we should start by looking at nepa. agencies face a tremendous workload of our early bird in some nepa and alice is regulations. the plan, study come get sued, plan and a study for months and even years on end creating backlogs. extreme antilogging and antigrazing environmental groups wait in the wings to file suit on procedural points like missed deadlines oftentimes collecting attorneys' fees. in doing so, they add to the agency workloads and further worsen the backlog. the result is tremendous economic uncertainty. we estimated current backlog of 2600 grazing allotments i've personally been involved in an age your process to renew a simple 55 head permit how is this remotely acceptable? we should also take a look at another environmental law that's add greatly to the problem of the endangered species act. while fire poses a huge threat to many species yet the bsa is often used to limit activities such as timber harvesting and grieving. the activities that should be used to reduce the load and diminish the threat to w

>> there was with a nepa nepalese work that had come in, and the u.n. neglected to test their troops, and they dumped their sewage into the river. it bloomed, spread down river and started to infect people. and haiti had not seen cholera before and it just exploded. >> wendy: why won't the u.n. accept responsibility? >> people have probably heard that cholera is in haiti, but probably haven't heard it is a man-made condition spread by the u.n. and the u.n. probably is the only one with enough resources to tackle the disease and end it once and for all. >> wendy: and even though it is two years since the earthquake, cholera is still a problem there. >> yes. people are still dying today. >> wendy: what are the victims asking for? >> the victims, first and foremost, are asking for justice. if aforeign peacekeeping dumped sewage into the river, and if it was in the u.s., there would be plenty done about it, but nothing is being done in haiti. >>> they are asking for justice for their nation. >> wendy: what are you hoping to accomplish with this film? >> we

this does nothing to sue plant nepa and it -- supplant nepa. it says you got 30 months. and by the way, if you both agree, you can use more than 30 months. what's the translation of that? god forbid we have collaboration between an applicant and a federal land use agency in this process. why are you afraid of collaboration? why are you afraid of setting a time limit, and where in the 1969 nepa law, since we're talking about old stuff, does it say this is a marathon and if you can outwait them, forget about the facts, forget about the science, forget about the to be nothing, we are going to delay and hope that you will go away? because you know what, hats off. when 1% of the surface land in this nation is impacted by mining, i think what it's really about is we don't want any predictability for this because we are basically against an industry. and you know, everybody has a definition of strategic. when you talk about transportation, medical devices, national defense, the economy, i think those are strategic and critical things. so i would urge your support on this, to br

the product description is, depending on that, there could be a secret process in addition to the nepa process. we will have to see. we do not know what the description for these sites will be. finally, the site selection process and operators process are independent of one another. let's say they picked pier 31.5, that does not guarantee that horn blowers will be the operator. you could have a situation where they are at pier 31.5 but you could have another opera likewise at 41, 45. 41 right now is blue and gold. pier 45, 41, red and white. there is " to be a little bit of -- it will be an interesting process. in summary, board staff will continue to work with mps so that and inform set selection decision is made. certainly, it is the ports that's a goal to retain the it alcatraz landing site to be on law no. waterfront within port property. additional information comes available, we will come back to you with an update. with that, let me introduce frank dean of the national park service. if there are questions afterwards, jay and i are here to answer questions. one less thing. we mad

by the way, where is the part in the nepa bill that was enacted in 1969 that said, what we're really trying to do here is see how long you can wait with that application pending? so guess what, if you get a no you get it in 30 months. or if there are legitimate issues not taken care of in 30 months, why wouldn't you as an applicant say, we'll execute something to say you get six more months? going off to court is not the optimal thing for anybody. so when you ask yourself, what are we doing here? when i hear phrases like giveaways -- mr. bishop: 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. amodei: we talk about additional giveaways, nobody gets anything out of this other than a time certain in the review process. if there is more time needed, guess what, it provides for that. what's the idea here? collaboration between federal land managers and stakeholders, all stakeholders. if you're an applicant, you want a yes, but there is no magic in getting the 30-month no. my final point is this -- when you talk about the changes that have been made by the president -

we have learned that initial tests have ruled out h1n1, sars and nepa. >>> president obama signed legislationhat prevents student loan interest rates from doubling. rates on federal subsidized stafford loans will stay at 3.4% until next year. the white house estimates the move will save the average student $1,000 in debt. but we looked at the numbers in a recent report from the new york fed which found the average student has $23,000 in debt. so the $1,000 savings is less than 5% of a student's total debt. we found an example of the struggle with student loans. elizabeth got told "outfront" she is selling a valuable baseball to pay off her son's nearly $200,000 in student loans. lou gehrig hit this ball for a home run in the 1928 world series. it's been in the family ever since. she said she reached a point to sell it to help her son pay for medical school. online bids are currently around $30,000 and a live auction is on tuesday. hunt auctions estimates the ball could go for between 100 and $200,000. >>> tomas lopez, the florida lifeguard fired for saving a swimmer will be honored next week.

it will make us more competitive by addressing permitting delays, improving the nepa process and revitalizing our domestic critical minerals supply chain. madam speaker, it takes longer to receive a mining development permit in the united states than any of the other 25 mining nations in the world. the average waiting period for a permit is seven to 10 years, and in many examples it's much longer. we can improve this process without changing our environmental standards. the cattle river, buck horn mine in eastern washington who employs over 400 people in ferry county knows this all too well. the e.i.s. schedule and now the important exploratory permits to keep them operating has been delayed for years and was recently delayed for an additional year without much explanation. this bill is important. it's important to bringing jobs to america, bringing job certainty to ferry county and eastern washington. right now many foreign countries are requiring companies that buy raw material from them to produce the products those minerals are part of in that foreign country. if you are concerned about a