Pete Domenici: “Frankly, what he is asking us to do is exactly the wrong thing for the situation that exists today in the energy…”

“Frankly, what he is asking us to do is exactly the wrong thing for the situation that exists today in the energy markets. There is an article that was quoted from which is on all our desks: Energy Monoliths Could Return. It was quoted from, excepting on the second page there is an absolutely succinct paragraph that this Senator believes is totally, unequivocally correct. I quote three-quarters of the way down the paragraph starting with the word ``repeal'': Repeal could restore confidence in energy companies shunned by shareholders after the Enron scandal and encourage badly needed expansion of power transmission networks. From the financial market standpoint, repeal-- And let me add ``of PUHCA,'' repeal of PUHCA-- would be the single most important part of the energy bill. It certainly is what investors are looking for. The problem with the amendment is that it probably will take the intent in that paragraph, the indication of what most probably will happen when PUHCA is repealed, and it will probably destroy it, wilt it, make it very vulnerable, and we will not get the result.”