Not Even a Glimmer of Interest
The environment—and related issues such as global warming, public lands, and energy consumption—merited no mention in President Bush’s State of the Union speech this year. Of greater concern to him, to judge by the amount of time he gave it, is the issue of steroid use in athletes, hardly an issue worthy of a spot in such a high-profile speech.
One compassionate REP America member reported being moved to pity at the sight of poor Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who had to smile through the entire speech without a single glowing moment in the spotlight, while the camera focused one by one on her Cabinet colleagues as their boss praised the work of their departments.
Not a word escaped the president’s lips about the “accomplishments” of Interior. Perhaps that’s because even the president has come to realize that his public-lands use policies—heavy on subsidized, industrial-strength resource extraction and destructive motorized recreation, light on conservation and stewardship—are appalling to Americans all across the political spectrum.
States Fight for Clean Air
In November 2003, fourteen states —California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin—plus the District of Columbia, launched a fierce legal battle to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from weakening key provisions—known as New Source Review—of the Clean Air Act.
The states’ lawsuit argues that the rule change is illegal, because it “violates the plain language of the Clean Air Act, conflicts with Congressional intent, and contradicts longstanding court rulings.”
Can anybody remember a time when so many states—led by both Republican and Democrat governors and representing a large percentage of the population of this country—struck out in unison against actions of the federal government?
For an informative discussion of New Source Review, see the last of Dr. John Bartlit’s “trio of essays” in the Spring ‘03 Green Elephant, which is now posted in the Newsletter section of our web site.
His Latest Quotable Quote
Long-time REP members will recall that we have on occasion reported the bits of wit and wisdom that emanate from the mouth of Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who chairs the Senate Environment Committee. Only House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and California Congresman Tom Doolittle (who together make up our favorite comedy team: Doolittle and DeLay) can be counted on for more reliably colorful and outlandish quotes.
Inhofe’s latest gem came as he announced that “the environmental extremists and their liberal friends in the press would have you believe that [President Bush] does not have a good environmental record, and he has the best record than (sic) any president in history.”
Just more proof that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Speaking of the "Liberal" Press
The Bush administration’s latest Announce It While Nobody’s Looking gambit came on December 23, 2003, when Americans were preoccupied with the holidays.
December 23 was the day when Agriculture Department Undersecretary Mark Rey (who formerly represented the timber industry as a lobbyist) announced the department’s plans to open our Tongass National Forest in Alaska to logging on a grand scale. The 300,000 acres that will now be given over for taxpayer-subsidized timber sales contain many of the Tongass’ oldest and largest trees. Those 300,000 acres contain the Tongass’ most valuable watersheds and wildlife habitat... which wildlife biologists refer to as the “biological heart” of that great temperate rain forest.
The roads that we taxpayers will be forced to build to facilitate money-losing timber sales will affect an area much larger than “merely” those 300,000 acres. The damage to be caused in these still-pristine areas and others that the roads and trucks will pass through on their way from one of the 50 logging projects to another is incomprehensible.
This ruling and its cynical timing were blasted by scores of newspaper editorials, including the following from “Red States”—Texas, Missouri, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio—which supported Bush in 2000.
Timber! Forest ruling is bad for trees and for taxpayers
The administration’s recent decision to open Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to expanded logging offends more than “tree hugger” sensitivities. Yes, the measure is an environmental affont to the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. But it is also an assault on free-market business principles and, perhaps worst of all, a shameless plunder of taxpayers’ pocketbooks.
Houston Chronicle; Dec. 30, 2003
Forest plan shortsighted
Bush opposes former President Bill Clinton’s “roadless rule,” which banned road-building and logging in 58 million pristine acres of national forests. Bush’s Forest Service is pushing its own rule, one with big holes that logging trucks will have no difficulty driving through.
Kansas City Star; Dec. 23, 2003
Sabotaging the Tongass
As if to confirm that it remains immune to environmental appeals and determined to pursue its never-ending rollbacks of environmental laws, the Bush administration moved stealthily the day before Christmas Eve to gut protections of the endangered Tongass National Forest. Its deceptive description of that action, and the gratuitous political payoff inherent in it to Alaska’s chief Republican politicians, underscores the lamentable nature of the action.
Chattanooga Times Free Press; Jan. 2, 2004
Flying under Santa’s sleigh
There’s also a lot for taxpayers not to like... Taxpayers for Common Sense...noted that the Tongass “is already one of the biggest money losers in the national forest system.” Exempting the Tongass from the roadless rule will only increase the taxpayer burden for highly subsidized road construction and timber extraction.
The U.S. Forest Service is failing to maintain the 5,000 miles of roads open in the Tongass. Opening more will only add to the taxpayer burden. Between 1998 and 2001, taxpayers subsidized new road construction in the Tongass by nearly $23 million. Unlike some gifts, this one will keep on taking—from taxpayers, at least—for years to come.
Lakeland (FL) Ledger; Dec. 28, 2003
Steward’s folly
The Bush administration has taken the wrong road, abandoning its responsibility to safeguard Alaska’s natural resources for future generations.
Call it the Christmas Tree Caper. Two days before Christmas, when the nation’s mind was on other things, the Bush administration announced its final decision to exempt the Tongass National Forest from a federal rule that would have protected hundreds of thousands of acres from logging.
The Tongass is an incomparable temperate rain forest that shelters valuable salmon runs and the densest population of bald eagles anywhere.
St. Petersburg Times; January 3, 2004
Taking the Tongass: George Bush is no Teddy Roosevelt
As Christmas approached, the Bush White House quietly announced plans to open 300,000 acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest for logging and other development.
Akron Beacon Journal; Dec. 30, 2003
President wields the ax
The Bush administration has again accessed an irreplaceable environmental wonder for the profit potential to big business.
The latest example is the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The Bush administration exempted the Alaska forest last week from the ban on roads, potentially clearing the way for the timber industry to have at about 300,000 acres of forest.
Nashville Tennessean; Dec. 31, 2003
Save Alaska’s rainforest
Now the Bush administration wants to wreck the rule and the forest.
Letters of protest have been signed by literally hundreds of organizations—not just tourism, sports and environmental groups but also some loggers. The Alaska forests “represent some relatively easy pickings” [but] “the building industry does not need or want to see this wood in our supply chain,” said a spokesman for Hayward Lumber. Others joining the protest include KB Homes and Staples, Inc. The Wall Street Journal lists the three as major users of wood products.
Des Moines Register; October 28, 2003
