California Court Reinstates Roadless Rule

           In late September, a federal district court ordered reinstatement of the Clinton era Roadless Rule, and reversed the Bush administration's efforts to open these last great natural areas to development interests.  The Roadless Rule protects almost 50 million acres of national forests and grasslands from road building, logging, and development. This is a stunning victory for all Americans who value America's great natural areas.

          The court ruled that the defendants are enjoined from taking any further action contrary to the Roadless Rule without first doing an environmental analysis. The Forest Service has stated that the Rule was necessary to protect the social and ecological values and characteristics of roadless areas from road construction and timber harvesting activities.  The Roadless Rule ensures that inventoried roadless areas will be managed in a manner that sustains their value for future generations.

           A team of Earthjustice attorneys representing conservation groups brought the legal challenge to Bush administration policies, joining a similar challenge by four states. The Bush administration failed to comply with basic legal requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.  Making a new rule with potentially significant environmental effects ignores the reality of existing law, the court found.

           Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles stated "Americans love the great natural areas our country has been blessed with - - from hunters, hikers, fishermen, and bird watchers, to cities and towns that rely on clean, mountain-fed drinking water - - the last great roadless natural areas in our national forests deserve preservation. As America grows, so does the need to preserve these natural areas -- because they're not making these kind of natural areas anymore."

          Ms. Boyles went on to say that the Bush Administration gave timber industry lobbyist Mark Rey a high White House appointment and charged him to reverse the government's policy to protect the roadless areas, which was flatly illegal.  The court caught them.

          The Roadless Rule was adopted in 2001 after a three-year process that included 600 public hearings and 1.6 million public comments. Bush’s process fell far short of this effort, and it was simply dictated to drop protections and require governors to submit petitions recommending management schemes for the national forests in their states. Five states (VA, NC, SC, NM, CA) filed petitions to protect all roadless areas in their states. Other states, including OR and CO, are facing Bush administration plans to log or develop oil and gas in roadless areas.

          The ruling does not address the roadless areas in the Tongass National Forest (an exemption that makes no sense) but the Chugach National Forest in Alaska will be again protected.

           The Bush Administration will be spending more tax payer money to appeal the ruling so the public’s property can be taken away from them.

Walden/Baird Logging Bill, Adding Insult to Injury

                Representatives Walden (OR) and Baird (WA) introduced a bill, called the "Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act" (HR4200) that throws out normal protections for forests, fish and wildlife, to rush logging and roadbuilding projects on public lands following natural destructive events.

         The bill would eliminate public review of decisions affecting our public forests. This bill will damage our forests and cannot be defended scientifically.  Burned forests are not a waste, it is a natural and productive process. Salvage logging wastes tax dollars, damages fragile soils, and delays the regeneration of the forests. It only benefits those who want to make big bucks from cutting down our forests, and they want their payback from the politicians.

         The bill moved fast from the Resources Committee to The House Agriculture Committee to the House Resources Committee and then to the House floor. The bill currently has 144 cosponsors and two Congressional hearings have been held. The bill has been slowed by research that has indicated that logging slows regeneration of the forests, and increases the fire danger. A large group of scientists wrote a letter for Congress to consider that urges them to not pass the bill because of overwhelming evidence that far more harm is done than good.  To read the letter on this website, go to:

Scientists oppose Walden Bill

           It is urgent that Members of Congress hear overwhelming opposition to Walden's plan to pillage our vulnerable damaged National Forests.  Representative Tom Udall (D, NM) has introduced an alternative bill called the "National Forests Rehabilitation and Recovery Act" (H.R. 3973). The Udall collaboration bill is a common sense approach, which tries to identify the best responses to natural disturbances on forest ecosystems based on science and community collaboration.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION:

Calls to your Representative are needed.

       Please call Members of the House of Representatives at 202-224-3121 and tell them to oppose the Walden logging bill (Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act, FERRA) and urge them to cosponsor the Udall bill (H.R. 3973, The National Forests Rehabilitation and Recovery Act).

Sell Off the National Forests?

Public Tells Bush They Are Not His to Sell !!!

             In the 2007 Budget, the Bush administration proposed to sell off 300,000 acres of national forest land over the next five years, apparently to pay back his rich friends in the land development and land speculation community. Public outcry was so great that the item was dropped from the budget, but Bush and supporters promise to bring the issue back next year.

         The estimated $800 million proceeds from the sale of the national forest land would go to rural counties that receive payments from timber harvested from federal land under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. Sales of U.S. Bureau of Land Management land would be next.

           The land includes 3,400 acres in Alabama, while California is to be hit with 85,000 acres. In a proportional perspective, however, the South will be most severely affected. North Carolina would have 9,828 acres put up for sale, while Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia would have from 4,500 to 5,700 acres of land sold to the best connected bidder.  Generally it would mean a net movement of proceeds from the East to the West where commitments are highest because there is so much national land.

          The idea is very deeply flawed. Key links between buffer zones and national forests could be lost, including land along scenic rivers. The land was originally bought by the government under the right of eminent domain to protect watersheds and fragile lands; these lands are not suitable for development and should be protected for the common good.  Public lands are used by the public - - for timber, hiking, hunting and fishing, to protect water quality, and as a place for animals and humans to find refuge from the crush of the modern world. Once sold, they're gone forever from use by the public, and the animals unceremoniously evicted. The steep land would become hilltop homesites for the wealthy, bundles of cash for land developers, and true environmental disasters.

          The sell-off has been described as selling your house to pay off your credit card bill.  It's one-time money to fund an ongoing program, a method that can't be repeated forever.  If Congress wants to renew the school and road compensation program, it should fund it, not sell off land to fund it for a few years. The total amount of money represents what the government borrows by lunchtime on any given day; or five days of war in Iraq;but the land is lost to the public forever.

           Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer called the proposal a "wrongheaded idea” proposed by an administration living beyond its means. He compared it to a rancher who keeps selling land to buy pickups and tractors, until he has no land left to ranch. "It's a damn poor way to run a ranch and it's a way worse way to run a government".

       Conservationists and Democratic lawmakers have called the sale unprecedented and said the federal government was auctioning off public lands to pay for the many tax cuts for the wealthy.   "In my view, selling public lands to pay down the deficit would be a short-sighted, ill-advised and irresponsible shift in federal land management policy," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, of the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Our public lands are a legacy for future generations. We shouldn't liquidate that legacy."

         Thanks to the public - - i. e. us little guys, raising a ruckas, the politicians dropped the provision for this year, but remember:

                      THEY PROMISE TO BRING IT BACK NEXT YEAR.

The  North  Shore  Road  Boondoggle        

         The Park Service prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) examining a proposal to build a 34-mile road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The Park Service continues planning the so-called "North Shore Road" on the north side of Fontana Lake in Swain County and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, despite the fact that the road would do tremendous environmental harm, would cost a ton of money, and would lead nowhere.  The massive project will cut through the largest unbroken tract of mountain land in the South. 

         While the DEIS does not identify a preferred alternative, it indicates that the “environmentally preferred” alternative is a monetary settlement to the local county, without building a road. Swain County and the State of NC have gone on record that they do not want the road built, and prefer a payment of $52 million—a fraction of the estimated $ 590 million dollars to build and $14 million per year in maintenance and operation costs - - not to mention the environmental costs. 

         The road is to compensate Swain County, NC, for the loss of a county road in 1943 when TVA built Fontana Dam. Seven miles of the road was built in the 70's, but the project was abandoned due to gross environmental damage and huge cost.          The Park Service acknowledges that the road to nowhere could bring “major adverse and long-term” environmental impact, and that the highway would serve no transportation need.  In addition, it would jeopardize the agency’s mission to protect the biological and cultural resources of the Park (the 1916 Organic Act commits them to maintain the park for the enjoyment of future generations). 

           The North Shore Road is more than just a "road", since it will have three massive suspension bridges, each roughly the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, to cross many finger ridges of unstable pyritic (iron sulfite) rock and soil. When exposed to air and water, this material produces sulfuric acid that will endanger 141 streams and watercourses, in one of the richest coldwater fisheries in the South.         

           It will cut through the most rugged section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, bisect the Appalachian Trail, and destroy 28 miles of the Benton MacKaye Trail. The highway is opposed by dozens of local, regional and national groups, as well as Governor Mike Easley, the Swain County Commissioners, and local civic leaders of western North Carolina. 

           What is it all about?  Making money for the friends of US Congressman Charles Taylor, who is on the Transportation Committee, and represents this NC district?  Or building the "Taylor Trail" as a costly legacy to a egotistical politician?

To learn even more, visit this link:

North Shore Road Debacle

                      

Be Aware :

NEPA Task Force Recommendations of December, 2005

Attacks are Relentless!!!

         The Congressional National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Task Force, released its initial findings and draft recommendations following seven "public" hearings held in 2005.  The hearings were not publicly advertised and only industrial interests invited, but environmental groups learned of the meetings and were able to present their views at meetings held last spring and summer.

          The Task Force (whose task is to destroy NEPA) was set up by Rep. Pombo, (R-CA), and chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-WA).      Demo-cratic Task Force members did not have advance notice of the release of the report, which includes recommendations that would greatly weaken NEPA.   It would:

1. Limit who can file NEPA-related lawsuits;
2. Create deadlines to complete environmental studies;
3. Direct agencies to favor comments from local residents over those of environmental groups;
4. Limit the range and scope of the alternatives agencies can consider.

                              Click here to see a copy of the report:
                                                         NEPA Task Force
           NEPA is the law that keeps the government from doing many stupid projects that benefit only a few rich people to the detriment of the environment and the public.  It gives the people in a democracy the right to be heard. 
          Representative Pombo ran for office on a limited platform  with  one major  plank - -  to  kill and gut NEPA and  the  Endangered  Species   Act. 

                 He   will  do   it  unless   we   do   something  !!!!!!!!!!!!!

*PHONE: Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-225-3121.

*EMAIL or FAX:     Find your Representative's email address & fax at:
www.Congress.org

Endangered Species Act Legacy

       Tell the current administration and congress that protection of endangered plants and animals is important to you.  Speak out against the continual assaults on the Endangered Species Act by signing the Endangered Species Act Legacy Pledge!  Go to www.stopextinction.org/petitions/Petition.cfm?petitionID=8