[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1160-E1161]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______


                            HON. JIM RAMSTAD

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 25, 1996

  Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for an 
amendment offered by Representative Furse to the Interior 
appropriations bill that was voted on last week and would have repealed 
the emergency timber salvage provisions enacted last summer.
  I was in Minnesota on a leave of absence due to illness and unable to 
be here for the vote, but had I been here I would have voted in favor 
of Representative Furse's amendment.

[[Page E1161]]

  Like many of my colleagues, I voted for the original emergency timber 
salvage provisions because I believe that salvage logging, when used 
properly, can be an important tool in forest management. Unfortunately, 
I am disappointed with the implementation of the law and have come to 
realize it was too broadly written.
  I am concerned that waiving the environmental laws that would 
ordinarily apply to timber sales increases the strain timber, in 
general, have on the environment.
  I am also concerned that there may not be the economic benefits to 
salvage sales that we had hoped. While I understand it is the 
environmental regulations and analyses that are blamed for much of the 
added costs to timber sales, and that by waiving these requirements the 
sales will be more economical, I am concerned that taxpayers will still 
lose money on the sales.
  For these reasons, I would have voted for the Furse amendment to the 
Interior appropriations bill.

                          ____________________