Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer my amendment that prohibits the Bureau of Land Management from taking any action to finalize, implement, or enforce a Draft Resource Management Plan and Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to end new oil leases on 1.6 million acres in Colorado. Colorado's West Slope used to have a booming energy production economy. Unfortunately, we have been regulated into poverty in Colorado's Third District. I remember when I owned a small business, roughnecks used to come into my restaurant, and I knew that it was going to be a good, successful, and profitable day because I had mud on my floors to clean up. However, through regulations, there was no more mud to clean up on nearly any of our business floors, and many businesses shuttered forever. There used to be 112 rigs on the West Slope, but now we have 4 drilling rigs. Now not-in-my-backyard extremists and job-killing Federal policies have driven away these good-paying jobs. The Bureau of Land Management's Draft Resource Management Plan for the Colorado River Valley field office and Grand Junction field office is the latest fossil fuel attack. This proposed land grab could remove over 1.6 million acres of public lands in Colorado from future oil and gas leasing and establish nine different areas of critical environmental concern and over 100,000 acres of BLM land.…”