Jeff Duncan: “I rise tonight because people all over this Nation are concerned because they see their utility bills going way up with…”

“I rise tonight because people all over this Nation are concerned because they see their utility bills going way up with gas prices possibly heading to $3 a gallon, according to many articles. All of this is happening at a time that other prices are going up. Our economy has been slowing for almost a year now, the dot.coms have taken a dive, and many major corporations have laid off thousands of people. Utility bills are going up; gas prices are going up because of years of environmental extremism and actions by the administration of former President Clinton all coming home to roost. For years now, we have had groups of environmental extremists all over this country protesting and stopping or delaying for years anytime anyone tried to drill for any oil, dig for any coal, cut any trees, or produce any natural gas. This has helped extremely big business, which has financed many of these groups, because it has driven thousands of small and now even medium-sized businesses out of existence or forced them to merge. In the late 1970s, I am told we had 157 small-coal companies in east Tennessee. Now there are none.”