Chris Sununu: “No offense taken, but I would say, lightheartedly, that you might wish to apologize to the Senator from New York. If the…”

“No offense taken, but I would say, lightheartedly, that you might wish to apologize to the Senator from New York. If the owners of these powerplants were paying the risk premium, then the Congressional Budget Office would not estimate that in the year 2006 there will have to be $85 million in appropriated taxpayer resources to support this program; or, in 2007, $85 million; or 2008, $85 million; or 2009, $85 million; or 2010, $60 million. The owners of these powerplants are not picking up the risk. That money will have to be appropriated because there will be risks borne by the Federal Government, by the taxpayer, when these loans are issued. To suggest otherwise is to misunderstand how the program operates. With regard to technology, let me close in response on this broad point of our concerns for technology. I also would like to see new and innovative technologies brought to the market. Only, when I talk about the importance of those new technologies, I then do not hesitate to say I have confidence in the engineers and scientists and investors and financial people, working in the solar industry and nuclear industry and coal industry, to continue to develop new ideas and new technologies.…”