What Senator Murkowski and I do in S. 783 is focus on a new strategy to obtain the fair market value of helium.

I appreciate being here in the Chamber to hear the comments from my friend the Senator from New Hampshire. As she has noted, there is a small handful of States that for a host of different reasons have chosen not to impose a sales tax on…

I would absolutely agree. As the Senator points out, it is Alaska, Oregon, Montana, Delaware, and New Hampshire that are in this situation. Basically, if this legislation were to pass, the message to those within these States is it does…

I thank the Senator from Delaware for his leadership as well as for the opportunity to speak to this issue on the floor today. As we talk about the momentum, I think we recognize that oftentimes there will be good ideas that are discussed…

I say to my friend, the Senator from Delaware, yes. In fact, I view this as an opportunity. I view this as a positive direction as we build out an energy policy that works for the entire country. The Senator's question is specific to my…

It's been difficult to get that level of commitment.

We are grateful that Sen. Murkowski has taken the issue on.

Again, to both of you, all of you within your respective agencies, thank you for your efforts in helping us on the Sealaska Lands Provision bill.

I do hope that we can reach a compromise on this outstanding issue that we can all live with.

I hope that we can proceed in the near future with legislation to address the issues associated with water management and energy and fuel production.

I am hopeful that we are close to being able to resolve this.

But I think that it is recognized that good faith effort was made by everyone from Sealaska, to the communities, to the fishermen, to the sportsmen, to the recreationists, to the folks in the agencies.

it was my understanding that under the Energy Policy Act back in 2005, it required DOE to implement this program of research, demonstration, development, and the commercial action

This is yet another attempt to try to right a wrong that I really think we should have been able to resolve some time ago.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and to our ranking member, thank you for the hearing today.

We greatly appreciate Ranking Member Murkowski's leadership on this issue.

I appreciate your recognition of the importance of this bill and the fact that the Forest Service does support the principle objective as I have outlined in my statement.

It's a very important bill to me. It's a very important bill to so many Alaskans.

go fight the good fight, because Alaska also doesn't have that sales tax.

We testified in support of the Alaska Land Transfer and Acceleration Act of 2004 legislation sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski.

I think it's important that we have worked diligently throughout this process to ensure that it is not precedent setting.

I think these changes have vastly improved the bill from the 2008 original.

I think we recognize that 40 years is a long time to wait for conveyances.

We appreciate the opportunity to weigh in on this legislation which will shape the future of Southeast Alaska in profound ways.

Let's keep going down the line, if we can, to get some more ideas on how we can coordinate what is already happening within the agencies.