Dear Fellow Coloradan,

Panoramic Colorado Contest I want my website to showcase the beautiful landscapes found throughout Colorado, and the amateur photographers who capture these amazing scenes every season. You can help: submit your favorite panoramic photos of Colorado. Just upload your photo to Flickr and make sure to tag each photo with 'PhotoContest-Udall10' - yours might be chosen for the banner of my website! Click here to see previous submissions and to add your own.

From the snow-capped Rocky Mountain National Park to the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and many parks in between, we are blessed to live in a state filled with some of nature's most spectacular landscapes. In what documentary filmmaker Ken Burns describes as 'America's best idea,' generations of Americans have worked to preserve these unique places in Colorado and across the nation.

In 1967, we added to that legacy by creating the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which designates a small portion of the royalties from oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters to be used for the conservation of special places. It has helped us preserve land in Grand Canyon National Park and along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, and to create Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park.

But the LWCF has never been funded at the level that was originally intended. Over the course of its history, $17 billion from revenues designated for the fund have been diverted and used for non-conservation purposes. In the words of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, this is a 'broken promise' to the American people.



The devastating BP oil spill in the Gulf has highlighted the need to balance the resources we use by conserving others. And that's why I'm supporting a measure in the U.S. Senate that invests in the LWCF. Not only will it help preserve our open spaces, it will help protect and create jobs in Colorado and across the country. Hunting and fishing - much of it on public lands and waters - sustain more than 1.6 million jobs and support a $76 billion sporting industry nationally.

I believe it's time to ensure that the LWCF is funded each year as it was intended so it can meet its full potential. This includes the purchase of conservation easements that help keep farms, forests and ranches in private ownership, as well as the preservation of open spaces and critical wildlife habitat. I have fought for adequate funding for the LWCF throughout my career in the U.S. House and Senate, most recently leading the effort as a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And as the debate on this measure moves forward in the Senate, I will continue to urge my colleagues to fully fund the LWCF so that our country's special places can be enjoyed for years to come.

Warm regards,



P.S. Please share the photo contest with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Great Sand Dunes National Park. Flickr photo credit: Gord McKenna

In 1964, my Uncle Stewart Udall, then the U.S. Interior Secretary, and father then-Rep. Mo Udall, helped create the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was intended to balance the loss of oil and gas drilled from public lands and waters with the conservation of some of our most precious natural places. For the past 45 years, the LWCF has enabled a small portion of the royalties collected from drilling to be used to preserve our country's great outdoors - helping protect some of our most beloved natural places, including Grand Canyon National Park, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and Colorado's very own Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Panoramic Colorado Contest We are blessed to live in a state filled with some of nature's most spectacular landscapes - and as a result Colorado is filled with amateur photographers who capture these incredible scenes each season. I want to showcase both on my website. If you're interested, here's how you can participate: submit your favorite panoramic photos of our great state. Just upload your photo to Flickr and make sure to tag each photo with 'PhotoContest-Udall10' -- yours might be chosen for the banner of my website! Click here to see previous submissions and to add your own.

But even though oil and gas production has increased over the decades, the LWCF has never been funded at the level that was originally intended. Over the course of its history, $17 billion dollars from revenues designated for the fund have been diverted and used for non-conservation purposes. In the words of the current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar: this is a 'broken promise' to the American people.

The devastating BP oil spill in the Gulf has highlighted the need to balance the resources we use by conserving others. And that's why I'm supporting a measure in the U.S. Senate that invests in the LWCF. Not only will it help preserve our open spaces, it will help protect and create jobs in Colorado and across the country. Hunting and fishing - much of it on public lands and waters - sustain more than 1.6 million jobs and support a $76 billion sporting industry nationally.

It's time to ensure that the LWCF is funded each year as it was intended so it can meet its full potential. This includes the purchase of conservation easements that help keep farms, forests, and ranches under private ownership. It also includes preserving open spaces and critical wildlife habitat.

I have fought for adequate funding for the LWCF throughout my career in the U.S. House and Senate, most recently leading the effort on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on which I sit. And as the debate on this measure continues in the Senate, I will continue to urge my colleagues to fully fund the LWCF so that our country's special places can be enjoyed for years to come.

Senator Mark Udall listens in as Labor Secretary Solis addresses the Latina Chamber of Commerce in Denver

Recently, I had the opportunity to welcome U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to Colorado, when she toured the Denver Green Jobs Initiative.  Partnering with Mi Casa Resource Center, a Denver-based nonprofit that teaches Latinos and low-income families skills that will help them get good-paying jobs, the Denver Green Jobs Initiative offers free job training and job placement assistance to jump-start careers in clean energy industries. Having received over $3.6 million from the Department of Labor through the Pathways out of Poverty Initiative of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the program aims to train 500 Five Points-area residents in the next two years. 
 
At Mi Casa, Secretary Solis spoke with Latina businesswomen and Mi Casa staff and explained how expanding green jobs can help get our economy get back on track. “The President and I feel strongly that in order to realize our vision to create sustainable energy sources and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we need to invest in our most valuable resource – our people,” Secretary Solis said.  She applauded Mi Casa and the Denver Green Jobs Initiative’s efforts to help minorities find employment and build careers in green industries.
 
Nationally, the unemployment rate for Latinos is 3 percent higher than the average. But through the Denver Green Jobs Initiative and other programs Mi Casa offers, we can help reduce the unemployment and poverty in the Latino community.
 
This is why I called on Congress, during the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials meeting in June, to pass smart energy and climate legislation that would create thousands of jobs in the clean energy sector. Not only would this legislation create new job opportunities for the Latino community, building a 21st century clean energy economy will help reduce low- and moderate-income families’ utility bills by making homes more energy efficient.

In addition to being disproportionately affected by unemployment and poverty, the Latino community faces higher incidences of diabetes, childhood obesity, dental disease, childhood asthma, and other diseases. Because of these alarming facts, I made sure there were provisions in the health insurance reform bill to help eliminate health disparities in minority groups.  I co-sponsored an amendment to strengthen the Offices of Minority Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, which monitor health care trends and quality of care among minority patients in order to evaluate the success of minority health programs and initiatives. Along with other provisions in the new health reform law, this will help us better address the glaring health disparities facing Latinos and other minority groups in the United States.
 
Furthermore, addressing our country’s broken immigration system is a top priority of mine. While the issue is one where emotions run high, I believe we can find agreement on comprehensive immigration reform that provides sensible solutions to the system’s challenges. In April, I joined 15 other senators in signing a letter to President Obama outlining the goals of a comprehensive immigration reform bill and calling on his support to pass strong legislation this year.
 
The Latino Community’s interests are diverse and increasingly relevant to every major issue we face as a nation. Whether it is energy, education, immigration, health care, or the economy, I will continue to work to bridge the divides on these challenging issues.

Dear Fellow Coloradan,

The U.S. District Courts, including Colorado's, are in dire straits. With 99 empty seats nationwide, court cases are beginning to pile up. For example, the situation on the District Court of Colorado is now considered a 'judicial emergency.' Five judges in Colorado have been handling the work of seven for nearly two years, and it has been over three years since the court had a full roster.

The problem is not a lack of qualified nominees. Last year, Senator Bennet and I recommended William Martinez to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge after a thorough application and selection process conducted by a bipartisan panel of lawyers and former judges. By all accounts, Mr. Martinez is an outstanding candidate, whose broad legal background, professionalism and intellect would make him an excellent judge. President Obama nominated him in February, and he was approved by the Senate's Judiciary Committee in April.



But, months later, Mr. Martinez remains in procedural limbo because of partisan squabbles in the Senate. And our courts are suffering as a result.

That's why last week I took to the Senate floor with a number of my colleagues to demand a vote on the nomination of Mr. Martinez and other qualified nominees. I urged the Senate to look beyond partisan politics. Yet the nominations are still being blocked.

Learn More: 'Senate Panel Backs Walsh' - Pueblo Chieftain 'Bennet, Udall push for confirmation of William Martinez' - Denver Post Read my letter to the Senate Majority and Minority leaders and the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman

This was my latest attempt to highlight the problems that these vacancies are creating for our justice system. I have also written to the Senate Majority and Minority leaders and the Chairman and ranking  Republican on the Judiciary Committee asking them to move forward with Mr. Martinez's nomination as well as others. In addition to judicial short staffing, Colorado has been without a permanent U.S. Attorney for nearly 19 months. Fortunately, last Thursday, Denver lawyer John Walsh was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to be confirmed as the U.S. Attorney for Colorado. It is my sincere hope that the Senate will move more quickly on Mr. Walsh's nomination.

I'm not giving up. I will continue to work across the aisle to convince my colleagues that the time to fill these vacancies in our judicial system is now.

Warm regards,

P.S. Please follow me on Facebook or Twitter for more frequent updates on what I'm doing to represent Colorado in the United States Senate.

Every day across the West, an estimated 100,000 lodgepole pines fall in the forest – victims of the bark-beetle infestation that is killing millions of acres of trees. Many of these falling trees threaten infrastructure, such as roads, trails, campgrounds, and homes. Because they risk damaging power lines and pose a fire hazard if they’re left untouched, one of my top priorities is ensuring the U.S. Forest Service and other government agencies have the resources to remove dead trees and keep our communities safe.
 
A few weeks ago, I toured an area with a group near Dillon where some of that work is being done. We were joined at the site near the Tenderfoot trail by Deputy Regional Forester Tony Dixon, Dillon Forest Service District Ranger Jan Cutts, State Senator Dan Gibbs, Paul Semmer of the Dillon Ranger District, and others. While hundreds of beetle-killed trees have already been removed from the site, more still stand dangerously close to the Xcel power lines running through the forest. Cal Wettstein, the Forest Service’s incident commander for the bark-beetle response, updated our group on the efforts to remove dead and dying trees that threaten 550 miles of power lines. The Forest Service is working with the utilities to expedite approval of a plan to remove the remaining trees, which is expected to begin within the next few weeks.
 
As we gathered to look at the results of the work, a strong breeze was blowing. And – almost as though it were staged – our group heard a loud snap as a tree fell to the ground in the distance – most likely one of those beetle-killed trees.
 
I’ve visited many sites like this across Colorado, and I am always saddened by the massive scale of the bark-beetle epidemic and the amount of work still needed to remove the trees. As I told the group last Sunday, I’m continuing to push to add another $50 million to the Forest Service’s budget to combat the bark-beetle epidemic. Additionally, I’m working with the Administration to make sure the $30 million already appropriated to remove beetle-killed trees gets put to use as soon as possible.
 
On Saturday, before my visit to Dillon, I also visited Aspen, where I recognized the collaborative efforts between local groups and the U.S. Forest Service to fight the bark-beetle epidemic there. Their coordinated work is critical because the bark beetle is not limited to federal property, and work done on non-federal lands is equally important to reduce threats from fire and harm to people and property.

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to talk with Coloradans across the Western Slope in live conference call. We had a wide-ranging discussion that covered topics from creating an energy policy for the 21st century and controlling the federal deficit, to encouraging banks to resume lending and reducing partisan gridlock in the Senate. These conference calls are a great chance for me to talk with Coloradans across the state.

I fielded a number of good questions, and hope I was able provide helpful answers. If you missed the town hall or want to hear our discussion, I’ve posted the questions below, and you can listen to the recording. We may not agree on every issue, but I always strive to do what’s in the best interest of Colorado and the country.

Please feel free to contact my office at any time by emailing me through my contact form, by calling toll free at 1(877)-7-MUDALL, or by joining the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.

Listen to our Tele-Town Hall Meeting

*MP3's require Flash Player. You can download Flash for free at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

Senator Udall's opening remarks: mp3

Given the scale of the problem, what are the specific steps you are taking to reduce the deficit back to 2000 levels? mp3

What legislation can be developed to incentivize energy efficiency and create clean energy across the board? mp3

I’m for green energy where it works, but we know oil works and we have significant domestic reserves. Why not take advantage of that? mp3

The Department of Veterans Affairs is using more and more contract doctors, but if you’re injured by a contract provider you are not guaranteed the same protection as if a VA doctor injures you. What are you doing to fix this? mp3

India has converted almost completely to nuclear power, and we use it very successfully in the Navy. Why aren’t we pursuing nuclear power more vigorously to address our energy needs? mp3

Given that the budget deficits affect everything, why doesn’t the military undertake the same sort of cuts the private sector has made, which have increased overall productivity? Also, why not explore a small per transaction tax on electronic stock transfers? mp3

What can we do to change science education to encourage students to explore careers in engineering and develop the next generation of energy technology? mp3

How can the government encourage small- and medium-sized businesses to expand and begin hiring again? And how can we get investors to resume investing? mp3

Senate rules seem to be designed to stifle any progress. What can we do to change Senate rules and pass legislation that will be good for the people and good for the country? mp3

Both parties seem to have a lot of disagreements. What can you do to make both parties get along so that we can accomplish our goals in America? mp3

It seems there is decreasing accountability in our system. Many people have lost their trust in government. What can we as citizens do to correct the system and rebuild our trust? mp3

Senator Udall's closing remarks: mp3

Wind turbine propeller in transport on I-25. Flickr photo by Scorpions and Centaurs

First off, I'd like to thank the over 2,500 Coloradans who signed my petition supporting a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). That is an incredible showing of support. Our state's RES has made us a leader in the clean energy economy, and Coloradans share my conviction that a national standard can do the same for the entire country.

Given the recent decision to scale-back plans for a comprehensive clean energy bill, your support is even more crucial. While I'm disappointed that this bill doesn't go as far as I'd like, I'm committed to making it as strong as possible. That's why last week I led a group of 27 Senators in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, encouraging him to include a strong RES in this new bill.

I believe that we can get the 60 votes necessary to break the inevitable filibuster that has become an unfortunate reality in today's Senate. An RES will help us create good-paying clean energy jobs, reduce our addiction to foreign oil, and secure our leadership in the global economy. Let's show Congress how critical it is to pass an RES.

Farmers and ranchers are critical to the strength of our rural communities, and they are custodians of Colorado's natural heritage. Unfortunately, with the growth of our urban areas, our family farmers and ranchers are under increasing pressure to sell or develop their land.

One of their biggest concerns is the estate tax. Because the value of farmland can be evaluated for tax purposes based on its future development potential, many farming and ranching families worry that taxes will eventually force them out of the farming business.

Last week, I introduced a bill to help family farmers and ranchers and others who want to preserve their land for future generations. My bipartisan American Family Farm and Ranchland Protection Act updates an almost 15-year-old law Congress wrote to exempt land placed under a conservation easement - a voluntary agreement between the government and a landowner, which permanently limits certain development and future uses of land.

The exemption is now outdated, and the development pressure is too strong to help many families who want to preserve their farms or the land and water they love. My bill would raise the exemption, enabling families to exclude up to 50 percent of the value of their land from the taxable estate if they protect its natural and historic value with a permanent conservation easement. The bill also encourages stronger conservation easements by offering higher exemption rates for more protective agreements.

While this is just a small piece of the estate tax puzzle, it's an important one - a simple update to our tax code will help us encourage greater conservation efforts and support family farmers and ranchers.

Conejos County, Colorado. Flickr photo by SLV Native

Farmers and ranchers are critical to the strength of our rural communities, and they are custodians of Colorado's natural heritage. Unfortunately, with the growth of our urban areas, our family farmers and ranchers are under increasing pressure to sell or develop their land.

One of their biggest concerns is the estate tax. Because the value of farmland can be evaluated for tax purposes based on its future development potential, many farming and ranching families worry that taxes will eventually force them out of the farming business.

Last week, I introduced a bill to help family farmers and ranchers and others who want to preserve their land for future generations. My bipartisan American Family Farm and Ranchland Protection Act updates an almost 15-year-old law Congress wrote to exempt land placed under a conservation easement - a voluntary agreement between the government and a landowner, which permanently limits certain development and future uses of land.

The exemption is now outdated, and the development pressure is too strong to help many families who want to preserve their farms or the land and water they love. My bill would raise the exemption, enabling families to exclude up to 50 percent of the value of their land from the taxable estate if they protect its natural and historic value with a permanent conservation easement. The bill also encourages stronger conservation easements by offering higher exemption rates for more protective agreements.

While this is just a small piece of the estate tax puzzle, it's an important one - a simple update to our tax code will help us encourage greater conservation efforts and support family farmers and ranchers.

Dear Fellow Coloradan,

Colorado is a leader in the clean energy economy in part because our state has one of the most ambitious Renewable Electricity Standards (RES) in the country. Back in 2004, I led a bipartisan effort to pass Colorado's RES, which requires that we get a portion of our electricity from our abundant renewable resources, such as the sun and wind. And while some Coloradans were skeptical at the time, even companies that doubted the need for an RES now support it. In fact, the state legislature recently increased our standard to require that 30 percent of our energy come from renewable energy sources by 2020. Will you join me in pursuing a similar plan – nationwide?

We're at a critical time in our history - we need a new energy policy to strengthen our economy and our national security. In the next few weeks, the Senate will consider the future of clean energy and climate legislation. I believe the federal government should take a page from Colorado's playbook, and I'm working with my colleagues to try to convince Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to include a strong national RES in the clean energy bill that is debated in the Senate.

But I need your help. Please join me in supporting our new energy future–add your name to the petition for a national RES.



We've seen first-hand the benefits of a strong RES in Colorado. As reported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, our state's clean energy economy has generated roughly 17,000 jobs - and we're still growing. In fact, just this month, Vestas, the world's largest wind-turbine manufacturer, announced its plans to open an engineering and product development center in Louisville. And Abound Solar, a Loveland-based manufacturer of thin-film solar panels, received a $400 million federal loan guarantee to aid in its expansion, which will help create hundreds of new jobs to help our local economies.

With a national RES, we could see the same success across the country. According to a study by Navigant Consulting, a national 25 percent by 2025 standard would create an additional 274,000 jobs nationwide.

I'm committed to creating a federal energy policy for the 21st century that will improve our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, create the jobs we need to improve the economy, and reduce carbon pollution.

We've seen what a smart, forward-thinking energy policy can do in Colorado. It's time to apply this strategy on a national scale. Click here to join me by signing this new petition.

Warm regards,