Ken Salazar

We will do everything we can to empower the Nation's Native American communities.

I appreciate your raising this issue with me from I think my very first days in the Department of the Interior, Senator Feinstein.

As we move forward with turning the new page and developing solar and wind and geothermal energy, that we have to do it in a way that is thoughtful.

I will work very hard to help address some of the vexing water problems that face us.

I will guarantee you, Senator Reed, that we are focused like a laser beam on the wind potential off of Rhode Island.

The bond idea makes sense.

We need to get our young people connected to our landscapes in terms of environmental education and understanding the importance of stewardship.

I support law enforcement in many different ways, and this will be a high priority for me.

I appreciate the concerns that you raise.

We are, as Senator Alexander spoke about and with respect to the statement that I said on the Utah lease sales, making sure that as we move forward with the development of a renewable energy world, which we are going to develop, that we…

It is no different, in fact, than what is happening in the Everglades, where Senator Nelson has made a legitimate significant issue of the Burmese python.

It truly is the Department of the Americas.

The issues that we are working on are not Democratic or Republican issues, they are issues for America and for all of our population.

Brian O'Neill was one of the heroes of our National Park System.

When one looks back at those conversations that took place in the Secretary of the Interior's office with Stewart Udall, you are left with a sense, given our fights together here to put funding into a Land and Water Conservation Fund…

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the elk issue is one I think which calls out for common sense solutions.

We are very open, as part of the Obama energy comprehensive plan, to look at nuclear as being part of our energy program for the Nation.

I will look forward to working with both of you, working with the White House, and working with our colleagues in the House to take a moon shot with respect to investing in the treasured landscapes of America.

We have to have that same kind of approach with respect to renewable energy projects.

There is a book written by a guy named Richard Louv you may have read, Last Child in the Woods, that talks about sort of the phenomena.

I think it is our duty in many ways to do all the different things that we can do to reconnect this next generation of Americans back to the land.

I understand that the Fish and Wildlife Service has a longstanding position that Recovery Plans are guidance and are only advisory in nature.

If confirmed, I will work with Congress, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and partners to investigate other incentives to engage more land owners in natural resource conservation.

We will now look at the specific language of that bill. I know it was one of the specific areas of conflict (in the legislation). Can't let the perfect be the enemy of what's already a very spectacular bill. We will now look at the…

I understand the ESA requires that decisions to exclude areas from critical habitat be based on a case-by-case determination that the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of inclusion in a particular case.