Political Quotes

“every day the Secretary of the Interior makes decisions that directly affect the quality of life in the West. This Department manages almost 500 million acres of public lands, and the debates that westerners have about the management of these lands are not for the fainthearted. To the people I represent, controversies about spotted owls, raging forest fires and mining waste are not intellectual abstractions. Almost invariably, discussions about these issues divide into two camps, with the environmental community on one side, and the affected industries on the other. Finding common ground between these two camps is extraordinarily difficult, but it is the premier challenge in the natural resources field. Today--and I say this with reluctance--I rise to state that I will be voting no on this nomination. I still have reservations about the nominee's commitment to make, as the central focus of her office, the bringing together of these two camps, the environmental community and the affected industries, to find common ground.”