David Vitter

It may be prudent in the near future to look at moving S. 662, legislation written by me and cosponsored by my colleague Mary Landrieu, which would require a significant down payment on NRDA liabilities.

Legislation to dedicate the funds and establish a council to administer them has seemed, to me at least, stalled in Congress.

Thank you both for your work.

I really don't think it will be helpful to mandate removing, in many cases, premier fish habitats.

I guess that is my question in all of this, and I don't mean to interrupt, but to get to the heart of it, you need some baseline.

The Interior Department's mismanagement of permitting is way too high.

What are the limits on this authority and what is the potential to expand and expedite that authority so we are not backloading everything for 8 years from now?

It remains appropriate that at least 80 percent of those fines levied on BP go toward restoring the Gulf.

The incident also resulted in the largest oil spill in history, period; an incident that pummeled the Gulf Coast and left significant environmental and economic damage, which is an ongoing challenge.

To say that the work of the NRDA Trustees is important would be an enormous understatement, for Louisiana coastal restoration has been an ongoing challenge.

The idea that investment in restoration could take upwards of a decade is really unacceptable.

Is any of that work being done in this context helpful in terms of the broader NOAA stock assessment responsibility?

All of which has led to the EPA being apply nicknamed the 'Employment Prevention Agency.'

That is why I support the Tennessee Valley Authority's recent decision on coal, to either close its coal plants or put pollution control equipment on all of its plants by 2020.

I feel that there is a lot coming out of EPA based on ideology and not objective, sound science.

EPA has lost credibility as an agency capable of handling scientific reviews in an unbiased manner.

As far as mercury and the other pollutants, I believe coal plants should get rid of mercury up to 90 percent.

Would the NAS report have happened without the hold?

Every one of our 50 States has put out mercury advisories, warning pregnant women and children not to eat certain kinds of fish for fear of causing permanent neurological damage.

The Clean Air Act is in dire need of modernization.

The agency's voluntary reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ground level ozone... could lead to significant economic constrains in the Country.

The Obama EPA has moved forward in an unprecedented number of rules that will have enormous consequences on families and businesses and the Nation's fiscal well-being.

President Obama has a cap and trade agenda that is specifically designed to raise the prices of energy by forcing coal and oil out of the market.

The Obama EPA is aggressively moving forward to regulate nearly all aspects of American life.

American Electric Power announced that they would be forced to close nearly 6,000 megawatts of low cost coal-powered energy.