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Well, I need to thank you for the work that you did up around Ketchum this last summer.

Really what we are trying to do is change not the amount we spent on fires--I would like to reduce the amount we spend on fires by having less fires.

That is a good response. I like that.

So I look forward to working with you over the coming months as we put together this budget and try to address both the concerns that you have and the concerns that have been expressed here by members of this committee and try to address…

My job is not only to do the appropriation for the energy and water appropriations bill, but it is to help make you the most successful secretary of the Department of Energy that we have had.

You obviously are in charge of a very important department, in my opinion.

Mid-April is approaching relatively rapidly. Have you made a decision yet on what you are going to do in operating--what you said earlier.

Did the B&W announcement concern you?

You know, I look at, what, $14, $15 billion we spent drilling a hole in the ground in Nevada that is, I guess, a good place to store their records, in a hole in the ground.

The administration stands ready to work with Congress and TVA stakeholders to explore options to end Federal ties to TVA, including alternatives such as the transfer of ownership to state or local stakeholders.

Have you had discussions with USEC on what they will do, because, if they are, in fact, as you know, in mid-April going to be running out of money, they are going to have to send out layoff notices to their employees.

Do you still believe there is a national security need for domestic enrichment?

So you are going to have to renegotiate with Russia?

We can certainly arrange some of those meetings between all of us and so we can get together and knock heads and find out where we are.

The energy issue is not new to me, and frankly, I have never seen the cost overruns and schedule slips that I now have learned have been endemic at the Department of Energy.

I cannot emphasize this point enough, and as I look back after the last 40 years, I say to myself, have we really been serious since the formation of your department?

I have never had a clear vision of where we want to go with this department and why we do some of that neat stuff.

If we are going to ensure that our electrical system remains reliable and our country prosperous, then your department needs to be doing more to address our current fleet of power plants.