Ben Cardin

You have certain responsibilities under environmental laws that you are responsible to enforce.

You need to take action.

There needs to be pretty definitive action by EPA so that we can avoid this public health risk.

I am a strong supporter of domestic natural gas production, but my support only comes when human health and the environment are protected.

The wastewater resulting from gas drilling operations contained material that may present a threat to human health and aquatic environments.

The United States has as much natural gas as Saudi Arabia has oil.

Let's keep the states in charge of hydraulic fracturing, for the benefit of consumers, jobs, economic growth and expansion, and our Nation's energy security.

We want to be able to tap into the natural gas reserves in this Nation.

All of these projects will help not only get people to where they need to be. It will not only help us as far as our energy policy by using less energy for transportation.

In the rural areas, it is about access and jobs.

Is that discretion also important for the type of smart growth that you are talking about in Montgomery County?

It is interesting in Maryland, our three top transportation projects are all transit projects, including for the people of Montgomery County, Maryland, the purple line, which is critically important to get people across county, as well as…

While it is important that Congress address the Federal budget, it is also important that we keep sight of how these decisions may affect our counterparts at the State and local level.

What we need is to be able to work with our State Highway Department, the flexibility at the Federal level.

I want to ask a question as it relates to a concern I have that as we go to the surface reauthorization bill, this surface transportation reauthorization, there are some on this committee that would like to narrow the discretion to our…

Rural safety on rural roads is a No. 1 issue.

The Army Corps of Engineers is an important partner for us in developing and managing the water infrastructure of America.

It restored an ecosystem that is now the pride of the community.

I thought that the priorities, the way that you went about it, was the way that we need to go about making these tough decisions.

The challenge is that if we are all in agreement that this project needs to move forward, in the appropriate priority order...

As you know, we are going through some different views as to how Congress will authorize projects in the future.

It is quite clear that in this budget climate, we are not going to have the resources to be able to do all that we need to do.

These issues need to be gotten on immediately rather than sitting there for months or years causing significant problems in stability in the region.

I would encourage you to consult closely with us as these issues unfold.

I think we recognize in these circumstances that, on the one hand, the situation is time-urgent.