I think my people would like to make sure that the Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo be honored, and that our traditional uses of herb gathering, wood cutting, hunting, the grazing, that all that be protected for us with this bill.

I would just like to ask unanimous consent that I submit into the record a letter from the Northern New Mexico Stockmen, the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, the New Mexico Wool Growers, and the New Mexico Federal Lands Council.

I am confident, with a few technical changes, that the bill can be strengthened to protect the heritage of New Mexico, and I am committed to do that.

The local people, the land grant areas, also are very supportive of this legislation. They do not want to see their land, their common lands, up for exploration of businesses or for these lands to be sold.

I appreciate this opportunity to urge your support for H.R. 1241 to establish the Rio Grande del Norte National Conservation Area.

As you know, my State of New Mexico has enormous potential for solar power development, I think, in the United States, only second to Arizona.

We have some challenges associated with how categorical exclusions are evaluated.

This is something that is critically important.

In my district, tribal communities continue to struggle for access to clean drinking water, and rural communities face challenges in developing waste water treatment infrastructure.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. And I want to thank you for bringing us together with all of our tribal leaders and all of our witnesses today.

I would like to see a template so that if a company followed that template, they could just go ahead with the construction.

Under President Barack Obama, production is up.