Douglas Alexander: “this gives me a chance to clear up a couple of points. I say to my friend from New Mexico, the United Nations isn't…”

“this gives me a chance to clear up a couple of points. I say to my friend from New Mexico, the United Nations isn't picking any of these sites. We picked 20 of these sites in the United States that we recommended to the world be designated as heritage sites. Here is what we are talking about. We are taking billions of tax dollars--that is a debate for another amendment--billions of tax dollars, $200,000 per windmill. We should all resign the Senate and get in the windmill business. My friends on the other side say we are subsidizing the building of these windmills between us and the Grand Canyon, between us and Cape Cod, between us and the Smoky Mountains, between us and the Glacier National Park. Ansel Adams and John Muir would be rolling over at the idea of our destroying the American landscape in this wholesale fashion. If we had a level playing field and we had no Federal Government involvement, that would be another thing, but we are putting billions of dollars out there to do this. In the Eastern United States, they only fit in areas where there are scenic ridges. That is the Tennessee Gorge, the Shenandoah Valley, the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, and it is being said we should use taxpayer dollars to encourage that. This says no in the most highly treasured areas we have. It is sponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association. I would think every conservation group in America would be for this.…”