Bruce Westerman

Part of the function of oversight is to make sure that the law is being carried out, that justice is administered, and, if it is not, that we rectify that.

I find it hard to see how anybody could call that a peaceful protest.

This hearing is about politics and I apologize to you and the rest of the officers in the United States Park Police for having to endure a political attack.

Why is it not too big of a health concern to call us back from all across the country to vote on a useless messaging bill that will wither on the vine outside this Chamber, but it is too much to ask us to come back and hold committee…

I look forward to working with my fellow colleagues to develop and pass this important legislation over the next several months.

I want to stress again that this is not just a carbon sequestration bill, it is a carbon emission reduction bill.

I will take all I can get.

Did you know the oldest structures on Earth are wooden structures.

I wish we had longer to have that conversation.

The No. 1 reason for deforestation in the United States? It is development.

Sustainability is keeping something at a level or better than you found it in the past to get on to future generations.

As long as it is solid, the carbon is there. It is the best carbon storage mechanism that we know of.

No, and I challenge anybody in the room or outside the room to tell me a better way to get the existing carbon that is in the atmosphere at 411 parts per million, to get that out of the atmosphere.

I have never said we don't need to reduce carbon emissions, and this bill actually focuses on reducing carbon emissions and sequestering carbon.

Not hardly. I consider planting trees and taking care and being good stewards of the forests that we have sound environmental stewardship.

The answer is trees. Unequivocally, the most pragmatic, proactive, economical, and large-scale solution to reducing atmospheric carbon levels is sustainable forestry.

Despite public misconception, the United States leads the world in reducing emissions while we are growing our economy.

Americans want Congress to act. According to the Pew Research Center, most Americans currently list the environment as one of the top policy priorities.

My legislation represents a pragmatic, science-based first step in addressing global carbon emissions, emphasizing natural carbon sequestration through reforestation, forest management, and sustainable utilization.

The actual emissions are decreasing in the same time period.

I am sure this is going to be a fascinating--another series of ongoing hearings, first on climate change.

It is wonderful that when you try to satisfy special interest groups, you can't satisfy them all without actually destroying all of them at the same time.

Much of the legislation that we want to see passed this year has been held up because of this insistent threat that we have to fully fund LWCF.

If indeed the goal of the first bill, which is to end all leasing, were to come into fruition, or at least allow litigation to make sure that the rest of it is stopped at some point, it will have the net effect of destroying Western…

Mr. Westerman has a bill that actually is a common-sense solution that you can solve carbon, either by limiting how much goes into the air, or trying to pull it out of the air.