Hearing of Senate Energy and Public Works Committee on Nomination of Governor Kempthorne to be Interior Secretary

Hearing of Senate Energy and Public Works Committee on Nomination of Governor Kempthorne to be Interior Secretary

SENATOR MARTINEZ STRESSES FLORIDA'S NEEDS AT INTERIOR SECRETARY CONFIRMATION HEARING

U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) offered comments today at the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee Hearing regarding the nomination of Dirk Kempthorne to be the next Secretary of the Interior.

Martinez's statement:

"Governor Kempthorne, I very much look forward to your confirmation, I am someone who very much identifies with where you sit today having been there not so long ago myself.

"I have great respect for the President and the process by which he selects his Cabinet. I know in the past he has exercised great judgment and I presume that he did that again today.

"But I also want to tell you how excited I was by our meeting and a very positive opportunity we had to talk about issues of importance to my state. I think that you would make a great secretary and I look forward to working with you on those issues that are so important to the state of Florida.

"Much as the senator from New Jersey mentioned, Florida is very concerned about protecting our shoreline, making sure that our tourism industry continues to be vital and vibrant, that we do what we can for exploration - Area 181. I know that we will probably resolve those issues before too long but my hope is that we can preserve a strong buffer around our state that will be secure from any exploration.

"Beyond that, of great concern of course is our Everglades, our huge national park-an area where I hope you can come visit us sometime because I know it is vastly different from where you come from. I hope that we can take you on an airboat ride and introduce you to a few alligators and other native species. It's a real wonder and a great place. We are in the process of a very aggressive restoration program to bring it back to where it should have been. It is a great and important project, not only to Floridians from the standpoint of what this park represents but in terms of water management, both very important issues as it relates to that.

"We also are concerned about the sale of public lands. You know Florida is a fast growing state; we value our Ocala National Forest and we want to make sure that all that is the Ocala National Forest continues to be for generations to come. The thought of any sales of public lands frankly does not meet with a lot of support in my state. We don't have the vastness of parklands that they do in the West and there are different issues in Florida. And while others may make different decisions about what's best for their state, I certainly believe quite strongly that we should not engage in that in the state of Florida.

"I look forward to working with you. I look forward to your swift confirmation. I know that the department needs your leadership and I know that on all of these issues that we discussed you expressed a real willingness to stay in touch, to be communicating with us on them and to be a partner and a friend. I look forward to working with you; I commend you for your willingness to serve in this capacity. I know that you will have a real exciting time and I wish you the very best."

http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.View&ContentRecord_id=2662&Region_id=0&Issue_id=0&CFID=7537250&CFTOKEN=38727532