Pete Domenici: “We have an array of Senators, not just Republicans--not the few who have been fighting for years about this issue of the…”

“We have an array of Senators, not just Republicans--not the few who have been fighting for years about this issue of the failure to maintain our forests--we have a lot of Senators who have come around to our way of thinking, Democrat and Republican. It almost is unbelievable to see that forest in Alaska, which is no longer a forest other than by name, to see what is happening in California as brush fires move quickly toward an entire forest that is dried, dead trees, and then to ask the question: Why is that so? Wouldn't it be rational that we cut them down? Wouldn't it be rational that rather than leave them there as natural incendiaries, ready to literally blow up, just poof, and they go right up in the sky as these kind of trees burn, wouldn't it be logical to do something about it? Well, the truth is, we have not been able to do anything about it for one of the most ridiculous reasons anybody could have in mind, but it has worked until today.”