Gale Norton was an unpopular symbol of unpopular policies.

Gale Norton was an unpopular symbol of unpopular policies. Americans do not believe their public lands should be sold to the highest bidder, and they don't believe in privatizing their parks, forests, monuments. While the symbol of those unpopular policies may be leaving, we don't expect those unpopular policies to change.

By using the budget bill primarily as a vehicle for Arctic Refuge drilling, the Senate has dropped any pretense of working to balance the budget or reduce the deficit. The Senate is treating the budget process as a joke and a special interest gravy boat.

If you add Al Gore and Ralph Nader's vote totals, a clear majority of people voted for policies and a vision to protect America's environment ... As further proof that Americans used their ballots to support strong environmental safeguards, pro-environmental candidates won in approximately 75 percent of the Sierra Club's top-priority Senate and House campaigns.

The costs and consequences of poorly planned development are becoming clear and common. This report proves that we can manage suburban sprawl by adopting and implementing smart growth solutions.

Taking away these protections will put the last remnants of wild places grizzlies need to fully recover and raise their young at risk from irresponsible oil drilling, unsustainable logging and sprawling development - all of which helped drive the grizzly to the brink of extinction in the first place.

The administration's legislative record on the environment is unbelievably thin. They have passed virtually nothing.

The removal of Arctic and coastal drilling by no means implies this bill is good for America. The House passed a bill loaded down with draconian cuts to programs for the most vulnerable in our country.

This guy is a bully. Bullies are people who say, 'If you don't do what I want, I'll hurt you,' or, 'If you don't do what I want, I'm going to take all my marbles and go home.' That's exactly who Ted Stevens is.

Sometimes, you can get a really attractive piece of public property by trading it out. So, some land swaps have clearly been in the public interest, and you don't want to have a moratorium too long because you miss out on the ones that would be in the public interest.