I've always been a strong supporter of environmental protection and initiatives in that area. But I'm willing to set priorities. If we have to make reductions in one place we'll have to-in order to increase another place I'm willing to do that.

Despite Arizona's remarkable growth in recent years we have met the current federal health standards for ozone pollution and the Environmental Protection Agency recently approved our dust control plan.

But as environment minister I am very interested in a thriving German automobile industry because I can only pay for the rising costs of environmental protection at home and abroad if there are people in Germany with jobs and who pay taxes.

Environmental protection doesn't happen in a vacuum. You can't separate the impact on the environment from the impact on our families and communities.

Without international participation jobs and emissions will simply shift overseas to countries that require few if any environmental protections harming the global environment as well as the U.S. economy.

We need to accept the seemingly obvious fact that a toxic environment can make people sick and that no amount of medical intervention can protect us. The health care community must become a powerful political lobby for environmental policy and legislation.

I am going to confront the old-fashioned negative thinking which says that all government needs to do to generate growth is cut worker and environmental protections cut taxes on the rich and stroke 'fat cats' until they purr with pleasure. I'm completely repudiating the idea that government has to get out of the way.

I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth environmental protection improvements in our educational system.

Over and over we hear politicians say they can't spend our tax dollars on environmental protection when the economy is so fragile.

Why has it seemed that the only way to protect the environment is with heavy-handed government regulation?