17-05-2003, 02:44 AM
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GAO: Most forest thinning not seriously delayed by appeals
(Aozotorp) wrote in message ...
I'll see your slanted "preservationist" news article and raise you one
slanted news article in the other direction. Americans deserve to be
shown both sides of the issue and decide for themselves. It's rather
interesting that both articles could include some of the real truth
but neither presents all the truth.
May 15, 2003 The Washington Times
Interest groups heavily appeal forest bills
Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Tree-thinning projects to prevent catastrophic forest fires and
widespread insect infestations are being widely appealed by
environmental groups but are rarely upheld, a federal audit released
yesterday said.
Nearly 60 percent of all fuel-reduction activities in national
forests that could be appealed were done so by special interest
groups, according to the report of raw data prepared by the General
Accounting Office (GAO).
Of the nearly 800 decisions to reduce forest-fire fuels, 305
cases covering 1.7 million acres could have been appealed by the
public. More than 80 environmental groups and 39 private individuals
filed appeals on 180 projects.
Because decisions can be appealed multiple times, 267 appeals
were placed on those projects, the GAO said.
The 84 interest groups, which include the Sierra Club, Alliance
for Wild Rockies and Forest Conservation Council, appeared 432 times
as parties to the appeals.
"Of those appealed, 133 decisions required no change before
implementation; 35 required changes; and 12 were withdrawn and it is
unclear whether changes were required," the GAO findings said.
The report demonstrates that the appeals needlessly delay federal
efforts to prevent wildfires, and if the process is not streamlined,
millions of acres will be lost this summer, said Sen. Pete V.
Domenici, New Mexico Republican and chairman of the Senate Energy
Committee.
"The American people will no longer tolerate management by
wildfire," Mr. Domenici said.
Rep. Richard W. Pombo, California Republican and chairman of the
House Resources Committee, said environmental groups are more
interested in preserving a political scare tactic than protecting
forests from wildfires.
"This finding is nothing short of appalling, especially when you
think of the catastrophic losses suffered in last year's horrific fire
season alone," Mr. Pombo said.
"These were not only losses of forest, endangered species, and
wildlife habitat; they were losses of human life and family property,"
he added.
Sean Cosgrove, national forest policy specialist for the Sierra
Club, a liberal environmental organization, called the report
"political spin" commissioned by Republicans to back up forest
legislation headed for a House vote next week.
The House is preparing to consider legislation Tuesday that seeks
to speed up efforts to reduce trees and brush from overgrown forests.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Scott McInnis, Colorado Republican
and chairman of the Resources subcommittee on forests and forest
health, would streamline environmental studies and curtail appeals on
as many as 20 million acres.
"We see these as outright commercial timber sales the Forest
Service wants to call fuel-reduction projects," Mr. Cosgrove said.
The yearlong healthy forest initiative supported by President
Bush would expedite the appeals process to begin thinning projects
throughout the West, particularly in areas designated at
"catastrophic" risk of wildfires.
Mr. Cosgrove said that the groups or individuals who file the
appeals is not the issue, "it's still the same law that allows
citizens ... to be able to have access to their government."
Limiting the appeals process, he said, would be "a ridiculous
abuse of public trust."
Republicans cite congressional testimony by the Forest Service
last year on one particular project as evidence that appeals need to
be limited.
The tree-thinning area was near a metropolitan city and a primary
source of water and was forced to endure an 800-step decision-making
process and took three years to implement.
"After all of the environmental spin about focusing projects on
protecting communities, now we find that environmental groups are
aggressively challenging community protection projects," Mr. McInnis
said.
Last summer's fires scorched nearly 7 million acres costing $1.6
billion, compared with nearly 4 million acres burned in 2001, which
totaled more than $900 million.
The GAO report is proof that national forests need to be more
actively managed, "although watching millions of acres of our precious
forests turned into charcoal last year should have been evidence
enough," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, Nevada Republican.
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