Political Quotes

“I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I just want to clarify something. Absolutely nothing in this legislation, or this entire legislation, takes away the right of people to protest or petition for the redress of grievances. That is something that is held sacred, I think by all Americans, certainly all Members of this House. During the oil and natural gas leasing exploration and development process, there are over a dozen opportunities for citizens to protest, to appeal, to comment, or to even completely halt energy development on public land. Since the 1990s, however, the use of protests on Federal lands has increased by 700 percent through a considered effort by special interest groups to halt oil and natural gas development on our Federal lands. This explosion of protests has crippled the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, offices while they are working to handle the wave of new protests. A formal protest of leasing is a legitimate step in oil and natural gas leasing process. However, and this is something that I think most people recognize, the abuse of protest to halt that development is something I think needs to be addressed. {time} 2040 So the $5,000 protest documentation fee in this legislation goes directly then towards helping the BLM process the onslaught of protests that are currently being paid by taxpayer dollars.…”