Harry Reid: “the bill I have introduced expands the existing production tax credit for renewable energy technology to cover all…”

“the bill I have introduced expands the existing production tax credit for renewable energy technology to cover all renewable energy technologies. We have a crisis in America today. It is called electricity. It is called power. What took place and is taking place in California is only a preview of things that are going to happen all over America unless we do something about it. It is time to recognize the present system isn't working. We can criticize California and what they did. It is obvious to everyone that their deregulation program simply was not workable. It wasn't workable because they were energy inefficient. They did not produce enough energy inside the State of California for the deregulation bill they passed to work. The only time a deregulation bill such as they had would work is if you have a State that produces more electricity than it uses. There are some examples of that. California, however, decided they were going to deregulate, even though they didn't have enough electricity produced within the State. They figured they could buy cheap power elsewhere and have it brought into California. It was a recipe for disaster. The disaster hit. They are now trying to work their way out of the problem. There is no question that the current energy crisis in California has demonstrated that America must diversify its energy mix. Already in Nevada electricity rates have risen six times; the natural gas price has increased more than 75 percent.”