Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak in strong support of S. 3110, the American Energy and Conservation Act. I would like to thank my colleague from Louisiana for introducing it, and I would also like to thank all of the Members who are cosponsoring it with us. I certainly thank Leader McConnell for scheduling a vote on it this morning. I would like to begin by providing a little bit of context for why this legislation is necessary before I move into specifics of what it contains. For literally centuries in Alaska, we have relied upon balanced and environmentally responsible resource development. Whether it is fish, game, our mineral resources such as copper or gold, timber, our marine mammals, or oil that was used to waterproof ocean-going vessels, resources have been extracted or harvested relatively lightly for thousands of years but more intensively harvested and extracted over the last 100 years. This resource extraction has fed us, it has housed Alaskans, and it has allowed us to sustain a life in oftentimes a very harsh but, without question, an extraordinarily beautiful environment. In the last few years, resource extraction has become strategically and economically important to the livelihoods of all Americans. We have carefully regulated our resource extraction and protected our environment, and today millions of tourists from all over the world come to Alaska to view nature and look at the amazing landscapes that are hard to find anywhere else in the world.…”