mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me time .  mr. speaker , i rise in opposition to the bill and in support of the democratic substitute .  i would like to start out by saluting the gentleman from new york ( mr. boehlert )  for having the courage as a republican to stand up and to take the position that he has .  i think it is a sad day when the republican party is no longer holding on to the environmental mantle .  one of my predecessors , pete mccloskey , was a great champion in the congress on those issues , and i think it is regrettable that that is where the republicans are today , because if there were more that would stand up , we would be able to put into place a bill that would really serve the american people well .  hurricanes katrina and rita only exacerbated what has been happening to consumers in our country for the past year .  weeks before katrina hit , consumers were paying higher and higher prices at the pump .  in california , prices climbed $ 1 between january and august .  they rose 50 cents in a month 's time between july and august , with prices rising to well over $ 3 a gallon .  i paid close to $ 4 a gallon in my congressional district just a week ago .  consumers in other parts of the country have seen similar hikes .  if we look at what the washington post recently reported , it is painfully evident that the oil industry and the refiners have profited handsomely .  the money going to crude producers has climbed 46 percent over the last year .  for refiners , revenues have increased 255 percent in one year , from september 2004 to september 2005 .  the last time i remember seeing revenue increases like this was when enron , reliant and other gougers were raking in their profits during the so-called california energy crisis .  and the explanations are also too familiar .  we are being told again we are paying the price for having too little capacity .  it is not the case , mr. speaker .  the record shows otherwise .  it is economics , not regulations , that have led to the shortfall in capacity .  i hope everyone will support the democratic substitute .  it is the legislation that will really put the gougers ' feet to the fire and do something about it .  i urge everyone to vote for the substitute and against the base bill .  