Don Nickles: “The Department of Energy supports this amendment. It does not oppose it. Two, as to colleagues saying this amendment…”

“The Department of Energy supports this amendment. It does not oppose it. Two, as to colleagues saying this amendment does not cost anything, they are not talking about the people who know something about the amendment. The Energy Information Administration talks about the cost to States in the millions and millions of dollars. The State of Florida shows about a $450 million increase. For my colleagues' information, I have a letter from the Public Service Commission in the State of Florida. The letter says they support this amendment to lower the amount of the penalty from 3 cents to 1.5 cents, and that it would reduce the cost of the Federal mandate on the Florida ratepayers. I happen to think those people know something about this issue. I have letters from utility companies. Some people say these are oil companies. I am talking about utility companies. This is not oil companies versus other companies. This is about an assault on ratepayers because we are getting ready to say you have to have 10 percent of your power from renewables.”