"West Virginia. It is the most southern of the northern and the most northern of the southern; the most eastern of the western and the most western of the eastern. It is where the East says good morning to the West, and where Yankee Doodle and Dixie kiss each other good night!"

I have served on the committee for my entire tenure in the Congress, 30 years come this January. Between 1985 and 1992, I served as a subcommittee chairman. For the last six years I have served as the Ranking Democratic Member. During this time I have engaged in and been involved with the wide range of issues over which this committee has jurisdiction. Against this background, today I am releasing an Agenda of American Values to assist in guiding the committee during the 110^th Congress.

Will we seek to reform? Yes, certainly. But not the reform of laws which give the American people the right to know about and participate in proposed Federal actions, such as the National Environmental Policy Act. Rather, to reform antiquated laws such as the Mining Law of 1872 which allows multi-national corporations to mine gold and silver on Federal lands for free.

Not to engage in a full scale assault on the Endangered Species Act, which safeguards God’s creatures. Rather, to reform laws which allow oil and gas companies to gouge the American people through royalty holidays and under- payments to our Treasury.

Not to engage in the wholesale destruction of pristine federal lands, sacrificing them on the altar of energy development. Rather to protect those resources which Americans cherish as places to recreate, hunt, and fish.

Some may say, Nick Rahall, you do not know me. I am a rancher in the West and the energy companies are destroying my property because I do not own the underlying minerals. I understand. In parts of Appalachia, we experienced the broad form deed, selling valuable coal for a pittance, giving no rights to the farmer or home owner to consent to the development of their land.

An Indian, a Native American, on the reservation, Nick Rahall, you do not know me. I have no running water, sites sacred to my tribe are being destroyed. I understand. In Appalachia they once mined our cemeteries, and we still fight and struggle for city water in some of our hollers.

A resident of one of our territories, some flung far away in the Pacific, Nick Rahall, what do you know of my struggles for a good paying job and political self-determination? I understand. I come from West Virginia, a state born of the Civil War, created in bloodshed, where we fought to achieve our own political self-determination. Where at places like Paint Creek, Matewan and Blair Mountain our forefathers fought for liberty, justice, and fair wages.

I have often said that water is the lifeblood of my State. To those of you in the Western States, where water is often a scarce commodity, I understand. I understand the need to engage in new and innovative water supply projects and to restore rivers and streams.

Nick Rahall, some may say, your coastlines lie along the Ohio River, what do you know about our oceans and fisheries? I do understand. As valuable resources are taken from our lands, jobs diminish in my part of the country. As the fisheries are diminished, jobs are lost in our coastal regions.

My chairmanship will be about giving hope to that rancher, to that Indian, to that person in a U.S. territory, to those thirsting for adequate water, and to that fisherman. And it will be about promoting a balanced program governing our natural resources whether they lie in West Virginia, Colorado or California.

This committee will pursue an Agenda of American Values.

As Theodore Roosevelt said in his "The New Nationalism" speech in 1910:

"The object of government is the welfare of the people … Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us."

I could not agree more.

All Americans deserve to enjoy the bounty of our natural resources today and to benefit from them as critical sources of employment and human sustenance. But we are equally obligated to ensure that these same opportunities remain for our children and our grandchildren.

On the Democratic Committee website these past six years I have posted a welcome message. It states in part:

Stone monuments are built to great men and women. But the monuments to the truly worthy men and women, in public life at least, are those which celebrate and preserve the Nation’s most significant and outstanding natural resources.

They are monuments to those who have the courage, the conviction, and the vision to realize that while the wealth and prosperity of our country includes its public works, wrought of concrete and steel, it also includes its natural environment, its wild lands, scenic vistas, fish and wildlife and always, always, its people.

These words too will continue to guide me as we transition to a new majority during the next Congress. Thank you.