I think we also both agree... that energy security should be our key issue here.

We've got to end North Korea as a proliferator, there is certainly reason to believe that North Korea has been involved with Syrian efforts.

Our Arctic policy is about 15 years stale.

I, too, rise today to speak in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 22, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The omnibus bill has been criticized as being large--and it is a large pile of paper. It is almost 1,300…

Our President-elect Obama has committed to support these initiatives.

It's greatly appreciated.

Our reliance upon foreign nations for a great deal of our energy needs is a problem we must solve.

What are we going to do about a Medicare system that is failing our seniors in many areas when they can't get in to see anyone?

Enacting a national renewable portfolio standard would also provide a degree of certainty.

At the end of the day if you don't have longer term horizons on these tax credits we're not going to get the impact that you're looking to get.

We hope that this hearing contributes to that effort.

What we need to do is provide for greater certainty through longer terms or longer extensions.

But you know here, you know, in an effort to keep the score low, we want to keep it at a short window which doesn't help in the investment community.

We still continue to hear from so many that the current administrative recognition process is insufficient, and we recognize this.

I think we do recognize that the process is too slow, it is too cumbersome to recognize that you would have three decades, perhaps more, working to seek recognition.

When it is not working within the agency, sometimes there must be a redress through the legislative process.

We recognize that it is easier said than done.

I understand what you have said.

I would suggest that, at least with these groups that we have before us today, the scrutiny has clearly been there, based on what I have seen.

It speaks to a process that, again, as Chairman Dorgan has noted, we want to make sure that when you utilize the process that we have set up through the agency to provide for this recognition, that it not be a--I think Senator Tester used…

So if these two situations don't qualify as an overriding reason to bypass, what would?

Are you saying that we could tap the brains there at Sandia and Los Alamos and say, help us figure out a way that we can have the energy resource without impacting the fishery resource?

But it's important as we move forward that these processes are in place.

Well, thank you. I appreciate your involvement in not only the energy issues, but from the perspective of the Interior and your focus on some of our challenges that we face here in the state.

Good morning. We're calling to order this meeting of the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.