Political Quotes

“Mr. President, on April 16, 2010, Senator Merkley and I objected to any unanimous consent agreement in connection with the nominations of Sharon E. Burke, to be the Director of Operational Energy Plans and Programs at the Department of Defense; Catherine Hammack, to be the Assistant Secretary of the Army; and Elizibeth A. McGrath, to be the Deputy Chief Management Officer at DOD. At that time, we needed assurance that DOD was taking the appropriate action to address the increasing conflict between national renewable energy policy and national defense. I am pleased to say that we have dropped our objections to any unanimous consent agreement to consider these three nominations. I am encouraged with the progress the Department of Defense, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, has achieved to acknowledge the critical nature of our future renewable energy program and its impact to national defense. Both agencies now appear committed to address the systemic process issues associated with siting our renewable energy programs. I hope this commitment continues. Because there is much more work to be done. I believe we must pursue upgrading hardware and software for all of our radar arrays and adjust the siting permit process so that companies know in advance, not at the eleventh hour, of any DOD objections. But I also believe there is a need for an impartial entity with the authority to consider strategic civilian energy development and national defense needs.…”