Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Utah. Mr. Speaker, I want to respond to my colleague from Colorado who has raised some concerns about the issue of hydraulic fracturing. And we all agree. There is a place for reasonable regulation; there is a place for the surface rights of homeowners and businesses in the area of a well to have their safety and health protected; and we would all agree with that. In Colorado, we really do have a pretty comprehensive and well- thought-out system of regulations. Some of the objections may really get more into State and local issues that my colleague has raised, the distance of setbacks and things like that, but I hope we will not miss the main point. The main point: these bills are before the House this week. We want to improve the American economy. We want to create more jobs. Energy is one of the bright spots in an otherwise anemic economic recovery. And if you look at where the energy production is really taking off, it is on State and private lands. For my colleague from Colorado, it is a private land scenario that he is dealing with. Federal lands need to catch up. There are billions of acres of Federal lands, including offshore. I know we are going to concentrate on onshore, but we have not kept up with energy production, and yet this has otherwise been a bright spot in our economy.…”