Bob Filner: “There is a myth that our colleague, the gentleman from California, the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means said…”

“There is a myth that our colleague, the gentleman from California, the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means said earlier today in a debate, California inflicted this upon ourself. Our environmental wackos overregulated and prevented plants from being built, and now we are suffering for it. I want to talk about something that is going on in San Diego that will put a lie to that. I have a friend in San Diego who was a builder of power plants around the country. He is retired. He received environmental awards from all over the Nation for his ability to build power plants, but in both an architecturally and environmentally sensitive fashion. He said last summer, I can build you a power plant, follow the environmental regulations, and it can be up and running in a fairly short amount of time. I can charge you what is called a cost-based rate which is roughly a nickel a kilowatt, and I will make money on it. I will make a profit, as I have always done. I will make sure that the people of San Diego have reasonably priced electricity. I will follow the environmental regulations. We are in the process of trying to get that implemented. We are calling it the San Diego community power project. It puts a lie to this argument that California did this to itself because of environmental rules. We can respect the environment.…”