Cliff Bentz

I propose an amendment to the Endangered Species Act at the very end, the last paragraph, where you are to provide a report on your cost.

I simply need the agencies who are in charge of this law to acknowledge that it costs, when implemented, billions of dollars in many situations, especially when we talk about our forests.

I am particularly challenged by seeing how agencies are acting in a way that would moot the oversight of Congress.

I wanted you to say it out loud so everybody here knew that their future is being mediated by a group of parties to a lawsuit, and that they have no part in it.

It seems odd that the future of this Northwest would be determined by a group of people that get together, unelected.

I also asked Chair Mallory if the CEQ was taking an active role in guiding the future of the dams.

I had the opportunity to ask the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, Brenda Mallory, if it was the position of the Biden administration that these four dams should be removed or breached without congressional authorization.

She assured me that Congress would have to authorize such action.

This bill continues what was a program created under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nations Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2016.

I know Ms. Porter is aware that her bill would require changes to ensure compliance with our floor protocols.

Today, we are meeting to discuss the three Bureau of Reclamation bills just mentioned.

I said, 'well, wouldn't the whale be safer if we just stopped all activity off the coast? Wouldn't the whale be safest if we just didn't allow any boating or any marine traffic whatsoever?'

The reason I bring this up is because I am from Oregon, and I watched the spotted owl situation.

I will now recognize the second panel of witnesses: the Honorable Martha Williams, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, DC.

I am much more interested in exactly how that money is being spent.

The status quo isn't working, at least in the Klamath, and I venture to say it is not working in other places throughout the West.

People, including the agencies before us today, have to come to the table to help find lasting solutions.

It is important that Congress exercise its oversight authorities over the executive branch.

I need the rules that reflect the procedure for imposing accountability.

Today's hearing is about protecting people's access to our natural resources and about modernizing slightly our government.

We have the money, big piles of it, but nothing--at least not enough--is happening.

That lack of respect is reprehensible. It needs to change.

The dam is worn out, and it needs about, between $80 and $100 million worth of repairs.

There is huge concern that PacifiCorp, and the state of Oregon, and the state of California are trying to offload that incredibly large obligation on the taxpayers, and I just don't think that is right.

I hope the Bureau is going to protect all of us taxpayers and the water users below that dam from the deferred maintenance costs of the dam.