Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson), ranking member of the committee, and I was interested in listening to this conversation. I would really respectfully ask the Member to respect the district which I represent. I am not talking about the mine. I am talking about the process. This is State land. They gave it to us, the Congress--State land. They put it up for discovery. It was discovered. And under the clause of the discovery, you have the right for exploration. Under the right for exploration, you have a right for production, if it is possible to process. And the chairman, the ranking member put it very clearly: Let's go through the process. What this gentleman from California is saying: We are going to make a decision what is right for everything here, and they don't know a damn thing about it, nothing, because they are promoting people saying: This shouldn't be done. There is no science behind it yet. Science is what they talk about all the time. It is the bedrock. EIS is the bedrock. And yet they are ignoring it, expecting this Congress that doesn't know squat about the mining in Alaska. It is our land, not their land. It is not Federal land. It is our land. I am saying, let the process work. Let the process go through. That is what we are here for. Not for us to make decisions. The ranking member put it very clearly. What are we going to do next time?…”