WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee made the following comments today upon learning of President Bush’s intention to nominate H. Dale Hall as the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: “As I said on the Senate floor last April, Dale Hall would make an excellent Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Since 2001, Dale has been serving as the Service’s Southwest Regional Director in Albuquerque. He is a 27-year career veteran of the Service, and is knowledgeable in the principles of fisheries and wildlife management by way of education and experience. In 1986, he was honored as one of the Service’s 10 most outstanding merit pay employees for the year. In 1996, he was presented with the Department of the Interior’s Meritorious Service Award by then-Secretary Bruce Babbitt. He is an outstanding individual who has devoted his life to public service in both the U.S. Air Force overseas and the Fish and Wildlife Service. I am delighted the President has recognized the same strong qualities that I saw in him at our field hearing in Oklahoma on the Partnership for Fish and Wildlife in April.”