Political Quotes

“Under current law, the Secretary of the Interior is not able to add any additional lease sales to a finalized 5-year plan, even if that area has been included in a draft plan and then withdrawn, so even if the work has been done to look at areas to include, he can't consider that in the final plan. This amendment is pretty simple. It provides the Secretary of the Interior the ability to add a lease sale to a finalized plan, as long as all of the NEPA requirements have been met on that specific area within the last 5 years. This is especially applicable to the case of Virginia Lease Sale 220 which, as I stated, was studied and included in the environmental impact statement, though it was later postponed and canceled. I want to make sure that the Secretary has the ability to add that back into the plan, since all the work has already been done to look at the environmental impacts; and, again, it was included originally in the plan. The flexibility should be there for that to happen. Should this administration finalize the next 5-year plan early, that would mean the ensuing administration would not have any ability to add lease sales. This amendment ensures that already studied lease sales can be added to a 5-year plan, as long as existing environmental requirements are met. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and, Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. DeFAZIO.…”