[StBernard] AUDIO AVAILABLE: Senator Landrieu Questions Interior Secretary Nominee at Confirmation Hearing

[Westley Annis]

Senator Landrieu Questions  Interior Secretary Nominee at Confirmation
Hearing 

 

WASHINGTON - At a Senate confirmation hearing today, United States Senator
Mary Landrieu, D-La., questioned Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., President-elect
Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Department of the Interior.  Sen.
Landrieu raised the importance of exploring more of the nation's Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS) for oil and gas and expanding revenue sharing for
states that support production. 

Sen. Landrieu has served with Sen. Salazar since he came to the U.S. Senate
in 2005, and said today that she intends to vote to confirm him as the next
Secretary of the Interior. 

"This is a dream come true for some of us to have a person of your caliber,
integrity and pureness of heart to run an agency and department that is
truly in need of extraordinary reform," Sen. Landrieu told Sen. Salazar.
"You are a man that has in his heart the capacity and background to fight
for the American people and their resources. For a long time, they have not
been managed well, so it is really an extraordinary opportunity. I want to
tell you that you will have my vote. You will have my support, and I will do
everything I can to help you with the vision you have outlined, which I
think is ambitious, and most certainly necessary." 

Sen. Landrieu also suggested that additional revenue generated from OCS
development could be allocated to the Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF), following the precedent established by the landmark
Domenici-Landrieu Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. The 2006 legislation
opened 8.3 million new acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas
production and shared 37.5 percent of the new revenues with coastal states.
It also dedicated 12.5 percent of new revenues to the LWCF. 

"I've been an advocate for a long time for the full funding of the Land and
Water Conservation Fund and joined many of you in getting the money that has
gone into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the last four years,"
Senator Salazar said. "We need to do everything we can to make sure that we
achieve the vision of John F. Kennedy and Stewart Udall, because there's a
lot that we could do if in fact we had the Land and Water Conservation Fund
fully funded."  

Audio of Sen. Landrieu's questioning of Sen. Salazar is now available: 

http://landrieu.senate.gov/media/09.01.15_Salazar_Napolitano_Confirmation_He
arings.mp3

http://adjix.com/afqj