Ben Cardin

It is my intention to keep the hearing in session.

Thank you very much.

We do know that it is related to human activity, and we need to talk about that.

There is a disease, white-nose syndrome, which is causing us to lose a lot of our bat colonies.

I know that Senator Lautenberg will be talking about the bats, a keystone species in the food web.

In my own State of Maryland, we have dealt with the nutria.

Senator Levin, in talking about the threats to the Great Lakes; and Senator Nelson, who will talk about the unique wildlife and ecosystems in Florida.

We are talking about the threats to native wildlife species.

I want to thank my colleague and friend, Senator Whitehouse, for arranging for this joint hearing.

Today we are having a joint subcommittee hearing of the Environment and Public Works Committee of the Water and Wildlife and Oversight Committees.

I think we could do a better job.

The Congress, in a bipartisan manner, has added funds to these accounts over the President's budget because of the importance that we place on moving forward and modernizing our infrastructure.

I must tell you, I have been pleased this year to see EPA and DOD working together on clean up issues in my own State, both at Fort Meade and Fort Detrick, where we have made significant progress.

I want to reiterate my support for those core values of strong science, transparency and the rule of law.

Thirteen thousand nutria have been removed. That is quite an impressive effort.

Senator Whitehouse has indicated that he will be back after the first vote.

I represent Maryland. I know the stress that WMATA is under.

They believe America's leadership will play a critical role in getting other nations to move and to set the bar high enough so we really can make an impact on global environment.

If the United States were to act alone, and no other country in the world were to take action, I personally believe it would be good for our economy, it would create more jobs here in America and keep jobs here in America.

It is about keeping jobs here in America. It is about we have developed the technology, now let us use that technology, let us create the green jobs here in America that will not only help our economy, but will help our national security…

I think the bill that we marked up last year, the Lieberman-Warner Bill, and I think much of the provisions included in the Waxman-Markey Bill, encourages the type of activities that Senator Alexander was talking about, including the…

Clearly, reconciliation between these two policies must be made.

We need to make sure that we get it done right.

I would encourage this committee to look into the safety measures that can be taken to prevent such tragedies in the future.

We are going to have to take a look, make some hard decisions.