WONDERFUL NEWS!
 
Overwhelmingly the House of Representatives have once again stood up for
fiscal responsibility by ending taxpayer subsidies to build roads in the
Tongass National Forest in Alaska. Final passage of the Chabot/Andrews
amendment, and one like it in the Senate, will save taxpayers close to
$48 million dollars in the next budget year (2007). Please see Press
Release below.
 
In the Upper Midwest:
Voting for this amendment were Representative McCollum (D-MN), Sabo
(D-MN), Ramstad (R-MN), Herseth (D-SD), and Pomeroy (D-ND).
Representative Leach (R-IA) did not vote.
 
Final passage was 237 - 181, with 168 Democrats, 1 Independent, and 68
Republicans supporting.
Please see press release on this great success below - and THANK YOU to
all who called your Congressmembers on this!
 
ROCK ON & ON & ON,
Lois Norrgard
Regional Organizer
Alaska Coalition
10368 Columbus Circle
Bloomington MN 55420
ph/fx: 952.881-7282
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Alaska Coalition è Alaska Rainforest Campaign èAlaska Wilderness League
122 C Street NW, Suite 240, Washington, DC 20001
 


May 18, 2006                                                             
                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Aurah Landau, Alaska Coalition, (907) 723-0241,
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US House Votes to Limit Tongass Roads to Nowhere Subsidies
Taxpayers and America’s Rainforest in Alaska Protected
 
WASHINGTON – In a stunning bipartisan effort, today the House of
Representatives voted to limit money to build logging roads in the
Tongass National Forest. The amendment to the FY2007 Interior
Appropriations bill, sponsored by Reps. Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Robert
Andrews (D-NJ), won by a vote of 237 to 181. The amendment is supported
by a broad coalition of taxpayer and budget watchdog groups, sportsmen
and conservationists.
 
“This is a major step toward saving our last great rainforest and saving
taxpayer money as well,” said Caitlin Hills, Legislative Director with
the Alaska Rainforest Campaign. “The Tongass is home to one of the
government's most ridiculous subsidies, with tens of millions spent on
each year on roads that go nowhere. With the government running huge
budget deficits, members of Congress from both parties realized its good
business to stop the colossal waste of tax dollars in the Tongass.”
 
Subsidized roads used to log the Tongass National Forest have cost
American taxpayers millions – in 2005 alone, the Forest Service spent
$48.5 million on the Tongass logging program and received only $500,000
in revenue. Over the past two decades, losses have reached roughly $1
billion. One recent Tongass road project cost taxpayers $2.9 million,
though the private company using the road to log only paid the treasury
$107,000 for the trees it cut.
 
“The Tongass is the crown jewel of the National Forest system,” said
Aurah Landau, spokeswoman for the Alaska Coalition. “This is a terrific
victory for America’s Rainforest and America’s taxpayers.”
 
Yesterday’s vote comes at a time when the Tongass is under increased
threat. Currently the Forest Service is moving forward with about 100
timber projects in the Tongass National Forest. Until December 2003,
about 50 of these were protected from commercial logging under the
Roadless Rule.
 
“The leadership provided by Reps. Chabot and Andrews was invaluable,”
said Cindy Shogan, Executive Director of the Alaska Wilderness League.
“Americans and Tongass wildlife owe them a huge thanks.”
 
The victory is especially significant because the Forest Service has
recently been caught using federal money to build Tongass roads
illegally. In addition, the agency has been managing the Tongass under an
illegal forest plan that needlessly doubled logging and road building
levels. Those errors are at the heart of the perennial taxpayer losses.
 
The Tongass National Forest is part of the world’s last intact temperate
rainforest. Centuries-old trees provide critical habitat for wolves,
grizzly bears, wild salmon, bald eagles and other wildlife that have
disappeared from many other parts of the country. During the last 45
years, the Alaska timber industry has logged over 1 million acres of
Southeast Alaska’s old-growth forest and built over 5000 miles of logging
roads in the Tongass.
###
See www.alaskacoalition.org/akrain for background on the Chabot/Andrews
Tongass Subsidy Amendment

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