Larry Craig: “let me first of all associate myself with the remarks of my colleague from the State of Washington, who, as he…”

“let me first of all associate myself with the remarks of my colleague from the State of Washington, who, as he referenced, with me signed a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, who has the ultimate responsibility over National Marine Fisheries in the application of the Endangered Species Act on the Snake and Columbia River systems as it relates to these particular species of salmon that are in question at the moment and have been listed as threatened or endangered. The issue here has been well outlined, and the issue is very critical at this moment and over the next 24 hours. We have an agency of the Federal Government which, by law, is required to use science as a determining factor in making decisions that will have ultimate impact upon the Snake River and the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington and Idaho and their usage and all who are associated with it. My colleague from Washington has outlined the process very clearly. What is at hand here is not a question of this administration versus the last administration. This is a problem that was existing and started with the Bush administration. It is largely a question of preexisting law. We are talking about the Endangered Species Act.”