Today's overwhelming House vote of 277 to 147 to recommit the House Interior appropriations conference report signals that the majority of the Congress believes some members have gone too far in pushing their anti-environmental agenda. An important battle on the mining patent issue has been won, and Defenders of Wildlife is especially grateful to Rep. George Miller, not only for this clear victory but also for his longstanding commitment to our natural resources. However, the war on H.R. 1977 is far from over. Numerous other destructive provisions in the Interior appropriations legislation represent an all-out attack on the past 25 years of progress in natural resource conservation. Unless the Congress also removes other unacceptable provisions -- such as stepped-up logging in the Tongass National Forest and the moratorium on protecting new species under the Endangered Species Act -- we will continue to urge President Clinton to veto this bill.