see what we can do.
  There are a lot of technologies out there right now. This is not 
something where we have to come up with something new. These 
technologies exist today, they are proven, and we have to be smart 
about how we use energy in our country.

  But let me shift to the long-term issues, which get to be a broader 
range of issues we need to talk about. We need to talk about ways to 
enhance our supplies; there is no question about it. We need to do this 
in a comprehensive, balanced way. We need to rely on technology to give 
us the best available options for creating additional energy supplies.
  From a public policy perspective here in Congress, we need to try to 
create a more predictable policy environment. I used to work in the 
energy business. I know how complicated it can be when you want to site 
a power plant and you are trying to figure out, what are the rules? I 
have to play by the rules, but I do not know what they are.
  We need to create a situation where we have more transparent rules, a 
more transparent situation, so people can make informed decision, 
because we are talking about investments of hundreds of millions of 
dollars in an individual energy facility. If we are going to make those 
types of investment decisions, we have to have a predictable future 
about what the marketplace is going to look like and what the rules of 
the game are going to.

  So I call on Congress to make sure that as we make these policy 
decisions, we do not make the situation more complicated. We need to 
pursue something where we are clear and predictable in the policy 
environment.
  Energy should not be characterized as a partisan issue. Our 
constituents expect more of us. Our constituents recognize how 
difficult energy policy can be. They are also feeling the pinch today. 
I think as we sit here at the outset, it is important for us to take a 
step back and make a commitment to take a good balanced comprehensive 
approach, looking at both supply and demand, and address this in as 
comprehensive a manner as possible.

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