From: Steve Holmer <wafcdc@igc.apc.org>
Subject: WAFC Rpt. From Washington - October 13, 1997
Report From Washington
October 13, 1997
Vol. 7, No. 5;
Western Ancient Forest Campaign
1025 Vermont Ave. NW, 3rd Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: 202/879-3188
Fax: 202/879-3189
wafcdc@igc.org
President Should Veto Interior Appropriations Bill
Please contact the following officials and urge the
Administration to veto the Interior bill and insist on an end to
purchaser road credits.
Franklin Raines, Director, Office of Management and
Budget, 202/395-4840, 202/395-3888 fax, Old
Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20503
CEQ Director Katie McGinty, 202/456-6224, 202/456-
2710 fax, Old Executive Office Building, Rm. 360,
Washington, D.C. 20501
Environmental Rollbacks:
The conservation community, the media, and the public ought to
be asking: "Why is the Congress acting to roll back the laws that
safeguard our environment?" During the last campaign, virtually every
candidate opposed gutting our environmental laws. Yet look at what is
going on in these final weeks of legislative action this year (the
Congress plans to adjourn in November):
ESA: The Kempthorne/Chafee bill, with Administration support,
would roll back fundamental protections for endangered wildlife.
Among its most egregious provisions is a weakening of Section 7, the
"checks and balances" in the ESA which insure that timber sales and
other Forest Service actions at least have some review by other
agencies. If we learned anything from the Logging Rider, it was that
"self consultation" by the Forest Service is a sure road to Forest Hell.
This bill has passed Committee and is pending in the Senate.
QLG: The Quincy Library bill would be a Congressional
mandate to increase logging in three CA national forests far beyond
even what the Forest Service wants, including logging of old growth.
QLG is justified for fire protection, but WAFC's study concludes that it
will increase fire danger and put firefighters at risk as well as harm the
forest ecosystem. QLG is expected to be marked up in the Senate
Natural Resources Committee October 22.
Timber Roads: After amendments to end the purchaser road
credit and cut appropriated funds for timber roads were defeated by the
narrowest of margins in both the House and Senate, the conferees on
the Interior Appropriations bill thumbed their noses at everyone and
voted to remove any cap at all on purchaser road credits. Belly up to
the trough, boys, take whatever you want! The conference report
containing unlimited timber road subsidies will be on the House and
Senate floors the week of.
Fast Track: Proposals by President Clinton and Congressional
GOP leaders for "fast track" authority for new trade agreements such
as the extension of NAFTA to Chile and the Multilateral Agreement on
Investment (MAI) are actually a step backwards from the inadequate
environmental language of NAFTA. Under current proposals, the only
environmental provisions that could be fast tracked would be roll-backs
in environmental requirements where they were determined to be
"barriers" to free trade.
The Congress is in recess through Oct. 20. This would be a
great time to use letters-to-the-editor, town meetings, and visits with
your lawmakers to ask, "What's going on here? Why the roll
backs?"
Jim Jontz
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
Western Ancient Forest Campaign
1025 Vermont Ave. NW 3rd Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
202/879-3188
202/879-3189 fax
wafcdc@igc.org