Tongass Roads Funding Cut Fiscally, Environmentally Responsible

June 27, 2007

The House took a great step forward for conservation and fiscal responsibility by approving an amendment Tuesday cutting off money to build logging roads in the Tongass National Forest, Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) said today.

"For too long, the American people have been subsidizing wanton mismanagement of our largest and wildest national forest, which this year is celebrating the centennial of its establishment by Theodore Roosevelt. We're proud of the 72 Republicans who remembered what true conservatism means and supported this important amendment," REP Government Affairs Director David Jenkins said.

To support uneconomical Tongass timber sales, which have cost taxpayers more than $800 million in the last 25 years, the Forest Service has built 5,000 miles of logging roads in the Tongass, enough to stretch from Anchorage to Miami. The Forest Service faces a $100 million maintenance backlog on Tongass logging roads.

"In short, the Forest Service is building logging roads that it cannot afford to facilitate timber sales that don't pay their own way. This makes no business sense at all," REP Policy Director Jim DiPeso said.

"Equally bad, the roads and timber sales have damaged the incomparable Tongass, a rare temperate rainforest that supports abundant sport and commercial salmon fisheries, world-class big game hunting, spectacular scenery, and a growing tourism industry. Instead of propping up a marginal timber industry, the Forest Service would do more good for Alaska and the nation by protecting the Tongass' unique treasures of natural beauty and vibrant wildlife," Jenkins said.

Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH) sponsored the amendment to the House Interior appropriations bill.

Republicans who voted for the amendment included:

AL – Spencer Bachus, Jo Bonner
AZ – Jeff Flake
CA – Brian Bilbray, John Campbell, Ed Royce
CT – Christopher Shays
DE – Michael Castle
FL – Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ric Keller, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Cliff Stearns, C.W. Bill Young
GA – Nathan Deal, Tom Price
IL – Judy Biggert, Tim Johnson, Mark Kirk, Peter Roskam
KS – Jerry Moran
KY – Ed Whitfield
MD – Roscoe Bartlett
MI – Vern Ehlers, Candice Miller, Fred Upton, Tim Walberg
MN – Jim Ramstad
MO – Todd Akin
NC – Howard Coble, Virginia Foxx, Walter Jones, Sue Myrick
NE – Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry
NJ – Michael Ferguson, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, Frank LoBiondo, Jim Saxton, Christopher Smith
NY – Peter King, Randy Kuhl
OH – Steve Chabot, Paul Gillmor, Jim Jordan, Steve LaTourette, Deborah Pryce, Jean Schmidt, Patrick Tiberi
PA – Charles Dent, Phil English, Jim Gerlach, Tim Murphy, Todd Platts
SC – J. Gresham Barrett, Henry Brown, Bob Inglis
TN – Marsha Blackburn, David Davis
TX – Jeb Hensarling, Michael McCaul, Ron Paul, Ted Poe
VA – Tom Davis, Frank Wolf
WI – Thomas Petri, Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner
WA – Dave Reichert
WV – Shelley Moore Capito