Political Quotes

“I'm going to follow on the theme from my colleague from the Garden State: Why? Why an 11\1/2\-page bill that does two things; sets a 30-month--not rock-hard, no pun intended--time limit on Federal permitting decisions for mines and says, if you don't like that decision, you've got to sue in 60 days? Why are you not talking about what's the problem with 2\1/2\ years to talk about the permit? What's the problem with providing some predictability to the timing of the permitting process? What's the problem with not stringing people out under NEPA for over a decade for mine decisions? Why are we not hearing about that? The giveaway stuff is phenomenally entertaining. This does nothing to tax law. This does nothing to safety law. This does nothing to supplant NEPA, and this does nothing to supplant any State fix. This is an 11- plus-page bill that says you've got 30 months--and by the way, if you both agree, you can use more than 30 months. Now, what's the translation of that? God forbid we have collaboration between an applicant and a Federal land use agency in this process. Why are you afraid of collaboration? Why are you afraid of setting a time limit? And where in the 1969 NEPA law--since we're talking about old stuff--does it say this is a marathon, and if you can outwait them--forget about the facts, forget about the science, forget about the technology--we're going to obfuscate and delay and hope that you will go away?…”