Melanie Stansbury

After I left the hearing, some of my majority colleagues mischaracterized my words by claiming that the minority-invited witness was unwilling to answer questions.

I hate these kinds of discourses because they mislead the American people.

It is not a partisan attack on the environment or our public lands, but an accounting system for making fair and appropriate decisions.

We also passed legislation to address the manufacturing and science needs of this country through the CHIPS Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Last Congress, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the most significant climate bill to ever pass.

Addressing climate change, the integrity of our ecosystems, and the ability of our communities to use our natural resources in a sustainable manner is, of course, the work of this Committee.

I just ask my colleagues, and although Mr. Chairman is always very kind, he has his southern manners, to show proper respect to our witnesses who travel at great length and personal expense, including the Administration witnesses who come…

I want to just take a moment here at the beginning to note that we attempted to invite several witnesses on our side of the aisle, but because of the behavior of some of the Members who are not present here this morning towards witnesses…

I especially appreciate Mr. Westerman's comments about how the United States is behind other nations, and needs to standardize the way in which we do economic accounting of our natural resources.

I think it was an educational hearing for my colleagues who are newly being introduced to the concept of natural capital.

This doesn't replace existing processes.

Some people actually value clean air, though.

But it would still happen through a public process.

The policies that this Administration is continuing, which were begun decades ago by other administrations, including conservative and Republican administrations, are vital to the modernization of our public lands.

And addressing our climate crisis.

But at the end of the day, it really is a way to value resources that were not previously valued, correct?

These rules, this framework would only pertain to Federal lands, not state lands.

The lands that are now currently in my state, in Arizona, and in the rest of the West are Indigenous lands.

It seems as though we have three unrelated public lands initiatives that are all designed to increase public participation and transparency and modernize the way that we do our natural resources management as a country.

I am all for oversight of our nation's public lands and conservation policies. I think it is important to review them and understand how they will impact our communities.

It is out of order to dump nuclear waste in our communities.

We do not want this nuclear waste site in our state.

This is an issue that is crucial to New Mexico, to my district, and something that the people of my district feel very passionately about.

And for far too long we have had exclusionary policies and practices that did not allow people of color, women, like me, to serve in positions, and that is reflected across our Federal workforce.

The reason why we value diversity in the workforce is because our society is diverse.