Political Quotes

“This legislation is unnecessary. Every witness before the committee found no reason why it had to be enacted into law. It was made very clear that there have been no incidences of egregious delay by any events before the permitting authorities. There is no need for the legislation. The amendment is a friendly amendment offered to enable us to find out if there are, in fact, problems; and if there are, in fact, problems, then we will be able to take the necessary action to correct whatever problems might exist. At this particular time, there is no evidence of need for the legislation. In 90 percent of the time, the permits have been granted within the 1-year period. It is only necessary to allow time for others where the permitting application was incorrectly or improperly done and only where the complexity of the situation requires more time. What I am hearing from the other side is they feel that there is need for us to move more rapidly in these complex cases where serious mistakes can be made and we can have the danger of an unsafe pipeline resulting. I would remind my colleagues that a pipeline explosion, only the failure of a gas pipeline, is like a nuclear event. I urge the adoption of the amendment, and if not adopted, the rejection of the legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.”