Tongass decision is an affront to Americans

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Wed, Dec. 31, 2003

Tongass decision is an affront to Americans

By eliminating protections against road-building for 9.6 million pristine acres in Alaska's Tongass National Forest (Page 3A, Dec. 24) -- the world's largest intact temperate rain forest -- President Bush is sending yet another holiday gift to his campaign contributors in the timber, mining, and oil industries at the expense of the American people and the environment.

These areas are some of the last places in the United States that still have pure water and healthy populations of all the wildlife present when settlers first arrived in the new world. Humans will be hurt too; Native Americans, commercial fishermen, and recreational businesses all rely on maintaining forests free from the pollution, soil erosion, and increased fire risk that clear-cut logging brings.

Bush's decision is an affront to the wishes of the American people, who submitted a record 2.5 million public comments in support of full protection for the Tongass and other roadless areas across the country.

Instead of lavishing another gift on the timber industry, the Bush administration should give a lasting gift to future generations of Americans by protecting our last wild forests.

Susannah Churchill
Environmental preservation advocate
Environment California
San Francisco

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/7605213.htm

[xchrom]

1. bush's presidency

is an affront.

[SHRED]

2. Bu$h is...

...an anti-environmental terrorist. His war on nature continues.
One sick and spoiled bastard.
:mad:

[ochazuke]

3. Media coverage

Decisions like this will have a huge impact on what America is like 100 years from now, yet the media cover it like some guy stubbed his toe in Kankakee.

What can we do, write to our local newspapers and demand more coverage? The American people will be shocked to learn what Bush is doing, but it's off their old RADAR scope.