mr. whitfield, and the gentlewoman from the virgin islands, mrs. christensen, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. whitfield: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material in the record on the bill and i would like to include an exchange of letters between the committee on energy and commerce and the committee on natural resources. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. whitfield: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bitfield: first of all, i want -- mr. whitfield: first of all, i want to thank dr. christensen for being the author of this important legislation. h.r. 83 requires the secretary of the interior to assemble a team of technical, policy, and financial experts to address the energy needs of the insular areas of the united states and the freely associated states of guam, puerto rico, and virgin islands through the

mr. whitfield: mr. speaker, at this time i would yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. whitfield: s. 276 requires the federal energy regulatory commission to reinstate the license and extend for three years the deadline for commencement of a hydroelectric project involving the american falls reservoir. hydropower a critical component of our all of the above energy strategy and this bill will help facilitate the construction of an affordable and reliable source of domestic electricity. as many people around the country understand, many members of the house and senate have very strong differing views with the president and his administration over the direction that we are going on energy in america. particularly the impact that regulations are having on the electric generation system in america. it looks like he's going to be creating a lot of chaos. but when we have projects like this hydroproject and american falls reservoir, i think there's u

mr. witness field. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for -- whitfield. mr. whitfield: i'm delighted to have this bill on the floor today and confine my remarks to one piece of legislation and that is the electricity and security affordability act. this legislation has passed the house before, and it's designed to do two things. one to reverse the extreme regulations coming out of the e.p.a. on existing coal-fired plants and new coal-fired plants. we all understand that the president of the united states views that the number one issue facing mankind today is climate change. and while we all recognize that there is climate change, we do not view it as the most important issue facing man today. but because of the president's position, his extreme views, he's dictating to e.p.a. to take positions that is damaging the coal industry, but more important than the coal industry, damaging the electricity produced from coal. now what does that mean to the american people? ell, how many of you are aware that co-2 emissions in america today are lower than they were in 20