Bush Administration Announces New Forest Regulations

[madinmaryland]

WASHINGTON -- December 23 -- For the second year in a row, the Bush Administration has announced a harmful new forest policy on the eve of the Christmas holiday. Last December 23, the administration announced it was opening up pristine parts of the Tongass National Forest to new logging and development. Today, it is releasing what are expected to be damaging new regulatory changes to the rules that guide sound forest management.

According to the Forest Service, the final regulations will be very similar to how they looked in draft form. If that is the case, important wildlife, clean water, and other environmental protections will be undermined, threatening forests the American people want preserved and protected for future generations. Additionally, this rule will sharply limit the opportunity for meaningful participation by citizens in local forest planning.

"These are America's forests and should be managed for all of us," said Rodger Schlickeisen, executive director for Defenders of Wildlife. "These rules reject sound science, ignore the importance of public input, and tilt the playing field sharply toward the logging companies."

The new rules for long-term forest planning will likely reduce protections for forest wildlife and eliminate requirements that forest plans comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. The final rules will change enforcement of the 1976 National Forest Management Act, and are expected to conform closely to a timber industry "wish list" presented shortly after the presidential inauguration.

--snip--

http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1223-02.htm

Amazing how this gets no coverage in the MSM

[elepet]

1. what happens?

with something like this. Does he just make the declaration, wave his hand and it's done, or does it need approval from congress, or some committee? or the courts.?Can it be stopped?

[papau]

3. Congress can stop - but GOP control Congress.

So it is a done deal from the moment the timber folks write the new regs and get Bush folks to issue them.

MSM does not care.

MSM only does "booster" stories about how great someone or some group or somewhere is -
or -
it does he says/she says.

God forbid MSM should ever think about right and wrong and who is the liar in the he says/she says.

[elepet]

6. slowly now

which house of congress? does it go to committee first? can it be fillibustered in the senate? can it be stalled? can it be reversed later?
who is fighting it?

[papau]

7. I do not have the GOP regulatory approval bill in front of me, but

I seem to recall a 90 day window for either body to shoot a regulation down.

As doing nothing wins for Bush, nothing is expected to go to committee.

After 90 days - and no vote by Congress to stop anything - the regulation can take effect.

[radfringe]

2. No Tree Left Behind n/t

[bobweaver]

4. Oh, who needs trees and the oxygen they produce anyway. Only beings

who breathe oxygen should care.

[chyjo]

5. We still have forests?

Please don't tell the Bush administration.

[King Coal]

8. It's like they just sit around trying to think of ways to be bad.

Man, what is wrong with this country? I am so sick of it.

:mad:

[cavanaghjam]

9. One reason

this gets no coverage, at least on corporate TV, is that the paper industry is a major source of revenue. Toilet paper sponsors a good bit of airtime, a rather apropos situation considering the crap that's on.

[WingedLady1111]

13. Alternative to paper

http://www.ndncrk.com/gccatalog.html

[jojo54]

10. Actually, K.O. reported this about 6 wks ago

when we were SO wrapped up in the MNF "towel foul" with T.O. and Nicolete Sheridan (I think that's who it was). That's when the bill was really passed, but of course the Pukes didn't want their controlled media to report on it until now, when it's too late. Write, call, email your senators and tell them to stop pussy-footing around, vote NO and earn their keep!

[opihimoimoi]

11. No wonder he walks around thinking he is GOD... the man can get away with

killing forests with a signature....all by himself..... damn, didn't even write it.... the logging guys did....WTF is wrong with us?

TO FOOL IS TO RULE

[4_TN_TITANS]

12. This should be a nonpartisan issue...

preserving forests for our children. * acts with absolutely no eye to the future - horrendous deficits, global warming, etc., it never ends. What a fucked up leader. :puke:

[NE1469]

14. Kick

Kick!

[XemaSab]

15. The kicker is

That the taxpayers pay to build the roads used by the logging companies. It costs the USFS MORE to plan a timber sale and build the roads than the revenue the sale generates. We're losing money! We're giving away our public resources for private profit!

Our timberlands do need to be managed, and logging is a tool that can help achieve multiple goals (timber, clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, fire safety, etc), but these giveaways that result in a loss of taxpayer money coupled with egregiously irresponsible timber harvest plans are just appalling.

Furthermore, I'm baffled as to why timber companies who manage their own private lands aren't opposed to this. It seems like the release of large amounts of public timber would cause the wood market to collapse, and make it less worthwhile for companies that have to build their own roads and write up their own harvest plans to make any profit at all.

Forest management is a complex subject, but public lands should not be left in control of companies with no obligation to be good land managers, whose only interest in a forest is how many board feet they can get out of it today. Issues such as sustainability are meaningless to these people, 'cause it's not their land. It's the public's land.





PS Timber salvage is a crock... fight it HARD. Clearcutting burned lands just breeds conditions for future, even more catastrophic, fires.

[manly]

16. the trees will go, the bush will stay

I'm astounded that so far there have been only a mere 15 responses to this awful news. We can't let this one slide by and become the law of the land, but this is precisely what will happen if we do not raise hell about it! LET'S HEAR IT OUT THERE, FOLKS!!!

[mtnsnake]

17. New York State gets it right

Thanks to the diligent efforts of 19th century organizers and 19th and 20th century conservationists who knew what it would take to protect our forests and wildlife, the Adirondack State Park is the epitome of how to do it right. The APA's policy of "forever wild" insures that there will be no trees in this huge park ever cut for timber, no matter what. Even when hurricanes and other natural disasters have knocked down trees in this monstrous sized park, and left them leaning and crooked, they're off limits to loggers. Those trees will stay and rot and become fertilizer and homes for the next generation of old growth forests and wildlife. Tangled up messes of trees blown over or knocked over by winds are more beneficial to the forest than clearing them out. Even the dead trees provide vital shelter to animals, and nutrients to the forest soil for growing future trees. Anyone who tries to tell you that clearing out a certain number of trees is beneficial to the overall longevity of the forest and good for some wildlife is full of shit. It's also been proven that removal of any trees, whether knocked down or not, does not reduce the risk of forest fires as some would like us to believe.

"Forever Wild"....that's the way it should be in ANY park or national forest.

[MsMagnificent]

18. Bush's SCIENTIFICY knows best!

FAR better than Mother Nature!

:puke:

[sakabatou]

19. Woohoo!

No more forests to relax in and see the fauna. No more clean air from all the trees. And now, desert! Beautiful desert! Woohoo!

[proudbluestater]

20. The rape and pillaging of America continues

Let me guess, another executive order? Where are the checks on this administration?

[svpadgham]

21. "These are America's forests

and should be managed for all of us," said Rodger Schlickeisen, executive director for Defenders of Wildlife. "These rules reject sound science, ignore the importance of public input, and tilt the playing field sharply toward the logging companies."

Bush and Co. rejecting sound science? My, how odd. Don't forget that global warming is a myth, too. Pay no attention to the funky weather around the world this year. I'll bet that next year Muslims in the UAE will be singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Ramadan."

[iwantmycountryback]

22. I am in the middle of reading JFK Jr.'s "Crimes Against Nature"

It's a very interesting and horrifying read. The Bush cabal gets away with raping the environment all in the name of enriching the corporations. The Administration and Repukes in Congress manipulate science so much and try to play it off, or as Gale Norton often does, completely suppress reports. And the EPA did it as well, witholding the fact that the air at Ground Zero was completely contaminated at off-the-charts levels, yet Christine Whitman told us it was OK. The Democrats should start making this a central message of campaigns. Most people clearly think the environment should be protected, but they are unaware of the things Bush doing to ruin the environment because he does them as quietly as possible. If we alert people to these actions, than that would definitely improve our chances of winning.