We have had much more intense forest fires over the past few years in my neck of the woods specifically because of the failure of the Forest Service to provide the sound forest management practices that were employed in 1980 when we were harvesting 12 billion board-feet a year out of the forests of this country.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Director Abbey, my ears perked up when you mentioned--and I want to be sure I understood this correctly--that you believe there are 280 million acres of BLM land that have moderate to high potential for oil and gas development.

With all due respect, I have hundreds of sawmill families that are out of work today because of your policies. I would call that a distress.

According to the McKenzie report, 2 billion barrels of oil is off limits to exploration and production in the Rocky Mountain region alone.

That is an extraordinarily circular form of logic, Chief Tidwell. You are closing off vast amounts of our forests, our public lands to public access.

Well, getting to Mr. Young's implied point then, you are no longer the Bureau of Land Management, you are the Bureau of Land Closures. Why shouldn't we rename your agency to reflect your actual work?

So the dramatic reduction in the public's access to the public's land is actually to help them have better access to the land. Is that the logic you are offering us?

My question is at a time of skyrocketing electricity prices, shouldn't we be focusing on the cheapest forms of electricity rather than subsidizing the most expensive?

Actually, photovoltaic technology was invented 175 years ago in 1836, and in 175 years of technological research and advancement have we yet invented a more expensive way of generating electricity?

I don't think that is an intelligent energy policy.

So the answer is yes, for every megawatt of wind or solar we put on line we also have to then have an additional megawatt of standby reliable power for those moments when the clouds pass over a solar array or the wind drops off, correct?