Dianne Feinstein: “I start by thanking Chairman Domenici and Senator Bingaman for all of their hard work on this bill. They said they were…”

“I start by thanking Chairman Domenici and Senator Bingaman for all of their hard work on this bill. They said they were going to work to get a bipartisan bill and they accomplished their goal. Overall, however, I believe that this Energy bill will help the country meet its energy needs in a number of important ways. This bill provides strong consumer protections, aggressive energy efficiency standards, and a focus on new technologies to meet our energy needs in a more environmentally friendly manner. Additionally, the bill takes a step in the right direction to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, especially natural gas. This is a major improvement over past Energy bills, which have done nothing to reduce our use of fossil fuels. As we learned during the Western energy crisis, Federal energy regulators did not have enough authority to prevent widespread market manipulation. Through the course of the crisis in California, the total cost of electricity soared from $7 billion in 1999 to $27 billion in 2000 and $26.7 billion in 2001. The abuse in our energy markets was pervasive and unlawful. So I am pleased to report that this bill includes provisions that I have sought over the past 4 years to strengthen consumer protections and hopefully prevent another energy crisis like the one we experienced in the West.…”