Thank you Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing. I appreciate having this opportunity to hear from the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, the mining and petroleum industry, wilderness groups, and academia regarding the energy implications of the U.S. Forest Service's roadless area rules.

Some of you may be aware that Hawaii and the Native Hawaiian culture are strongly linked to the natural world around us. For centuries we have lived on Pacific islands interdependently with the world around us -- the land and the ocean. The State of Hawaii has an extensive forest reserve system, additional areas which are designated as natural area reserves, state wilderness preserves, and even private reserves. Although we do not have national forests in Hawaii, the State of Hawaii is playing its part in reserving areas for native ecosystems of trees and animals.

The Forest Service's roadless areas initiative has identified areas in national forests that should remain roadless. However, we should all remember that under this rule, a roadless area does not mean it is not useful to humans. There are already exceptions in the rule for existing leases, treaty rights, and human health and safety. Roadless areas are useful as harbors for wildlife, filters and producers of clean water, and areas where humans can hunt, fish, and hike. In other words, the roadless policy doesn't mean that we can't use national forests.

The Forest Service has stated that the total oil and gas production from the entire National Forest System (not just roadless areas) is currently about 0.4 percent of the current national production. It further estimates that resources in roadless areas may be only about half of that figure, which puts it at less than 0.2 percent of total oil and gas production. This appears to be a small amount of oil and gas, in inaccessible areas with no roads, which may not be economically recoverable, depending on future market prices. These resources, even if opened tomorrow, are unlikely to be available for up to 10 years or more. Opening roadless areas will not help our short term energy crisis.

The recent study contracted by the U.S. Department of Energy argues that the USFS underestimated the energy resources in roadless areas. The study was based on a sample of states, used public and proprietary data not available for replication, and made questionable assumptions about the distribution of the resources. All studies have inherent weaknesses, but I wish I had more confidence in this quickly completed study.

I am not convinced that we should overturn the roadless policy on such speculative information. The question we need to ask is whether the amount of oil and gas resources in roadless areas is greater than or more compelling than available oil and gas resources elsewhere. There are Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, offshore reserves, national forest areas outside of roadless areas, state lands, and private lands. Given the information I've seen so far, it makes no sense to open roadless areas for such a small percentage of overall resources that could be available.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I ask that my full remarks be submitted for the record and I look forward to hearing from the witnesses.