Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise in support of this legislation to modernize our Nation's aviation system and I am especially pleased that it includes Senate Amendment No. 3534 to protect the pristine beauty and quiet of Crater Lake National Park. This amendment offered by Senator Merkley and I would bring an end to the bureaucratic stalemate that exists between the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service over implementation of the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000. That act required the FAA and the Park Service to work together in regulating air tours over national parks. Unfortunately, that is not happening. After nearly a decade, these two agencies have yet to complete a single required air tour management plan for those parks with air tours. Meanwhile, parks where air tours applications are pending are in limbo over whether tours will operate and where. Efforts to provide adequate safeguards to protect the parks' resources have stalled, leaving places such as Oregon's Crater Lake National Park--the 6th oldest national park in the Nation--lingering in needless uncertainty. In short, the law is not working as it was intended and providing no benefit to anyone. When an air tour company applied last year for permission to fly tours over Crater Lake National Park, the public outcry in my state and elsewhere was swift and dramatic--and for good reason.…”