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For Immediate Release
House Republicans Object to White House Forest Proposal
WASHINGTON — In their first post-election break with the White House over anti-environmental stances, eleven Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), today expressed serious concerns with a Bush Administration plan to weaken rules that govern national forest planning for logging and other forest activities. Their letter calls for a National Academy of Sciences panel to review the proposed regulations.
The letter highlighted key issues in the proposal to rewrite the 1976 National Forest Management Act's (NFMA's) implementing regulations, including the administration's effort to weaken requirements for ecological sustainability and species viability in forest plans, and the move to exempt these plans from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review.
"The President needs to pay attention to this commonsense call from congressional members of his own party. It's time for a little balance instead of a gung-ho rush to throw open the public lands to his industry supporters," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "It's not just the environmental community demanding moderation in forest policy - we're in good company with scientists, the nation's leading editorial writers, the courts, responsible Democrats and Republicans, and the vast majority of the American people on this."
The House members' letter to Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman cites serious concerns with the proposal unveiled on November 25. In particular, the authors note that elements of the proposed rule "appear to loosen requirements that ensure that forest plans are based on sound science" and make "the establishment of science advisory boards optional, so that there is no established independent mechanism to review the use of science in forest plans."
"This White House has yet to meet an environmental safeguard they didn't want to dump. But even now when the President's party leads both houses of Congress, it's heartening to see this growing evidence that there is still strong, bipartisan support for sensible environmental protection," said Schlickeisen.
Concern within the Republican House caucus is only the latest in a flurry of moves and countermoves in a growing struggle over forest policy proposals since the November elections. In addition to the rewrite of forest planning rules it released the day before Thanksgiving, the White House last week unveiled proposals under its so-called "Healthy Forests Initiative" that dramatically expand exclusions for forest projects under NEPA and place new curbs on the public appeals process for logging projects ostensibly linked to fire reduction.
In addition, the administration suffered a serious setback last week when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals restored protection for 58.5 million acres of roadless areas in U.S. national forests. The administration had opted not to defend against an industry lawsuit to lift a ban on logging, road construction and other commercial activities in these pristine, roadless areas; but environmental groups - including Defenders of Wildlife - had stepped in to defend the forests in place of the administration.
Defenders of Wildlife is also pursuing a Freedom of Information Act suit to reveal documents relating to development of the NFMA rule proposal. Responding to Defenders' initial FOIA request, Undersecretary of Agriculture for National Resources and Environment Mark Rey, whose office oversees the Forest Service, claimed to have no records whatsoever that related to development of the new logging regulation. Before his current government position, Rey worked as a lobbyist for a variety of timber industry groups over the past 18 years.
Key congressional Democrats vigorously complained about the weakening of NFMA and NEPA in a November 27 letter to Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth. This new letter from House Republicans adds to growing criticism of the logging rule proposal, particularly of the lack of full scientific and public input in the proposed forest planning process.
"The President should heed the warning from this growing chorus of complaints. The timber industry isn't the only voice he should hear when he decides the future of our forests," Schlickeisen said.
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Defenders of Wildlife is one of the nation’s most progressive advocates for wildlife and habitat, and was named as one of America’s Top 100 Charities by Worth magazine. With more than 430,000 members and supporters, including nearly 100,000 in California, Defenders is an effective voice for the environment. To learn more about Defenders of Wildlife, please visit www.defenders.org.
