Here's a lengthy message I thought might interest ECOFEMers.
Stefanie
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
REASONS FOR THE NATIONAL DAY OF OUTRAGE
The 104th Congress has passed or is considering anti-
environmental laws that threaten public lands and threaten to repeal
thirty years of legislation protecting the environment. A June 22,
1995, San Francisco Chronicle editorial stated: "Now we know how
the Republican Congress is going to balance the budget: auction off
the nation's most valuable natural resources, along with its own
votes, to the highest bidder." Recent legislation, it stated, "is part
and parcel of a giant national rummage sale, the effect of which will
be to privatize, commercialize, pollute and consume America's
natural heritage. It is a sell-out, pure and simple." Specifically, the
104th Congress is a threat to:
NATIONAL FORESTS
The "Logging Without Laws" amendment to the FY 1995
Rescissions bill, passed by both Houses of Congress, would suspend
all laws governing logging on public lands and prevent citizen
appeals and lawsuits to prevent illegal government actions.
The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the nation's
largest and last intact coastal temperate rainforest. Sen. Ted
Stevens (R-AK) intends to offer Appropriations amendments that
mandate unsustainable logging levels and suspend environmental
laws undermining the Tongass Timber Reform Act passed by
Congress in 1990.
Under the guise of a "forest health" crisis, the Senate is
considering legislation (S. 391) sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
that creates "extraction zones" for logging where normal citizen
involvement processes and environmental reviews are severely
curtailed.
House Appropriations Committee members have proposed cutting
funding for regional ecosystem management initiatives in the
Columbia Basin and the Sierra Nevada, two interagency initiatives
that include comprehensive ecosystem study and assessment to
provide for science-based resource management of forests and a
range of endangered species.
NATIONAL PARKS
A House budget proposal could lead to the closure of more than
one-third of all 368 National Park areas within five years. Another
bill, H.R. 260, would establish a politically-appointed commission to
identify parks for possible closure.
Budget resolutions passed by the House and Senate call for a five
year moratorium on the acquisition of any new land for national
parks, national wildlife refuges and national forests.
An amendment to the House Interior Appropriations measure will
transfer management of the newly created Mojave National Preserve
by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 back to the Bureau
of Land Management.
ALL PUBLIC LANDS
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) has introduced the Livestock Grazing
Act (S.852) to turn over the management of grazing on public lands
to the livestock industry. The bill ends public participation in
grazing decisions, and requires that public lands be managed to
increase livestock production to the exclusion of other uses such as
recreation and wildlife habitat.
Rep. Wes Cooley (R-OR) plans to introduce legislation to turn
over 3 million acres of federal lands to the State of Oregon to allow
more logging on those lands. The Association of O&C Counties
and timber interests support the effort in order to ease the logging
restrictions recently imposed after decades of overcutting. Logging
levels would rise to 500 million board feet per year from the 211
mmbf now allowed under the Northwest Forest Plan.
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND WILDLIFE
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a cornerstone of America's
environmental laws which helped bring back the Bald Eagle from
near extinction. The ESA protects wildlife habitat such as wetlands
and forests, and plants that provide life-saving medicines. Both the
House and Senate are working to rewrite the ESA. On June 20,
the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee passed a
moratorium on listing of endangered species until Sept. 30, 1996,
suspending one the ESA's key provisions to provide protection for
species on the brink of extinction.
The House Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee is
scheduled to approve (on June 27) legislation (H.R. 1675) sponsored
by Rep. Don Young (R-AK) that would weaken management of the
National Wildlife Refuge System and encourage more harmful
commercial and recreational activities on federal refuges.
The House Interior Appropriations Committee has approved a
measure to severely cut the National Biological Survey which is a
research project to document America's biodiversity and provide
federal agencies essential information to more effectively manage
public lands and conserve the nation's wildlife.
OCEANS
The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved lifting
the longstanding ban on oil drilling off America's shoreline.
ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, called "America's Serengeti"
because the assemblage of wildlife is unequalled in the United
States, would be opened to oil drilling by a backdoor move in the
budget resolutions passed by the House and Senate. The area
proposed for oil development in the Budget is the "biological heart"
of the Arctic Refuge.
FISHERIES
Across the West, native salmon and trout stocks are rapidly
declining due to lost or degraded habitat. Despite this fact,
Congress continues to approve measures promoting increased
logging and grazing that will damage the remaining critical habitats
for native fish stocks found in Ancient Forests and roadless areas.
CLEAN WATER & WETLANDS
A weakened Clean Water Act, passed by the House, would
permit increased pollution and allow destruction of over half of the
nation's remaining wetlands.
SOUND RESOURCE ECONOMICS
Government subsidies to industries that use public lands cost the
taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Building
logging roads and other destructive subsidies cost the taxpayer twice
over when the cost of restoring damaged streams and paying
unemployment to out of work fishermen is considered.
The Mining Law of 1872 allows public land to be turned over to
mining companies for $5.00 per acre or less through a process called
patenting. Just last year the Barrick mining company paid $5,100
for public land in Nevada and associated minerals valued at over
$10 billion. Efforts to reform the antiquated Mining Law of 1872
and give Americans a fair share of mineral revenues from federal
land have been bogged down by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID).
LAW
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources is planning to rewrite
the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to "streamline the regulatory
process." The changes proposed by the Committee permit more
exploitation of public lands and limit citizen involvement in land
management decisions.
WILDERNESS
Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate (H.R. 1745
and S. 884) which not only threaten the unique red rock wilderness
resources of Utah but also endanger wilderness areas nationwide by
undermining longstanding protective provisions of The Wilderness
Act of 1964.
Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY) and Rep. Jim Hansen (R-UT) have
announced their intention to introduce legislation to give the
public's federally owned lands and minerals to the states.
RURAL COMMUNITIES
The bombing of a Forest Service office in Nevada and threats
against federal agency employees have created a tense atmosphere
across the West. Rather than condemning this violence and
demanding a full investigation, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) and Rep.
Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) have stated their support for the militia
and county rule movements, in particular, groups who have
espoused the use of violence to resolve resource conflicts.
Compiled by Western Ancient Forest Campaign, 202/939-3324
