The responsibility for killing legislation designating a 106,000-acre Wild Sky wilderness in Washington state belongs squarely on the doorstep of House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, said REP America, the national grassroots organization of Republicans for environmental protection.
"Congressman Pombo doesn't like wilderness protection and he never has. He based his opposition to the 106,000-acre Wild Sky bill on a fundamental misreading of the Wilderness Act that wilderness opponents have been trotting out since the 1970s," said Jim DiPeso, REP America policy director.
"Pombo based his opposition on the so-called 'purity doctrine,' a tiresome excuse that wild lands must be utterly untouched by man before they qualify for wilderness protection. That interpretation is hogwash. The purity doctrine was specifically rejected by Congress in landmark wilderness bills passed in the 1970s and by the law's conservative Republican co-author, Congressman John Saylor, who surely knew more about the law's intent than Pombo does," DiPeso said.
"The 106,000-acre Wild Sky legislation enjoyed widespread local support from Republicans and Democrats. The bill was the product of careful, inclusive negotiations. Unfortunately, an ideologically rigid congressman has chosen to flout the public's wishes and block the bill. Richard Pombo should know this: we who support wilderness protection will not rest until the Wild Sky is added to the National Wilderness Preservation System," DiPeso said.
