could a regional hire me to

it is the same main line and region. there is no distinction between the way those are done between major airlines and regional airlines. >> does anyone have anything to add? >> there is of paramount difference, but where you are going is, is the pilot getting adequate rest in a place to get that rest before he or she begins her first trip out of whatever domiciled have been assigned to. the answer, quite simply, is no. they are not provided by the airlines. >> so they fly to start their first trip from somewhere and there may not be a way for them to get reimbursed for a hotel then, because it is not in between flights? >> that is correct. >> was that the case here with the colgan light, because i know she was spending the day in the airport. >> i seriously doubt -- i can say without a doubt they were not given a place to get adequate rest or provided for or compensated for a hotel room so that they could get adequate rest. >> we heard last week that regional pilots are more likely to become tired and fatigued by flying

to allowing regions, states and our nation to meet these goals. the commission has taken@@@@@@rj regulatory framework is the principle obstacle developing a transmission system that can support the goals you have outlined. if we are to overcome that obstacle, we need a national policy commitment to develop such a transmission system and in developing that policy, congress should consider three closely-related issues, planning, siding and cost allocation. first, the scope of regional planning initiatives needs to be expanded. we must create a structure that includes coordination on an international regional basis. it will transport power from areas rich in renewable energy resources as well as the deployment of redistributed resources and key smart grade equipment and systems. second, states should ton have the opportunity to cite transmission facilities and developers should have resource as a federal siding authority under appropriate circumstances. it would be helpful even if limited only to transmission facilities needed to reliably meet renewa

coming from a state like mine, we have a heavy reliance on regional airlines. they play an important role transporting some passengers that otherwise would not have air service. no one is arguing which not take the overall aviation safety record for granted, but we also need improvement. we want to make sure the airlines and and they are doing everything they can to improve the overall safety record when it comes to all airlines. i particularly want to hone in on something we spoke about last week which is the need to incorporate more information regarding the background of pilots. i think it makes sense that we work to ensure the faa inc. in more accurate picture of eight prospective pilots' flight history when it -- i think it is important at the faa incorporates a more accurate picture of perspective pilots. it i think there is more congress can require when it comes to updating the pilot improvement act and i hope will make some of those changes. that clearly came into play in this tragic incident. thank you for holding the hearing and i want to thank our p

we did for the regionals and the air carriers. but we do not any more. we're all together in the 121 category. but the fact is some of the largest airlines have larger safety programs and have higher standards than even the minimum of 121. why no that is something you want to look at 23 have the right minimum standard or should we start stepping up to be more in line with some of the larger air carriers? the troubling thing of course, his four of the last five accidents and we have had in our country have been regional jets. maybe they have not been all jets and guess i assume regional carriers. i think pilot issues have been a part of that. what i want to hear and ask you to particularly the gatt is obviously pilot history, calculations, a cockpit oversight, trading, but also maintenance trading. that is not in most of these accidents but we do need to look just because we are beginning to see that may be made in its trading and oversight these to come into the safety factors as well. i will support what senator dorgan has said. we have the safest syste

by regional airlines. our airline, as you indicated, largely operates in seamless partnership with major airlines. regional airlines provide the crew and the aircraft, major airlines said the flight schedules, fareset the flight schedules, fares and customer service policy. they operated a single system, one ticket, one trip, one safety standard. all passenger airlines are subject to the exact same faa safety standards and requirements. it has been this way for more than a decade. our goal is to prevent accidents, and that is why we are earnestly and eagerly supporting the faa's call to action and why the regional airline association has embarked on our own strategic safety initiative to underscore our safety culture and prevent accidents. this strategic safety initiative has four elements -- first, bringing together our safety professionals review all of the procedures and address any issues that could even be perceived as a contributing factor to an accident. second, we will conduct a thorough review, lo

when we develop regional transmission which is for the good of the region or the good of the country-- >> should the first people to override the agreed upon plan? >> if it is done by an independent planning authority, yes. i mean, i'm sorry no, and if that is, yes. >> why i think one of the current-- concerns we would have if frugal were involved the right of appeal ought to be not only limited to the transmission proposals but also those with other perspectives. right now-- >> under those circumstances you would gifford the authority to modify transmission plants? >> i think there are legitimate issues with anything involved in transmission but if you are going to create that it got the bee equally available to both the proponents and those that have concerns. >> let me go down the line again. how many of you would support a greenhouse gas interconnection standard of the type proposed by mr. hendsley? can we go down and ask how many of you would support that? >> i would not for the sump or reason that the interconnection standard does not speak to existing carbon intensive generatio

cross regional issues should be addressed to improve coordination between regional planning bodies which is exactly the approach taken in the committee passed bill. finally, existing tools can help renew a book projects connected agreed without distorting the occasional price signals and without potentially burdening customers with access expensive transmission. for example, if the cost of connecting to the grid getting power to market are too much for one developer tabare, multiple developers can share costs among the projects. or ferc can require payers initially bear the costs provided they are reimbursed by developers after the projects become operational. in closing i believe we will meet our long-term carbon reduction goal but sitting here today i cannot tell you what renewable technologies and more importantly and what locations it will take to get us there to serve the customers of the lowest possible cost. and neither can the government. that is why i strongly support policies such as our es and carbon pricing the sampras signals to the market and on leash creativity and entrepr

in that region do you believe that is one of the main problems that otherwise the regions have been able to harmonize their electricity transmission policies in a way that viewed as fair to all states? >> well, i'm not familiar with specific federal government problems that may have come up with minnesota. my observation is that the regional planning process has been effective. and is a good solution to the problem. i think as many of us are pointing out, you work the economics when you start putting effectively free transmission or postage stamp transmission along broad regions and you change the economics dramatically rather than having them compete on a standalone basis. >> now for our audience when we say postage stamp what are you referring to? why is the phrase postage stamp used? >> effectively what postage stamp rate is and it's used an aanalogy to the postal system where you put a stamp on the letter and send it anywhere for the same price. the reality, of course, is the costs are not the same. we look at the cost of transmission to move power from west to east. there's signific

then we support the socialization across the entire region. because it benefits everyone within the region. to maintain the reliability of the grid. so the cost of the endstar line is shared by everyone in new england. and massachusetts, we're about half of the load. we pay about half of the bill. similarly, the project that commissioner cohen referred to in vermont, other projects that are on the books in new hampshire and maine, and connecticut, all focused on reliability of the grid. our project for which even though they're not within massachusetts, massachusetts will consumers will pay half of. it's a vitally important component of cost allocation. and we're looking at reliability to be a willingness within an integrated power grid to share the cross across loads. the distinction i want to make here is that the issue of cost allocation from building lines to interconnect generation resources departs from that. we wanted in order for our consumers to be protected, we want the cost of developing generation, including the cost of meeting com

on our principal allies in the region. this is not a unilateral effort. through the frequent consultations with the other parties to the six-party talks and through the u.n. security council, we have made multi-lateral action the centerpiece of what we are trying to do with the north koreans. as for how one makes progress over time, i would counsel only patients in perseverance, and i think we have to he remain steady. we have to continue to indicate that some of the things that they are doing are dangerous, and unacceptable to us, and we have to be prepared to respond as we are now responding through the u.n. security council resolution, through bilateral sanctions, and through consultations with our partners in the region. we also have to be prepared to continue to indicate that for us, engagement an dialogue and diplomacy remain the only real way to solve this problem. that does not mean that you akee acquiesce to everything north korea wants. far from it. if we remain patient and remain persevere in our policy, that th

what would be the trunk carriers and the other the regional. do you believe there are two standards in the cockpit? >> i will say it succinctly. we have one level of regulation. we do not have one level of safety. >> so different levels of enforcement. do you agree with that? >> mr. chairman, i do agree to this extent. 4121 is a single standard that the faa is promulgated to which we all must adhere. i don't think there is any question that mainline carriers exceed that for 21 days, far more often than most. >> but that would exist in law or rule is relevant only to the extent you have a federal agency that says, you know what, we're going to force you to own up and we're going to enforce it and enforce it aggressively. >> that is correct. >> t. believe that is the case now? >> i think we could have greater enforcement now and if the committee in the faqs, you can even change some of the parameters. we have suggested, as i said in my testimony today, you ought to have focal programs, asap programs required as part of the base. i think you can u

i think we should think regionally. new jersey has tremendous potential to meet the renewable energy goals through solar and off-shore wind. it does not make sense for new jersey rate payers to subsidize from moving wind from the east to the west coast a cost at $10 million per mile. this could slow development of alternatives closer to home. i believe the transmission provisions that were passed in the security act provide a balanced approach that respects regional differences and local concerns. before we pass legislation, we must consider how it will affect the economies of local, renewable energy projects and again, thank you again, mr. chairman. >> thank the gentleman very much. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. barrow. the gentleman waives his opening statement. all time for opening statements has been completed and we now turn to our very distinguished panel and our first witness, the chairman of the federal energy regulatory commission which overseas wholesale, electric transactions and transp

and alaska small plains regionals we have some great regionals and alaska from the ones that operate currently there, but the pay seems to me an important factor in creating a quality so quality of a pilot doesn't literally and i use these words carefully fly to the majors. to keep them for long term careers. do you honestly think, and i'm going off the pilots association because they get a paycheck, that 22, 23000 is adequate for us to have people flying planes, i don't care if it's one person or 20 people or 50 people. >> two points to that that the pay for virtually everyone of our member airlines, all but one is collectively bargained. >> that's not my question. again, as a former mayor idea was collected bargaining aldine. is it the right kind of pay to have and should we require minimums that are guaranteed pay levels for pilots in regional planes? this is a question i asked last week to folks. >> senator, we believe that the industry again, this very complex issue, we believe fundamentally that the quality of the people that we have flying is good. we would like to get even be

principal allies in the region, this is not a unilateral american effort. through the frequent consultation with other parties, we have made multilateral action this centerpiece of what we are trying to do with the north koreans. as for how one makes progress over time, i would counsel patience and perseverance and i think we have to remain steady, we have to continue to indicate that some of the things they're doing a dangerous and unacceptable to us, and we have to be prepared to respond as we are now responding to the un security council resolution, through bilateral sanctions and consultations with our partners in the region. we have to be prepared to continue to indicate that for us, engagement, dialogue and diplomacy remained the only real way to solve this problem. that does not mean you act u.s. in everything they want. but if we remain patient, and persevere in our policy, the chances of eventual progress are good. >> there have been numerous press reports that kim jong il has selected his son to be his successor and analysts suggest the recent mis

in many cases, you own the regional carrier or own substantial portions of equity. it would seem to me that it would be in the interest of the network carriers to require the things the of recommended today prior to these recommendations. >> i understand that thought, senator. there was actually a proposal made by ntsb back in 1994 when this whole debate came to pass and 121 was created, putting the regionals under 121 to have the mainline carriers be the enforcement of 121 for their regional partners. that was specifically rejected by congress and the faa because they wanted to have a single level of enforcement as well as a single level of achievement. and i think that decision was the correct one. it remains correct that the faa needs to be the principal enforcer. we have openly said, and will continue to say, if we need to change the standards and upgrade them, then that is something that we ought to look at doing. by the same token, the enforcement needs to rest with the faa. >> i was just another committee earlier this morning plan to describe a federal agency

there are other new ideas in region. getting other companies to stop selling -- tele-communications to iran. some other members are interested in looking at the connections with china, latin america, russia. but some other countries that have been some what steps is to -- somewhat skeptical about sanctioning iran -- looking at those countries. looking rather at going back and maybe advancing some of the sanctions ideas that have been around anyway. i will stop there. >> thanks very much. it is a pleasure to be back at heritage. and has been a couple of months. as someone who was part of the formal set of experts to look at this problem said at that would be useful to contextualize for the arguments here and those watching a home while we were thinking about. the challenges that iran poses to the united states and countries in europe and asia is not just about the nuclear program. that is obviously the important one. on the nuclear program the ground assumption we started from is that iran is fairly well along in the proc

regional airline has a 500 hours. that is pretty experienced an average first officer well over 3,000 hours. >> maybe not dealing with averages but rather with specifics, it might be called for to say the captain of an airplane that has less skilled co-pilot has to be, have had more experience than the basic experience. that might be a good rule to put in to play. but if you're going to take someone who is new at this job and again considering all of the factors that are complicated as can be, but when you look at what is required of the passenger flow today in major airlines were originals, that passengers are examined so thoroughly to make sure that they can't bring down an airplane. a while we look at the skills and the training and reaction ability of a pilot, that is much more casually donna and i think we can learn from that. in not to change to the security process, but rather to say that the person who is up in the front of that airplane has do it really be able to manage all situations. mr. maurer, i know tha

and regional carriers, are they doing the same thing? can i senator klobuchar, when pilots are on duty the minute they check-in, all of their hotel costs on duty are paid for 100 percent by the company. they are also receiving a per diem travel at the same airline and regional. there is no distinction between the way those policies are done between major airlines and the regional airline's. >> anyone else have something to add on that? >> i would say there is a fair amount of difference but i think for you are going is the pilot getting adequate rest and a place to get that adequate rest before they began their first trip out of whenever domiciled they have been assigned two any answer quite simply is no, there are now provided by the airline's. >> because of that is -- what they do is they fly to start their first trip from somewhere and there may not be a way for them to get reimbursed for the hotel then because it is not a between fis? >> abstract. >> was that the case here, with the colgan air applied? because i know she was spending

it is only the second prevent the escalation in the region. the security council and the whole of the international community have a particular responsibility in this area. within this farmer, we hope -- within this framework, we hope this goes towards the peaceful and lasting sentiment. >> thank you. >> austria has condemned the nuclear test of 25 may, 2009, and the strongest terms as a direct violation. the unanimous adoption of the present resolution is a clear, fully appropriate response by this council and the international community. it is a threat to international peace and security. we welcome thedprk to join the nuclear test ban treaty. coast arica and austria believe that the recent events highlight the necessity and urgency of our rapid entry into the, france's nuclear test ban treaty. both countries wish to underline the very terrible -- valuable contribution made by the organization and providing reliable data on the dprk nuclear test on 25 may. >> thank you for your statement. >> thank you, mr. president. we also condemn the nucl

we need to dismantle the hurdles that stand in the way of cooperation in the region. global zero aims to provide the opportunity and the impetus for us to achieve that regional harmony. >> on your first question about the relationship between a country wanting to take advantage of the civilian or commercial opportunities offered by nuclear power and why they should focus or care about u.s./russian arms reductions, i am going to ask ambassador pickering, who has dealt with this issue on several occasions. >> north korea is a special, difficult, important case for all of us. all i can tell you is in the past, north korea has agreed and has taken steps to moved back away from its military nuclear posture. that can still be achieved with the negotiating process, with the unity in the six party talks that has been demonstrated in the past, that north korea has in the past indicated a willingness, if you can say it, to pay attention to the concerted interests of others in the region. fascinating that iran has said it has no interest in nuclear weapons and has a seemingly bi

that future must not include a nuclear weapon or destabilizing activities in the region. in gauging diplomatically on this issues will test iranian intention and claims of good faith. even as the u.s. in cages in iran we will move to strengthen nonproliferation norms and work with allies and partners to see that their fundamental security interests are protected. if necessary, we will take action by conducting counterterrorism operation and sharing intelligence from the illegal shipments of weapons or materials. iran has opened a threatened the state of israel, and has complicated efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace. president obama is fully committed to supporting a two- state solution the, the palestinian state living in peace and security alongside israel. this outcome would do much to weaken the proxies of iran, hamas and as balad. this violence is directed in undermining not just israel but other governments in the region. there is little doubt that iran is engaged directly in a campaign to influence the development and direction of its neighbor to the west.

. >> there is still an extremely high level of drugs don't do the region. and to your points if we are thinking out of the box, acting that is an area where we need more creative thinking. they are creating some nine submergible submarines to move cocaine from -- they are creating semis submergible submarines for cocaine. >> thank you. >> gentlemen, welcome. i want to congratulate all three of you on your nominations. i am confident that all three of you will be confirmed. i'm glad to have a chance to ask some questions. i will start with general mcchrystal. we talked before the hearing and i mention that i had a chance to travel to afghanistan and pakistan last week. it is hard to see a lot in five days but we had back-to-back meetings. we also visited islamabad. we did cover a lot of ground. we met with people on the ground who are working to deliver the new strategy and we had a chance to meet with many of the afghan and pakistan leaders and key american leaders as well. the new strategy has a chance to work, but i had a feeling that this one will clearl

among regional carriers research shows up to 50% of maintenance needed by regional carriers is now being outsourced. my office has examined owls horse maintenance in 2003, 2005, 2008, a key finding of hours is the new risk-based safety oversight system for repair stations initiated by the faa in 2005 is currently an effective in our judgment due primarily to the fact that faa has not yet got a handle on exactly what type of maintenance, how much maintenance and where it's being conducted and outsourced and until it gathers that data and is able to feed that into the risk-based system it won't be able to assign the inspector resources where it is needed. mr. scovel in a book that i wrote i described maintenance by one large carrier, one of the carriers i should say and which they would fly empty 320 airbus from they do best to el salvador to do the maintenance, and then fly the mt 320 back after they did the maintenance. can you tell me what the equivalent standards are or if the standards are equivalent in terms of the faa ability to inspect a maintenance station in el salvador for examp

these issues are particularly critical at regional carriers. the last six fatal accidents involving regional air carriers, ntsb cited pilot performance as a contributor factor in four of those six accidents. moving to our second concern related to operational differences between main line and regional air carriers it is critical there be one level of safety for all carriers but the regional flights represent one-half of the total scheduled flights across the country and regional airlines provide the only scheduled airline service to over 400 communities. in response to your requestor pull in mary audit war has identified differences in regional and mainline carriers operations and potential differences in pilot training programs and level of flight experience. we are also looking into faa's roland determining whether air carriers at mainline and regional air carriers have developed programs to insure pilots are adequately trained and have sufficient experience to perform their responsibilities. mr. chairman i would like to reiterate we will con

feimster halvey i certainly appreciate your work toward the western region. understand that your desire to streamline the permitting process, do you have specific recommendations along those lines? >> yes, i think a couple of recommendations. one, because of the work we are doing with regard to western renewable energy zones project we think it will become clear very quickly which areas represent the most desirable, the richest and most developable renewable resource loans. given that identification we think there is the opportunity to prioritize those areas where they exist in concert with federal lands. we believe there should be a priority given to the permitting on those areas. the same thing with the transmission lines that would be necessary to move that power from those renewable energy zones to the market centers where it is needed. one of the other aspects of the project is that we will identify conceptually at least, where the transmission lines need to be in order to use that power. >> so you are really addressing the prioritization, not the actual

, from the air transport association and the regional airline association respectively. it will also hear from the air line pilots association and mr. scott -- scott mauer representing the families of the continental express flight 3407 which crashed on february 12th of this year in new york. i do want to say as well as mr. this hearing and that i had intended it and wished to have representatives of the carriers themselves at a hearing and so we did not accomplish that today. i am not minimizing and all other representatives of the 80 a but i will wish to expand invitation and have representatives of the airlines themselves here within the next month or so. it is important i think that they wouldn't accept an invitation to, and so i will extend those invitations again. in this country i think it is safe to say that we have a remarkably safe system of air travel. it is not my intention with hearings about aviation safety to alarm anyone about taking a flight to on a regional carrier when our carrier. we operate aircraft all across this country everyday and provide critic

h.r. 1886 requires a comprehensive regional strategy, including the role of countries outside the region in supporting pakistan's efforts to combat al qaeda and the taliban. a global effort is required to make pakistan a success and the substitute's failure to recognize this fact is another serious flaw. our accountability provisions -- read the bill. please read the bill. those provisions are not rigid, they are not inflexible. we stated very clearly simply that we expect pakistan to make progress in their fight against the extremists and to sustain their commitment. if the president can't tell us that pakistan is meeting that very minimal standard we should be asking ourselves much deeper questions about what we're really trying to achieve here. the thing is on our minority colleagues to explain why. given pakistan's recent history, we should provide more weapons without making sure the equipment is being used properly. in this context, i find it curious that the substitute is totally inconsistent with the arguments that my friends just made yesterday during debate on the state departm

both in states where we have a lot of regional flights and they fly short flights to airports. and this means regional pilots unlike their counterparts at the large carriers are more likely to fly many short flights; is that right, administrator babbitt? >> yes, it is. >> and so instead of doing one long flight they're doing a budget of short flights sometimes and i would think that that could mean that they are more prone to fatigue and stress. that it's more difficult? >> that's correct. one of the things that we're looking into -- it's been a challenge of mine. i stated it in my confirmation hearing that we want take a look at flight time and duty time. there's different types of being on duty 12 our 14 hours. there's a nontop flight from nor rita to detroit and the flight leaving the state of michigan. those are dramatically different environments. we have science. we have knowledge >> and so you're looking at potentially changing the regulations on rest requirements to reflect these different flying experiences; would that be a fair thing. >> yes >> is that something you h

.@@@ and essentially back-stop planning mode, and require that regions, rtos, utilities, or interconnecting transmission owners, issue solicitations for long-term contracts or renewables on a delivered price basis. >> i want to make sure i have the other two, i want to get the other two witnesses, if you'd kind of wrap up. >> thank you. >> haunk, congressman. i'm optimistic that if congress sets the goal and sets the process and has a strong back-stop authority, that we'll be able to get this done. if we don't get it done, i think that's when the role of ferc steps in. so if ferc, if the states came up with a specific plan and the plan did not meet the objectives of congress, that congress set, i think there needs to be essentially an overseer. and i personally would be fine with that being the federal government. saying, yeah, this plan actually meets those objectives. but the plan itself has to be designed by the states. >> mr. chairman? >> thank you, congressman hinsly. just do respond to mr. hibbard. i want to make very clear that ferc is very committed to competitive market solutions.

to resolve some conflicts in the region. is that a true assumption or no? >> that's an interesting take. you know, i mean, i think, you know, our interviews in the region, when we looked at, at arab perceptions of, of the iranian threat, one kuwaiti rights activist said you know address the palestinian issue and you'll defang iran in the region. and i think much of its mobilizing capability, the vocabulary that it uses is is related to the arab-israeli issue. it's not completely and i think the fundamental issue is governance in societies and the gap there, the tension there is often expressed in the terms of the arab-israeli conflict. that's why palestine is such an important issue. so from the region i think the arab-israeli front is a critical one for addressing the challenge of iran. >> i think we might also just to quickly add, a good litmus test would be to see what the reaction is to this obama administration's overtures to arab allies to see what are they going to put forward on the peace process? and if they're, if the concern over iran gives them

had we make sure that north korea has not destabilize the region. they remain united with our partners in the six party process. >> i would ask about what ambassador bonds worth had said. they said he had confidence that the north korean's may come back to the talks. >> you have had a pattern here over a number of years. we want to get the attention of the international community. they think they are not being paid attention to. we are not going to reward bad behavior, but we really want to make sure that the north -- that north korea returns to the process. at various times, there has been progress. we did reach a broad base agreement in september 2005 that put north korea on a path to denuclearization. we like to get back to that path. ultimately, i do not think north korea has that much of a choice. when you look at the -- when you look at the disparity between the conditions that exist in north korea, the conditions that exist elsewhere in the region, north korea has been a stalinist state in the past. there was a time or you could control infor

some benefits to resolve some conflicts in the region. is that a true assumption? >> that is an interesting, interesting take. i mean, i think, you know, our interviews in the region, when we looked at the arab per social securities the iranian threat, one kuwaiti rights activist said, you know, address the palestinian issue and you will defang iran in the region. and i think much of it is mobilizing -- its mobilizing capability, the vocabulary it uses is partly related to the air yab-israeli issue and is not completely and i think the fundamental issue is the issue of governance and legitimacy in arab societies and the gap, tension there is often expressed in the terms of the arab-israeli conflict and why palestine is such an important issue. so from the region the arab-israeli frontal is a critical one for addressing the challenge of iran. >> i think we might also quickly add a good litmus test is to see what obama's overtures are to see what they put forward on the peace process and if the concern over iran gives them incentive to do so maybe it would be a good

around the region. and one thing that is very important to note here is that a major part of their defense strategy and doctrine is not really tuned toward attaining territorial gains. is mainly toward projecting influence into the region. well, this defense strategy is based on a number of factors, and a doctrine that they have developed is well-timed and well-suited to their defense strategy. they have had experience of course in the iran-iraq war which is a dramatic extremes for them and gave them a lot of lessons. i also had experience against the united states and the tanker war during the late 1980s. and have been impressed by u.s. air and naval superiority, know that they cannot possibly stand up to the u.s. naval and air capability. and have watched in lebanon and then in iraq and afghanistan as insurgent groups and terrorist groups have been able to make inroads against more superior conventional power. and they have gained a lot of lessons from those kinds of observations. the key focus for th

arab leaders have always played in a delicate game of four dimensional chess in the region bouncing competing demands and domestic constituents, appears on the arab states, external patrons and then on arab states like iran and, of course, there is nothing pacific arabic about this. politics has been informed by appealing to constituents. but what we argue is the peculiar nature of their political system where they face challenges and internal dissent and problems of a government and have made this dynamic especially the santa. what we find is a particular concern with iran's ability to meddle in the domestic affairs of arab states to speak over leaders and mobilize population against the rulers. which you find in the rhetoric is iran off with the chin with fantastic power to bypass state to state channels and mobilize a range of opposition groups ranging from the the zaidis in yemen, the nedj, the reports of shia conversion and even when we look at the fear of nuclear capable iran the biggest fear is not so much that it will use the capability against arab states but provide some top cover f

the two primary regions for these marijuana sites are the western region comprised of california, hawaii, oregon and washington, and the appalachian region, including kentucky, tennessee and west virginia. the pristine lands of our national forest system are particularly enticing to these drug trafficking operations. the dense expansive forests provide optimum marijuana growing conditions with little risk of detention -- detection. america's natural forest system is comprised of 193 million acres of land with 153,000 miles of trails and nearly 18,000 recreation sites. only 175 law enforcement officials and detectives patrol this vast expanse of land, including 36 million acres of wilderness area. the men and women of the forest service, law enforcement and investigations together with their federal, state and local partners seized two million marijuana plants during the 2008 growing season. this is a dramatic increase from 2004 when fewer than 750,000 plants were seized. the forest service reports that for each of the estimated 660 marijuana sites in the national forest system, it costs

size of the transmission and the associated capacity being put on to the transmission network in the region, for example if as commissioner azar was referring to you have a 765 tv line dumping -- >> can you imagine the audience right now? [laughter] okay, what is that? [laughter] what is that? >> if you have a high-voltage line dropping -- >> what does that mean, dropping, what does that mean? okay, try again. >> when a transmission line interconnects or hooks up with a transmission system in new england it looks like a generating facility so if you have a high-voltage line it looks like a big power plant. >> so when people are writing down the street or on the highway and they look off and see something explain to them in those terms so they can understand why people this sensibilities might be affected by what is that is constructed so you can put it in those terms because 765 kilovolts doesn't mean anything to people. >> what they would see is a really big tower but from the standpoint it just puts a lot of electricity on to the grid in a single location and if that were to suddenly disa

avoiding a two dimensional strategy in a four dimensional region. so starting out how then has the arab world diagnosed the challenge of iran? i think on the surface air bridge seems may suggest an alignment with similar u.s. concerns and from the u.s. perspective it can be argued one of the solar linings of the toppling of a saddam hussein and lebanon war has laid bare of iran's long standing by levels before and the region and spurred their stance toward greater activism against the iranian challenge and throughout that we found in rain by arab activists the half ounce to anticipate the challenge and i iran's regional rise especially in iraq. jardine alice told us you have to hand it to the iranians, they had a plan for iran the renovation and deserve the influence that they have. in light of this recognition is to come as no surprise the u.s. is trying to harness the activism through

host: say the faa is not doing their jobs on the regional carriers? caller: no, we need to go back to the imperial image of america. that means allays a fair. -- lee is a fair. less government. leave the banks alone and leave the railroads alone. we probably could have passenger trains again. host: back to "usa today" and that opinion peace and regional carriers. the editorial board calling for more regulation or at least closer scrutiny on regional carriers. about salisbury, a dirty little secret in the airline industry is the regional pilots awfully woefully underpaid. the " pilot in the colgan air crash was earning less than $24,000 a year. kansas city, dawn on the independent line. -- don. caller: this would apply to everything you are talking about, the whole regulation thing. as long as we put regulations out there, there will always be another republican president to come along and tell the regulators don't regulate. so it does no good. just like with health insurance. in a, they can regulate them but they will find a way around it and you have

it has been a tough debate, not necessarily republican against democrat, but region versus region. host: you recently passed a bill on drilling. guest: we actually voted on closing a title on gas drilling. there's a major energy bill with several titles. the main is renewable electricity standard. we are trying to get electricity -- right now we're using mostly coal and gas to produce electricity. some including myself like to see some alternative. it is the way that we treat the traditional sources that have some of us concerned. millions of people are employed in the coal industry, the oil and gas industry. we think we can clean a lot of those industries up, make them more efficient, and provide renewables electricity. yesterday we talked about opening offshore oil and gas drilling more in america. to me and makes perfect sense. we asked saudi arabia to increase their productions when prices go too high, the least we can do is produce more ourselves. we had a good vote yesterday, opening more for drilling. but it did not include revenue sharing. that is very important for coastal

amounts of money off of all of the criminal activity in the region. we heard numerous reports of financial representatives from al qaeda, the i am new -- imu 18 extremist group in eastern afghanistan routinely meet usually in pakistan and the southwest in the tribal areas we have heard about other meetings, they meet routinely to divide up the funds. it is like one of those things to see if the sopranos where they get together and similarly i should add another reason why i find it very similar to the idea these groups being like a crime family is like the new york crime family is sometimes they fight over the spoils. we hear reports of fighting that takes place between the imu and the pakistani taliban. what happens all the time and usually if you start looking into it they are fighting over money. i will come back to the idea. the top smugglers from the cartel is usually the intermediary between corrupt officials in the afghan and pakistani and every the government. what is ironic when i find most surprising is the extent to which insurgents were ac

could undermine regional efforts to develop renewable resources and encourage expansion of high carbon generation in the midwest. we need to take time, take a careful look at this and see what really makes sense. today's hearing is an excellent beginning to the process. we have a great lineup of witnesses. and i look forward to their testimony. i would like now to turn to a matter related to the subject of today's hearing, which has been brought to my attention. after i agreed, last month, to hold an oversight hearing on the subject of electricity transmission and the question of whether to adopt additional new legislation in this area, in addition to the regional transmission planning language already in the bill, i directed my staff to obtain additional information about two important provisions of the 2005 policy act that also dealt with transmission and which are directly relevant to today's hearing. as part of the effort, the sub committee sent two letters to the federal regulatory commission. the first letter, dated june 3rd, dealt with the impact of the 2005 bills incentive rate

region. inflicting suffering of its own people and many others. to be sure i am aware and international affairs old wounds do not heal easily. however if we look closely at iraq political economics potential is clearly in the gulf nations' strategic interest to support the government and people of iraq. iraq neighbors should lend support with intelligence sharing and increase border control efforts. especially those nations that have thus far failed to live up to pledges to tighten border crossings. iraq moreover should be considered for membership and a regional forum such as the gulf cooperation council. agreed security progress has been made in iraq over the past two years. there remain those that wish to see the new iraq feel and who will continue to kill innocent civilians to further this goal. as we have seen in anbar, diyala and the men of the province's legal, success depends on the final analysis of the fortitude of the iraqi people and the leaders the chance. yet as the united states response we draw down its presence, we look for sustai

arguably security issue in particular in the region around india. if the models are right and you get massive sea level rise, bangladesh is under water or much of it. with tens of millions at least people who don't have places to live and who most likely will try to walk to india. which raises huge security, human rights, economic issues. i know the u.s. navy thinks about this. others think about this as an issue going forward. and yet in terms of policy, how to address climate change, india has a very different perspective than the u.s. does and you can go down the list. the u.s.-india nuclear cooperation agreement was the way to transform the relationship. that you can't transform this relationship if the u.s. doesn't change its nonproliferation laws, allow nuclear cooperation with india. okay, fine, the u.s. did that. we can talk about the implications but i will be surprised if india buys american nuclear power plants and so thank you very much, u.s. commerce, thank you very much bush administration, russian nuclear establishment is thrilled bec