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 ----- 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 ----- [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/ ----- [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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]