Let me start by emphasizing that I am open to efforts to expedite environmental procedures for true emergencies or in other clear cases where current laws are needlessly burdensome.

What we couldn't accept was the new mandatory spending under this bill, which would open the federal purse to developers, ... Reforming the law should not be a euphemism for gutting the law, and that's exactly what the bill would do.

Well, for starters, we have to do more to create demand for new technologies that can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and environmental degradation.

Having yet another vote on refinery legislation that uses high oil prices as an excuse to weaken environmental protections and to give more legislative gifts to the oil industry is misguided in the extreme.

I am completely in favour of dialogue and engagement. But it must be a true, open dialogue.

For 18 years I have resisted talking about current events. I am not going to start now.