[GreenYes] [Fwd: environmental alert]

[Myra Nissen <myracycl@inreach.com>]

Forwarded without comment.

-------- Original Message -------

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*Wild Alert
*September 10, 2002
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Sens. Craig (R-ID) and Domenici (R-NM) today introduced a damaging rider 
to the Senate Interior Appropriations Bill.  It would repeal 
environmental laws, eliminate citizen appeals, and render judicial 
review meaningless on 10 million acres of our National Forest lands. 

Your Senators' votes, which could come as early as this Thursday, will 
be crucial.  Even if you've already taken action on this issue, we ask 
you to phone or fax your Senators immediately.  Phone: 202-224-3121 (see 
talking points, below) or send a fax from:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1846 


BACKGROUND: There may be several fire-related proposals, likely in the 
form of amendments to the FY2003 Interior Appropriations bill.  Some 

will be good, some less so.  Senator Craig's, the very worst of them, 
would put into law the most egregious provisions of President Bush's 
so-called "Healthy Forests Initiative."

Though you are probably familiar with the Bush wildfire plan by now, 
here are its major provisions:

-Eliminate or greatly limit citizens' ability to appeal and litigate 
decisions on fuels treatment and so-called "restoration" projects;

-Focus thinning work in remote, roadless areas far from where the danger 
lies-places where people's homes abut the forest;

-Allow "stewardship" contracting deals that will let the Forest Service 
give timber companies big, healthy trees (the ones most resistant to 
fire) to help pay for removal of hazardous fuels.

To create some semblance of a rationale for this draconian approach, the 
Administration cooked up the case that conservationists' appeals of 
agency decisions has slowed fire reduction projects on our National 
Forests.  The charge is untrue and th
e investigative arm of the Congress 
said so. 

The point here is this: The President intends to give the industry
exactly what it wants: free rein in our National Forests under the 
shabby disguise of fire risk reduction.  For that to happen, the public 
must be got out of the way.  And the President needs the
Congress to get that done.  Nothing in this plan will help protect 
Americans who live in and near our forests from the kind of destruction 
we saw in this long fire-pocked summer.  It's the sort of plan only a 
timber baron could love.  And they all do.

For sheer destructive potential, this timber-industry relief scheme 
makes the infamous Salvage Rider of 1995 seem tepid.  Please contact 
your U.S. Senators and convey this message: Vote against any amendment 
that would either waive environmental laws or open our National Forests 
to unbridled logging.

TAKE ACTION : You can send a fax immediately from
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1846 


If you'd like to send your own fax, click here to get your Senators' fax 
numbers. http://tws.ctsg.com/wac/legDirectory

If you'd prefer to call, you can get your Senators' Washington, D.C., 
offices at 202-224-3121.


TALKING POINTS: Urge your Senators to oppose ANY amendment to the 
Interior Appropriations bill that would:

-waive or weaken environmental laws, such as the National Environmental 
Policy Act;

-limit in any way the public's right to participate in forest management 
decisions, including appeals and litigation;

-open our forests to increased logging under the guise of fire reduction.

You can send a fax directly from
http://www.w
ilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1846 


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For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm

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An archive of past WildAlerts can be found at
http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm