Bipartisan Alternative Provides True Protection for Communities
and Forests
Washington, DC, May 20, 2003 – President Bush today endorsed a
timber industry-backed bill that would allow virtually unchecked
logging in national forests under the guise of protecting
communities from wildfires. Greenpeace blasted the so-called
“Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003” (H.R. 1904) as yet
another move by the Bush administration to increase logging on
public lands and to limit public participation in the
decision-making process.Ý The U.S. House of Representatives is
expected to vote on H.R. 1904, the legislative equivalent of Bush’s
“Healthy Forests Initiative,” later today.
“President Bush’s speech made my skin crawl,” said Scott Paul of
Greenpeace.Ý “The President is exploiting a serious issue,
protecting homes and lives from forest fires, and twisting it with
bad science and short-term economic interests in order to open up
more forest land to corporations and pay back campaign
contributions.”
H.R. 1904 allows logging in remote intact forests that are
naturally fire-resistant in order to pay for the “thinning” of
forests in populated fire-prone regions.Ý However, the bill fails
to offer any concrete plans to protect communities or to provide
funding for fire prevention measures.
“This is the equivalent of logging Idaho to save homes in
Malibu,” said Paul.Ý “H.R. 1904 isÝ intentionally vague about
community protection because its true goal is not to protect homes
or create healthy forests but to allow the timber industry to log
forests they have long coveted.Ý It’s just another government
subsidy for the timber industry.”
Furthermore, H.R. 1904 undercuts landmark environmental laws,
such as the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), by
removing the public review process and restricting legal challenges
to logging proposals.Ý In his speech, the President repeated the
specious argument that environmental challenges to logging are the
cause of increased fire threat.Ý Just last week the U.S. Government
Accounting Office issued a study showing that 95% of logging plans
proceed without delay even when subject to public scrutiny and
legal challenge.
In contrast, one hour before the
President’s address, Representative Jim Leach (R-IA) held a press
conference to introduce the National Forest Protection and Recovery
Act (NFPRA), bipartisan legislation that provides real solutions
for protecting homes and forests. NFPRA saves American taxpayers
millions of dollars a year by stopping federal timber industry
subsidies and prohibiting logging in national forests.Ý The money
saved would then be used to diversify the economies of communities
dependent on logging revenue, to fund responsible wildfire
prevention projects around residential areas, and to restore
forests.
