For those of you who do not receive the Sierra Club Currents, I am
forwarding today's issue, full of interesting news.
Jane Clark
[log in to unmask]

Sierra Club Currents--Bush Administration Takes Whack at Wild Forests
Volume I, #61
Tuesday, December 18
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Quote of the Day:

"I think it's ethically repugnant. It's a general principle of medical
ethics that you don't test a chemical on people unless there is the
potential of some direct benefit to the person himself or herself."

--Philip Landrigan, chair of the department of community and preventive
medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in response to the Bush
Administration's consideration of testing pesticides on human patients.
-----
[1] WILD FORESTS: Bush Administration Shuts Off Public Comments, OKs
Logging in Bitterroot National Forest
[2] WILD FORESTS: Forest Service Neuters Clinton "Roadless Rule"
[3] SPRAWL: Legal Experts Warn Utah Officials, Keep It Up and You Might Get
SLAPPed
[4] TAKE ACTION: Stop Administration From Weakening the Clean Air Act
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[1] WILD FORESTS: Bush Administration Shuts Off Public Comments, OKs
Logging in Bitterroot National Forest

Yesterday, the nation's number two forest official issued a
precedent-setting decision that could greatly impact America's National
Forests.  Agriculture Department Undersecretary Mark Rey, a former top
timber industry lobbyist, approved logging on 46,000 acres of forest on
Montana's Bitteroot National Forest, threatening prime habitat for the
imperiled bull trout and other wildlife.

In an ironic twist, the Bush Administration, which has for months been
calling for more local input on forest policy, is cutting off the right for
local citizens to appeal the decision.  The timber sale, which is designed
to log portions of the Bitteroot National Forest that were burned in the
summer of 2000, will allow timber companies to log more than 181 million
board feet from the forest.  The Administration will likely be taken to
Court over the decision, and at this time, environmental groups are
planning to sue for an injunction.

The New York Times wrote a piece about the decision today, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/18/politics/18FORE.html

You can see the Sierra Club's response at:
http://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A1=ind0112&L=ce-scnews-releases

Not only is the Bush Administration shutting out public comments, but they
are caving in to the industry myth that logging is a sensible response to
fires.  Check out the Sierra Club's response to that logic, a report issued
this summer entitled, "Forest Fires: Beyond the Heat and Hype":
http://www.sierraclub.org/logging/report01/

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[2] WILD FORESTS: Forest Service Neuters Clinton "Roadless Rule"

The Forest Service moved yesterday to change Clinton-era policies intended
to protect undeveloped portions of national forests. The revisions, to what
is known as the Roadless Rule, essentially allows logging and road building
in roadless areas subject to the approval of the Forest Service Chief or
Regional Foresters. The new rules eliminate the requirement to prepare an
environmental impact statement prior to building roads in roadless areas,
and the Forest Service no longer has to show "compelling need" to
legitimate road construction.  The Bush Administration's new policy opens
the door to logging in roadless areas such as the Tongass National Forest,
the largest remaining temperate rainforest on earth.

"Instead of listening to the two million public comments in favor of fully
protecting wild forests, the Forest Service is opening the door to the
timber industry to trash our nation's forests for private profit," said
Melanie Griffin, director of the Sierra Club's Land Protection Program.
"The least the Forest Service could do is protect these last wild areas of
our National Forests."

Visit the San Francisco Chronicle's December 17th, article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/12/17/nati
onal1953EST0742.DTL

See the Sierra Club's Press Release regarding the Administration's changes:
http://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind0112&L=ce-scnews-releases&D
=1&T=0&H=1&O=D&F
&S=&P=651
-----

[3] SPRAWL: Legal Experts Warn Utah Officials, Keep It Up and You Might Get
SLAPPed

Utah Governor Mike Leavitt and State Senator Terry Spencer are very angry
that a federal appeals court halted construction of the sprawling Legacy
Highway until a hearing in March.  Spencer has even threatened to hold the
Sierra Club financially responsible for the holdup, even though the Court
clearly declared that any money lost was the state's own fault.

Not only is it pathetic that a public official is trying to intimidate the
Sierra Club out of using the courts to make sure that the law is followed,
but now legal experts are saying the plan may backfire.  George Pring, a
Law Professor in Denver, believes that Spencer's threat is analogous to a
SLAPP--a "strategic lawsuit against public participation."  According to
Professor Pring, these SLAPP suits almost always lose, whereas
counter-suits have a high rate of success.

"SLAPPs are loser lawsuits," said Pring.  "The state of Utah can go
ahead...and foolishly follow a lawsuit through but they will lose.  SLAPPs
are losers, but SLAPPbacks are winners.  We've seen $10 million recoveries.
If the state of Utah and all the others follow through and sue the Sierra
Club, they might very well end up financing the Sierra Club's activities in
Utah for the next 10 years."

For the full article from the Salt Lake City Weekly, search for "Slapping
Together a Legacy" at :
http://www.avenews.com/index.html

-----

[4] TAKE ACTION: Stop Administration From Weakening the Clean Air Act

The Bush Administration, possibly as early as this week, is likely to
announce plans to weaken the Clean Air Act, one of our country's most
effective environmental laws.

The Clean Air Act's New Source Review (NSR) provision requires major
pollution sources to install state-of-the-art pollution controls whenever
they undertake major plant modifications that result in significantly
increased emissions.  The Administration changes will provide electric
utilities, refineries, and other polluters with a host of new loopholes to
avoid installation of modern pollution controls when they modify their
plants and increase pollution.

TAKE ACTION!  Please CALL Mr. James Connaughton, Chairman, White House
Council on Environmental Quality, 202-456-5147. Please call today.  Tell
Mr. Connaughton that:

President Bush needs to uphold the Clean Air Act's New Source Review
provision to protect our health.  Enforcement of New Source Review results
in cleaner air that is vital to the enjoyment, productivity and integrity
of our national parks and wilderness areas. These plants must upgrade their
equipment to meet current Clean Air standards - they should not be given a
pass to pollute. The Clean Air Act has been instrumental in reducing
pollution from refineries and power plants, which pump millions of tons of
pollution into communities.

For more background on New Source Review and the Clean Air Act, please
visit:
http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanair/factsheets/factsheet7-01.asp

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