CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript

CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript
04/21/05

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PILGRIM: Well, in a moment, the chairman and the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee will join us. They have very different views on the energy bill. It just passed in the House.

For now, there's some other important stories that we're following tonight. So, we'll tell you about those.

Connecticut has become the second state to allow same-sex civil unions. The law will give same-sex couples in the state many of the rights and privileges of married couples. It goes into effect October 1st. Vermont is the only other state to allow civil unions. And, after several court battles, Massachusetts was forced to allow gay marriage.

Authorities in New Hampshire are investigating the crash of a small plane that seriously injured two men. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane lost power shortly after takeoff. Firefighters made it to the scene of the crash quickly because they were fighting a nearby brush fire.

In corporate news, Comcast and Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, have announced a deal to buy bankrupt-cable company Adelphia Communications. This deal is valued at more than $17 billion in cash and stock. It will expand the company's subscriber-base by more than five million customers.

Well, sparks flew on Capitol Hill today over the newly passed energy bill. The $8 billion bill is designed to encourage more domestic energy sources, and critics say it won't lower energy prices for Americans, it will increase profit for energy companies. Still, the bill passed by a 66-vote margin.

I'm joined now by the chairman and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee with very different opinions of the bill. Chairman Joe Barton and Congressman John Dingell join us from Capitol Hill, and thanks for being with us.

Congressman Dingell, let's start with you, and I know you've been very critical. You say this bill is anti-consumer, anti-environment and anti-taxpayer. Why?

REP. JOHN DINGELL (D), MICHIGAN: Well, I'm joined in that view by a number of people. The energy administ-the Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy says it's going to raise gas prices by three cents a gallon, and it's impact on supply, demand, and everything else is going to be negligible. The president complains that the bill doesn't subsidize renewables and other important sources, but dumps the money all in the laps of the big energy companies.

The consumers will find that it is going to repeal important consumer protections. The environment will be hurt by things like changing the leaking underground storage laws to make it easier for there to be contamination of the groundwater, and the last result is that the tax breaks are not going to people who produce energy or people who need it to increase production, but rather, to a bunch of big oil companies, the way the administration complains.

PILGRIM: Congressman Barton-charges-it's a bill for basically corporate fat cats and not for average Americans. What's your response?

REP. JOE BARTON ®, TEXAS: Well, I respect my friend John Dingell, who is the dean of the House and has done so many good things for so many years. But he's looking in a different bill, apparently, than what passed the House. We do a lot for consumers in the bill. I will agree with him that it's not a short-term fix bill. Gasoline prices aren't going to go down tomorrow because we pass the bill on the House floor this afternoon.

But over time we're going to make it easier to use coal in an environmentally safe way, with our Clean Coal Technology Initiative. We're going to advance research on the hydrogen alternative to automobile internal combustion engines. We are going to-on the leaking underground storage tank program he mentioned specifically, we mandate that the states inspect those tanks every three years. We increase funding for the tanks. And we put in a program that allows-that the states can either choose to go to a double-tank procedure or a ratification of the installer of the tanks.

So, I respectfully, totally disagree on that. I think this is a very good bill. It's a pro-consumer-it does have some incentive for energy production in every area, and if the Senate follows suit and we get a conference report, the country is going to be better off for it.

PILGRIM: What about that, Congressman Dingell, reducing-the effort to wean ourselves off foreign oil import, taking the long-term view. Don't you think that this is at least a start?

DINGELL: Well, I don't think it's a start because the simple fact of the matter is, it's going to change neither demand nor use nor supply, according to the administration. That's pretty good evidence, because I'm not a sponsor of this. This is their bill. I would note, also that they have pointed out, that, in point of fact, it is going to put the taxes in the hands of the fat cats and not in the-and not stimulate the use of renewables and other important actions by consumers.

The president complained that we didn't need to subsidize the fat cats anymore. They're getting $55 a gallon for oil. That seems like that's doing pretty well if they're getting $55 a barrel, and they don't need any more help from the taxpayers or the consumers, who are the same people.

PILGRIM: Congressman Barton, let's talk about electricity for a second. And-many of us recall these terrible brown-outs and black- outs in California in 2003. What are we doing about the electricity issue? And, you are one of the architects of the bill-what are we doing specifically about that?

BARTON: We have an electricity reliability section of the bill that-it mandates reliability standards for the first time, and makes them mandatory, not voluntary. We have some incentives to create new transmission in the country.

On the accounting side, we have some reporting requirements and some transparency requirements, so that-programs have to be reported, prices and things to try to prevent some of the problems that happened in California five or six years ago. I-Mr. Dingell had a substitute on electricity, but his substitute, in general, tracked what's in the bill. His penalty section was stronger than what's in the bill and he had-we repealed PUCA in the bill, the Public Utility Holding Company Act, and his substitute did not do that.

PILGRIM: All right, gentlemen, thank you very much. Congressman Joe Barton and Congressman John Dingell. Thank you very much, gentlemen, for being with us this evening.

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