[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10507]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 CALIFORNIANS LOOKING TO FERC AND WHITE HOUSE FOR LEADERSHIP IN ENERGY 
                                 CRISIS

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I am representing a district in Los Angeles 
County, California; and a week and a half ago I had my first experience 
going through a blackout. One would think that in a community like 
mine, in the city of El Monte, that our readiness would be there; that 
we would have substantial support to be able to help our community out. 
What I found going through 30 minutes of this blackout was that I was 
unable to use my cell phone because there was no capacity to make 
calls. All the electricity went out. All our lights went out on our 
streets. And no one was notified in advance.
  This is a serious problem that we are going through, and it was not 
even 80 degrees in California. So we are talking about a very severe 
problem that is affecting many residents throughout California.
  I happen to represent an area where we have a large number of people 
who are on fixed incomes, low-income people and senior citizens. They 
are not going to get a tax break, they are not going to get $300 or 
$600, but they are going to get in return a big utility bill. In 
addition, they also have to pay more for gasoline, $2.12. That is what 
it is.
  They are looking for leadership from FERC and from this 
administration.

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