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SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE ENERGY ACT OF 2001 -- (Extensions of Remarks -
August 03, 2001)
[Page: E1567] GPO's PDF
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SPEECH OF
HON. BARBARA LEE
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, August 1, 2001
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under
consideration the bill (H.R. 4) to enhance energy conservation, research and
development and to provide for security and diversity in the energy supply for
the American people, and for other purposes.
- Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this bill. This bill
does not enhance our security: it endangers it. It does not protect our
environment: it threatens it.
- Increasing global warming does not enhance our security. Increasing our
reliance on nuclear power plants and creating more nuclear waste does not
enhance our security. Making only token changes in fuel economy standards does not enhance our
security.
- This bill does not enhance our security. Instead it jeopardizes
wilderness, ignores consumers, and rewards the fossil fuel industry at the public expense.
- This bill subsidizes the oil industry and gives billions in tax breaks to
oil producers in an age of record-breaking profits.
- In contrast, it does nothing for California consumers and taxpayers who
have paid billions in unjust and unjustified energy costs.
- Instead of promoting cost-based rates and badly needed refunds, it
increases tax breaks and handouts for the oil, coal, and nuclear industries.
- When Minority Leader DICK GEPHARDT and other members of Congress
came to my district of Oakland, California, they saw the faces of this crisis.
They heard from small business owners who face potential bankruptcy. They
heard from persons with disabilities for whom blackouts are nightmares and
rising bills are an impossible expense. They heard from school administrators
who have been forced to divert money from much needed textbooks, teacher
salaries, and instructional supplies to paying energy costs. They heard from
the people of California who have been paying the price in this crisis for the
last year.
- Electricity cannot be treated as any other commodity. We cannot force
Americans to choose between paying their utility bills and their grocery
bills. Between electricity and rent. Between power and prescriptions. Those
choices are simply unacceptable.
- Nor can we choose to destroy irreplaceable wilderness for short-term gain.
There are simply places on earth that are too fragile, too vulnerable, and too
special to drill for oil. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of those
places.