While our friend from Idaho is trying to leave the Senate floor, I want to say that the Congress did act. Harry Truman said the only thing that is new in the world is the history we never learned or forgot. The Congress did act with a…

Those are just some of the provisions that we included in the legislation that are designed to help on the cost side.

we added language with respect to arbitration. When there are contract negotiations between the bargaining units and the Postal Service, there is no requirement for the arbitrators to consider the financial condition of the Postal Service.

And I will say personally that I very much enjoyed working with your Postmaster General and your Deputy Postmaster General. They work hard.

My thanks to Senator Boxer and to Senator Inhofe. Over the years, I have been privileged to hold a bunch of different jobs, including newspaper boy, pots-and-pan man in college, naval flight officer, and Governor of my State, just to name…

I think what EPA is trying to do is to say, as we make progress on those fronts, let's just make sure that we are being smart with respect to the emissions that come from the fracturing or the fracking process.

Without control technology, fracking can result in the release of natural gas and methane into the atmosphere.

As the use of fracking increases, we have a responsibility to ensure that developments happen responsibly.

Clean air is an important responsibility.

It sounds from your testimony today that since implementing your State standards that you have seen some positive impacts on air quality. Is that true?

Some critics claim that EPA's cost benefit analysis numbers are off base.

It is my understanding that EPA has made some changes from the proposal, the original proposal to the final new source performance standards for the fractured natural gas wells.

Any other witnesses want to react to the concerns raised by Mr. Smith?

I think she is doing an exemplary job since joining the EPA.

Fortunately, we will be able to use a lot of natural gas in this country. We are already the Saudi Arabia of coal. We have become the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.

I would just say, when you and I were serving as Governors together, we found ourselves in my State in a position where we could literally have shut down the State, shut down the State in order to try to comply with Clean Air requirements…

I used to say when I was Chairman there that the States are laboratories of democracy.

We hear how this boom has allowed us to see extremely low natural gas prices.

I believe this Administration has been on the wrong track to accomplish this goal.

I try to use common sense. And I encourage Federal agencies to do the same.

While we are not using as much coal today for generating electricity as we were a decade ago or even 5 years ago, we are going to be using coal for a long time in this country.

Ms. McCarthy, I think that wraps it up with you. You are a good warm-up act for these other guys.

I think in our second panel today some of the witnesses may claim that EPA has overestimated emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas wells.

if it isn't perfect, make it better.

At the end of the day, though, do you believe that industry can meet the standards that are laid out for them by EPA?