with state and even in,epa offices in denver. we had round table discussions extensive studies going on. i have never yet heard to this date any tie to hydraulic fracturing. >> i was stunned to learn that you actually top los angeles on a number of occasions at 149 parts per billion with respect to ozone. in fact, the epa called it unearthly at some point. what is the cause of such high ozone levels in the county? >> this study is going on it appears this is what i was referring to a moment ago, this is tied, it appears to be a number of factors that the scientists are still trying to learn about. one of the things it's tied with sunlight and snow. this past winter we didn't have very much snow on the ground. we did not have any exceedances. we were well below the number. a year ago we had deep snow and the numbers were fairly high and so the scientists, the jury's still out. >> i thank you very much. thank you, mr. chairman. >> we'll take a short recess to prepare for the second panel. i appreciate your time very much. >> during

the epa. probably more lawyers than anything else. and this is a city -- a town of lawyers. you are all bucking the trend potentially, but i would say it's also important to recognize that increasingly, and i'm sure we're going to talk about sustainability, the private sector is key, too, right? there's no such thing as government does or impose on the private sector. the private sector, being a part of this, can mean that we can see changes in everything from behavior to marketing to wants to needs to an economy that's built to last. >> pursuing a masters in sustainability might -- >> a little advertisement. >> okay. here's a more -- a current topical question. what are the epa's plans for conducting more research on the effects of natural gas fracking. >> sure. so epa has ongoing a two-year study on the impact of fracking, hydraulic fracturing, which is the primary technology that's making all this natural gas potentially available for us in our country. and its impact on drinking water. it'

epa has disagreed on several of those. methane is a naturally occurring substance that does move as well. i'd like to say the same thing on this as well. geology the statement in utah, in pennsylvania and oklahoma? same rock, same depth of water, same soils are things the same in all three of your states underground? >> no. absolutely not. why all this attention? there was a great article about this called everythingoff heard about fossil fuels may be wrong. it's in the new america foundation. it's all about what he thinks why all this attention has grown. natural gas which used to be viewed as maybe a bridge fuel, a fossil fuel for people who don't like fossil fuel could hold their nose and get through could be the fuel of the century. that has caused some cognitive disdense among some interest groups ere go the push back. >> you've seen and there's a shift of investment out of the west to the east i assume you mean out of the lands and there is a fear that you have that you're about to lose the potential of getting energ

there sa role for the epa. but i'm very skeptical that thousands of wells and many different types of rock and soil condition can be overseen from washington better than state leaders who know the people and the land. we are so close to energy independence. this is a moment when we will finally solve the decades old problem when the federal government will get in the way and slow or halt our economic future. today is the pursuit of answers and clarity of the direction of the epa and bureau of land management to determine the gel of administration who has stated there are for energy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i note the votes are occurring now. i assume after my at the same time -- >> that's correct. >> i thank the chair. i respect the chair and i thank you for holding this hearing. our philosophies could not be more different. i disagree with almost everything the chairman has just said. frankly, we're -- the republican rhetoric in this body has been the old government regulation has stifled the ability for t

when lisa jackson first joined epa as a staff scientist, and i first began representing epa as a justice department lawyer. so i guess you could say that lisa jackson and i or rather lisa jackson and her colleagues were my clients for many years, albeit nonpaying ones. more recently, we have shared an interest in seeing that justice is served in the bp gulf oil disaster case. administrator jackson's public service has come both at the federal and state levels. prior to serving as epa administrator, she served as the commissioner of the new jersey department of environmental protection. since we are here on a college campus, i would be remised not to mention that lisa jackson obtained her undergraduate degree from her home town of new orleans and her masters degree in chemical engineering from princeton. i have many fond memories of my former client, but i want to share just one with you in particular. i was getting on a plane in february to fly out to february to give a talk. just before the plane door closed, lisa jackson got on and sat down across the aisle from me one row up in coach

by epa or by some other group? for instance, petroleum distill ats, that could be just about anything that's a petroleum product. >> it's got a specific cas number that it doesn't come from the agency. it's called crude oil/diesel fuel. kerosene is marine diesel fuel. so all six of them are diesel fuel. and that's where we got the six cas numbers from, is from that. and so that's where our proposed definition, we are taking comment on that. we feel like it's a very clear definition, because it links specifically to those six cas numbers. >> i am second guessing whether congress in 2005 -- of course, i was not in congress in 2005. none of us were -- on this panel were. but i'm second guessing where congress in 2005 was considering crude oil a diesel fuel, or as broad as petroleum distillates, a broad definition. and being able to snag everything in it. one other quick comment i want to get a chance to share, short on time here. why the redefining now? why blm, putting in the new regulatory environment now before epa

and how big a deal is this or should epa or whatever be focused on other areas? >> i candidly think they should focus their attention elsewhere because a properly managed forest road is a nonevent with respect to water quality. under virginia's bmps that's going to manage the water quality in a voluntary way. on our farm, for example, we re-establish any roads that have been disturbed. a road by convention is to avoid random compaction. you put your roads in a smart place, you design them properly with water bars, you use the roads when you need to, then you promptly re-establish a cover on them and if you do those things, and that's what most good stewards do, that's what the bmps encourage, we've got a non-issue as it relates to a point source and epa. >> thank you very much, and thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, gentlemen. now recognize the gentleman from colorado, mr. tipton. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you're running a brilliant senate hearing here. i wanted to have it happen twice. i want to thank our panel for being here. you speak to something that s

epa has to move forward. i talked last night about the concern that there could be literally thousands of permit application as -- are we starting to see that, a bag log or what's happening in the permitting? >> quite frankly, i cannot answer that question right now. but i can find out and we'll it's not just pesticides here and for use in the forestry but also in mosquito control disabilities. i think we're going to see some very negative consequences this coming, you know, summer, mosquito season. another prior question of mr. dye and i don't know if mr. might want to get into it. the ninth care lien a. can you explain house of representatives best management practices what's the best workable solution. >> sir, being from the neighboring we have an excellent program in that state and we do something very similar where we work with the logging community and ensure that bmps are installed. and bmps is basically handling water and small quantities to prevent erosion and sedimentation of of the state's waters.

. >> we're asked the state's cancer registry about two epa super fun sites under and to the west.waiting on those results. but this entire question has residents concerned. >> i fell in love with my house. >> fell in love 37 years ago. >> kids played in there. >> the year? 1975. >> i knew this was the house i was in love with. >> like many love affairs. >> nobody knocked on the doors. >> jane horton's love of her house came with heartache. >> my son was very, very ill for 8 months and they never figured it out. >> not officially. jane thinks she knows what caused her son's illness. >> tce is a cleaning solvent commonly used by the military and the budding semiconductor industry 30 years ago, a toxic solvent that causes cancer in people and heart deformities in unborn babies that leaked from underground tanks and spilled all over the area. leaks so extensive this area is an epa super fund site. >> it was collecting like crazy in his bedroom. that was the most contaminated room in the house. >> evaporating from the soil where her children played. they call it vapor intrusion where t

we should not strip epa's authority to protect public health in the environment. finally the house republicans have included the rivel and could gut the portions of the clean air act and responsible that pollution should be related to transportation stays in check. this terrible policy must be reje rejected. this policy committee has -- signed by the president and will keep our economy on the mend, alternatively, we should -- whether we should or shouldn't allow epa to ensure the safe disposal of coal ash and whether she should weaken other environmental laws. it is -- transportation infrastructure hostage over these extraneous

from epa a single site of ground water contamination from ground water fracking. >> i believe the epa probably said they're not aware where the action of the fracking led to water contamination. there are multiple publicly known cases where there's water contamination associated with the development of shale gas or other types. >> you're talking about from the surface? >> no. including from wells. there's a documented incidence of at least 1% perhaps up to 6% of well failure. >> here's what i know typically. there have been some very public cases of this from the epa in the past year and half. the epasses they begin testing the wells and later that was just methane that's naturally occurring. most recently on may 11th of this year in pennsylvania epa quietly released what was initially a panic to say that frac fluids have caused all this they've come back and said we were wrong. this was n a

we know it's not necessarily epas fault. the courts are overzellous, et cetera. but $6 billion that we could be spending on improveling forest habitat for wildlife, improving it for people, improving it for water quality. there's much better use of money than on this regulation. thank you. >> thank you. i yield back. >> one final question for all the panelists who would like to weigh in on. the purpose of regulation the impact of overregulation is what my question is about. we talk about healthy forests and we talk about you have to manage a forest for it to be healthy. that means timberg, that means dealing with the fire load. that means preventing wildfires, that means managing the invasive species that have been mentioned here today. so whether it's overregulation as related to being declared as a point source, regulation in terms of road, the ninth sish cut with roads or just overregulation in general. we've talked about jobs. we've talked ability economic impact. i want to focus with my final question, a healthy forest. it has to be managed to be healthy. ho

. >> the head of the epa stepped down.at the only online forum with a direct line to cenk uygur. >>if you had to vote for a republican, which one would it be? (vo) join the debate now. in 2012 alone. go to our website, current.com. up next it's out to the campaign trail. a surprising new poll, and that's next right here inside "the war room." [ woman ] oh, my gosh -- it's so good! [ kristal ] we're just taking a sample of all our different items in our festival of shrimp so we can describe them to our customers. [ male announcer ] red lobster's festival of shrimp starts now! for just $12.99, pair any two of 9 exciting shrimp creations like new barbeque glazed shrimp or crab stuffed shrimp. the crab-stuffed shrimp are awesome! [ woman ] very creamy. that's a keeper! [ woman ] shrimp skewer. [ woman #2 ] sweet, smoky. [ man ] delicious! [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] any combination just $12.99! [ woman ] so what are ya'lls favorites? [ group ] everything! [ laughter ] we're servers at red lobster. and we sea food different

he was first in gas land not as epa administrator but researcher in texas.as a very personal decision knowing that this is a witch hunt and it's about attacking the merger rather than looking at the message. if you look at the epa there are regulation that are on the books that really do something significant. i think that that's important to recognize. but just to put all these things in context what al was in gas land the film for he was a researcher at smu. he pointed out that the oil and gas sector caused as much pollution in the dallas forth worth area as all the cars and trucks in the dallas area. they were causing as much air pollution as all the cars and trucks in that dallas forth worth metroplex. >> right. >> he pointed that out. that's why he was in gas land. then the obama administration appointed him because of the amazing work he was doing in texas as a researcher, and now as administrator. this guy was under heavy attack by the republicans for a very, very long time. >> yes-- >> i'm not going to weigh in on al's decision. all i'm trying to tel

windows is not missouri the epa's fault. the cards -- we know is is not necessarily the epa's faults. the courts are overzealous, etc. thank you. >> thank you. i yield back. >> one question all the panelists would like to weigh in on, you know, the purpose of regulation and the impact of overregulation, i guess, is what my question is about. we talk about healthy forests. we talk about how you have to manage a forest for it to be healthy. that means timbering. that means preventing wildfires. that means preventing the invasive species that were mentioned here today. whether it is being declared as a point source, regulation in terms of the ninth circuit or just over regulation in general. we've talked about jobs, economic impact, those types of things. with my final question, i want to focus on a healthy forest that has to manage to be helping. how devastating is overregulation in this country? >> mr. chairman. >> is is very devastating. we have proven, this industry as a whole, nationwide, has proven that we can police ours

there's this false sense that the epa is going to come and rescue us. nothing could be further from the truth. we are dolliealing with an agen that has upwards of 30,000 sites that haven't been cleaned. this is insanity, called geraldo. it is a very serious, serious problem. the agency for a whole host of reasons whether it is over burdened under staffed let's be honest they are broke. they are not coming out and cleaning up these sites. >> erin brockovich the latest documentary "last call at the oasis." nice to see you again. >> nice to see you, geraldo. >> was john travolta really black listed from a spa in a swanky new york hotel? it's time to get going. to have the energy to turn a "to do" list into a memory. to put more giddy-up in our get-along. to keep stepping up even in overtime. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's... ... and mix a little more hop in our hip hop. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles, your feet will feel so good... ... you'll want to get up and go.

we got a taste of that mentality when this epa official was caught about his enforcement strategy.compared it to the romans conquering villages. you crucify the first five guys i find, then that town is easy to manage. is this bureaucracy' attitudes? one person that should know is used to head the cbo office. do you go loose, is this their attitude? >> obviously in some cases it is. we saw that epa official actually step down from his position because of the backlash against the strategy that was clearly one meant to intimidate and not to serve the public good. there are times when it goes out over the line. there are times when the regulations don't make any sense. i was listening to your show earlier and one of guests made the point this is just like tax and spend but only in disguise. in this environment where we have huge budget deficits go, the risks of trying to do it in disguise gets bigger and bigger. >> john: we have new, weird regulations that your regulation rodeo is looking at. justice department that miniature horses must be allowed in stores, they can't toilet train t

we got a taste of that mentality when this epa official was caught about his enforcement strategy.e compared it to the romans conquering villages. you crucify the first five guys i find, then that town is easy to manage. is this bureaucracy' attitudes? one person that should know is used to head the cbo office. do you go loose, is this their attitude? >> obviously in some cases it is. we saw that epa official actually step down from his position because of the backlash against the strategy that was clearly one meant to intimidate and not to serve the public good. there are times when it goes out over the line. there are times when the regulations don't make any sense. i was listening to your show earlier and one of guests made the point this is just like tax and spend but only in disguise. in this environment where we have huge budget deficits go, the risks of trying to do it in disguise gets bigger and bigger. >> john: we have new, weird regulations that your regulation rodeo is looking at. justice department that miniature horses must be allowed in stores, they can't toilet train

epa and states have started implementing it. the second part of the question was a reporter couple weeks ago i cite concern that because of this there might be pesticides used that are in a less strict manner. i don't know how else to say a comment that we'll get of the species test. i think you mentioned herein your testimony you talk about we can have problems with reestablishing forests in managing areas. do you want to comment on those two areas? turn the microphone on. >> the use of herbicides, pesticides are essential and certain forestry operations to establish regeneration, new forest and we have worked with chemicals for years and find that some are just much more effect did, dave and are environmentally safe and sound and duplication of a chelation does not seem to make sense. and i guess i answered question number 21st. what was your first question? >> since the legislation hasn't passed, when u.s. epa at the states has to move forward, you know, one of the things i talked about last year was the concern there could b

because of that, the epa has not been on our case. the largest program right now is a philadelphia. as we look at it, we need to figure out what's right for our people and what's right for the environment and what we need to do to make sure we stay within the regulations of the united states. what i would suggest when you ask about how the reserve money and stay involved in these discussions, we would like to have discussions a lot this summer and may i suggest what you might want to do is the money going into waste water is about half a billion dollars. the second portion is to under $55 million. if you wanted to reserve that, we could continue to do work next year and come back this fall and talk about where does the larger picture and what is the next 10 or 20 years look like? >> -- supervisor chu: i think that is something we can consider. we don't want to stop the project moving ford because we want to move forward but we are asking our residents to shoulder a lot and asking them to see utility bills go up and pay additional money in sales tax measures and a more and parcel tax

epa, are you against the epa buyerly orentirely, or what does it mean that you're against the epa.that. >> what i think is that maybe some of this can be solved with tort law and making decisions from the people who were damaged. if you're ruining the air, if you're ruining the water, if you're doing damage, that's an actual damage that can be debility withdealtwith in the courts. i'm not in father of hurting other people but you have to be careful of prior constraint and a bureaucracy-heavy top-heavy group of people making decisions. it's just not going to be done right into my concern is whether it's epa or common criminals you need cops on the street. it's easy to say if you get robbed why don't you just sue the guy. but no, we need a little bit of protection. if my kids are getting poisoned by the river that's polluted, well i need cops for that, don't i? that's what i think the libertarian argument breaks down a little bit. >> you're not saying no police. you're not talking about anarchy. you're talking about these big blanket things that really clearly don't move fast enough

look to the epa to find out if this is one -- >> bob: the epa, crucify -- [ overtalk ] >> bob: we willke money from the oil industry. >> dana: i aspire to have a swiss bank account. i want gnu money >> bob: people hide one there and it's not taxable. >> andrea: but he is comfortable taking their money transferred from the swiss bank account. >> eric: but you do pay taxes. sure you do. >> andrea: again, i'll say it. if the election strategy is to get all of us, everyone out there to chair more about what romney does with the money than obama does with ours, he will lose. coming up, more christians slaughtered by obama in africa. are westerners underestimating the threat from radical muslims in that part of the world? we'll tell you what is happening. stay put. t" is at 6:00 eastern. now have back to new york and my colleagues with "the five." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> eric: >> bob: my one more thing yesterday and i went to extend it today. the killing of christians by muslims in countries around the world. in this case, nigeria. christianchristians there last y at church and praying, practicing reli

there's this false sense that the epa is going to come and rescue us. nothing could be further from the truth. we are dolliealing with an agen that has upwards of 30,000 sites that haven't been cleaned. this is insanity, called geraldo. it is a very serious, serious problem. the agency for a whole host of reasons whether it is over burdened under staffed let's be honest they are broke. they are not coming out and cleaning up these sites. >> erin brockovich the latest documentary "last call at the oasis." nice to see you again. >> nice to see you, geraldo. >> was john travolta really black listed from a spa in a in. log on to foxnews.com. >> live and at large welcome back everybody. gay rumors circulated around the actor john travolta for years but he managed to rebut them. there may be strength in numbers. because now a fourth massage therapist has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against the 58-year-old actor claiming this time that travolta was so aggressive he was banned from the swanky peninsula hotel spa here in new york a charge tra

he resigned his post in a letter to the epa administrator. he headed up the agency's six regions -- sixth region. he made headlines last week when oklahoma senator showed a video of one of his speeches from 2010. in it he compared enforcement methods to the romans when they were conquering the villages saying they would crucify the first five men they saw, as an example. in his resignation letter he said he regretted those words and doesn't want to be a distraction to the epa. >>> a new york highway where seven family members were killed after plunging 60 feet into a ravine has inadequate guardrails. an out of control suv hit a curb and went flying over the guardrail on sunday. it felt six stories to the ground killing everyone insides the vehicle. >>> the tallest building in new york is once again in lower manhattan. >> one world trade center has surpassed the empire state building. manuel gallegus has more. >> reporter: the recovery in manhattan reached new heights. the first column of the 1 u.n.th "owe 100th floor of one world center was p

the nhl is the first to join the epa's green power partnership. i don't know what it means.wer from the wind farms. >> rangers. >> what? >> rangers. >> oh, the rangers, a hockey team. >> the nhl was so green, give the glaciers their ice. >> the major league baseball is also according to one -- >> yankees -- >> -- has emerged with a powerful leader in the movement. >> teams are in canada and canada are already behind more than this country. >> in what? >> in the green energy. they have the tar sounds. they have the tar sands. >> i have one more bone to pick with you because imreg is on the panel. i want to come back and not focus on him, but you said this creates jobs. you are a libertarian. aren't these make work jobs? like you give a guy $50 to dig a hole and another $50 to shovel it in. >> >> the biggest was me joining a gym and then not going. >> i stand by that. >> i was bothered by jill talking about not going to the gym anymore. >> rangers. >> i go to jill's gym. >> i have seen her there too. >> i am into sports. >> jill was so much more effective. >> you just start sh

look to the epa to find out if this is one -- >> bob: the epa, crucify -- [ overtalk ] >> bob: we will money from the oil industry. >> dana: i aspire to have a swiss bank account. i want gnu money >> bob: people hide one there and it's not taxable. >> andrea: but he is comfortable taking their money transferred from the swiss bank account. >> eric: but you do pay taxes. sure you do. >> andrea: again, i'll say it. if the election strategy is to get all of us, everyone out there to chair more about what romney does with the money than obama does with ours, he will lose. coming up, more christians slaughtered by obama in africa. are westerners underestimating the threat from radical muslims in that part of the world? we'll tell you what is happening. stay put. careful, pringles are bursting with more flavor. [ crunches ] mmm. ♪ [ male announcer ] pringles... bursting with more flavor. [ crunch! ] my new apartment isn't that far away. it's 4.2 miles away ! with this droid razr... motorola... verizon 4g lte... video... skype. you're gonna get lost. this has gps. well, that makes me feel bet

we hear from the epa they're trying to crucify businessmen. when justice department asks to respond to some of their failures they put down the steel trap and won't give out any of the information and enough is enough. i think we have a responsibility to members of the judiciary committee to do the due diligence and make sure we're getting the american people answers. bill: are you suggesting there is coordination between justice and the white house? >> what i'm suggesting, bill is this. if you look, we have this breakdown in agencies whether it is tsa, gsa, secret service, the then you look at the justice department refusing to comply with laws and enforce those. actually going after states to keep them from complying. the rule of law should apply to everybody. these agencies have gotten to the point where they think it doesn't apply to them. only applies to everybody else. bill: these are serious charges and you only think holder on his own or is he getting support? >> bill, that is just the point. we can't answer those question until we get

there's no question, the legislation gives a lot more power to the epa to regulate businesses, which is a political non-starter for a lot of republicans. is there a middle ground? the truth is that there have been private discussions with consumer groups, with industry groups, and with senators and members of congress in both parties for some time. they seem to be at odds right now, but with the kind of effort that we saw from moms today, going from door to door, that's the kind of grassroots effort that actually does tend to matter in the long-term. so could be. >> we'll stay tuned on that. dana bash, thank you. >>> ahead there's a new sign the economy may be picking up, especially good news for homeowners hoping to sell. we'll have the details in a little bit. >>> but next the man who succeeded mitt romney as governor and still deals with romney's old business. you're the governor of a state that bain capital calls its global home. it's right up the street global headquarters. >> indeed. >> are they a bad company? >> no, they're not a bad company. ♪ [ engine turns over ] o then we

i used to be a builder and developer and i've been intimidated by the epa years ago. when you stop and think that people who get letters we're going to invoke fines of 33 you,000 a day, i can tell you, i use cases on the floor in the senate yesterday a lumber company in tulsa, oklahoma. they would have dropped if they hadn't called me. that is just a threat. they would have been out of business. >> greta: the senator says the resignation is no way solves the epa solves the crucifixion if i local los if i. president obama has a new weapon in the oval office. he goes on the record. and also right now, hillary clinton heading to china and flying into a firestorm. blind chinese dissident escaped house arrest in china? but the mystery, where is he? >> and you have to hear what came out of the governor chris christie's mouth. christie's mouth. you'll hear wha look, every day we're using more and more energy. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the wor

there's this false sense that the epa is going to come and rescue us.ng could be further from the truth. we are dolliealing with an agen that has upwards of 30,000 sites that haven't been cleaned. this is insanity, called geraldo. it is a very serious, serious problem. the agency for a whole host of reasons whether it is over burdened under staffed let's be honest they are broke. they are not coming out and cleaning up these sites. >> erin brockovich the latest documentary "last call at the oasis." nice to see you again. >> nice to see you, geraldo. >> was john travolta really black listed from a spa in a swanky new york hotel? i will ask adam mayes mother in law why he kidnapped two and killed two others. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. droid d

regional epa administrator responded by assuring residents that the epa would go after drilling companiesoke the law. he specifically says he's talking about companies that violate the law. >> >> in artful but a fairly standard explanation of the logic of deterrence more broadly. he said those words on may 10, 2010 and received no attention for his comments. but two years later, senator inhof staffers got hold of it and decided to make an example of him. and fox news, as well. >> if you can't beat them, crucify him. >> the rogue administrators that president obama appointed that are out there, killing american jobs, the administration has to be held accountable. >> faced with the standard conservative hissy fit, the white house cowerered. >> the white house comments are not only inaccurate as a representation of or characterization of the way that the epa has operated under president obama, they are provably inaccurate. by our record on these issues. >> and so for articulating the very purpose and process of enforcement, that is to hold to account those companies not in compliance with ep

epa has not propose to regulate beneficial reuse. we should not stripped them of their authorities to protect public health and environment based on half truths and scare tactics. finally, the house republicans have included the amendment in this bill that he visits the national environmental protection policy act, and debts the portions of the clean air act responsible. this terrible policy must be rejected. this conference committee has a clear choice. we can work together in the time we have to produce a bill that will be signed by the president and keep our economy on the mend. alternatively, we can spend the coming weeks arguing over the keystone pipeline, whether we should or should not allow epa to ensure the safe disposal of coal ash, or weakening other environmental laws. it is my hope house republicans will not hold the entire country's transportation is a structure hostage over this extraneous provisions. let's not jeopardize the opportunity to create jobs. >> thank you. senator rockefeller, followed by representative. >>

now, we will continue to monitor these developments if the epa moves forward with a nationwide permitting process, congress must act to clarify the existing state's specific best management processes that are adequate for protecting our water sources. further regulation is unnecessary and will carry a heavy burden for rural america. i want to thank our witnesses for being here today. i look forward to working with you as we move forward on this process. i know yield for purposes of an opening statement to the ranking member, my colleague from pennsylvania. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to thank our witnesses for being here as well. this promotes an important opportunity to look at the programs in advance of the new farm bill. the 2008 bill included many new provisions to move our country toward energy dependence. the bill expanded many of the new energy programs originally authorize medical in the 2002 farm bill. a the bill also provided close to $1 billion in investments demonstrating to a promising but fragile industry our commitment to the renewable energy production. unfort

the keystone pipeline and blocking the epa for protecting public health come to mind.senate bill is already a compromise, and we appreciate the work you've done. you've produced bipartisan legislation while unfortunately the procedurally parallel house bill was never even voted on on the floor of the house. with that in mind, i hope the conference can address the following issues of a balanced transportation system that includes freakin' transnet come intermodal that to preserve the bipartisan cochrane amendment ensures local governments have access and control over some of the transportation bill's most popular programs enhancements, biking, walking, not only of the popular, they are cost-effective they create jobs every million spent on the transportation alternatives creates 50 to 100% more jobs than simply road projects alone, and they produce 63 a i think it's important to preserve the senate passed provisions. i'm not going to suggest they are perfect or there aren't friends of mine in the environmental community who have significant concerns, but they will decre