[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 111 (Thursday, July 24, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9907-S9908]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mrs. Boxer):
  S. 1453. A bill to expedite procedures for hazardous fuels reduction 
activities and restoration in wildlife fire prone national forests and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce a bill to address 
the growing concern over the future of our Nation's Federal forest 
lands. The debate over the administration's proposed Healthy Forests 
Initiative indicates just how important these public lands are and 
calls for Congress to provide visionary leadership over the future of 
these lands. My bill, the Forestry and Community Assistance Act, 
strives to provide that vision through a balance of sound land 
stewardship and immediate active management to address the wildfire 
risk to communities and the forest health needs of our Federal and 
private forest lands.
  The catastrophic fires that plague our western national forests and 
Bureau of Land Management lands are not a new phenomenon. Forest fires 
are part of the natural landscape. However, the intensity of these 
fires and the impacts of them on the urban interface due to past 
management decisions must be appropriately addressed. This a complex 
issue requiring prudent and deliberate thought, not rash reaction that 
cuts the public out from the debate over the future of their Federal 
lands.
  The administration claims that over 190 million acres are in need of 
treatment. By its own admission, treating even a small fraction of 
these acres will take almost a decade. Most people believe it will be 
much longer and could cost billions of dollars. Unfortunately, we do 
not have the time or money to take the broad, unfocused approach the 
administration proposes in H.R. 1904.
  We need to take a step back and work together on a bill that will 
target funding and projects first to help those communities at greatest 
risk from wildfires. My bill, the Forest and Community Assistance Act, 
will expedite fire threat reduction projects on high-risk forest lands 
nearby communities, private property, and municipal watersheds. It 
provides new authority for Federal land management agencies to enter 
into cooperative agreements with local and State government, homeowner 
associations, and local fire districts to plan and execute thinning 
projects across ownership boundaries.
  It would do all of this without compromising environmental laws, the 
public input process, or judicial review. The administration, through 
H.R. 1904, is suggesting that they should be able to get around all of 
these. They are wrong. Those who we entrust with the management of our 
public lands should be held to the highest standards of accountability. 
To end the open dialog with the American public, remove objective 
oversight, and, when necessary, limit review of decisions by the 
judiciary is irresponsible. These are the American public's lands, not 
the lands of a small minority who want to bypass over 30 years of 
environmental laws and jurisprudence.
  The administration continues to argue that these problems have been 
created by unnecessary analysis, appeals, and lawsuits. It still 
boggles the imagination that an agency with a $4.84 billion budget, 
such as the Forest Service, is brought to its knees by thirteen 
lawsuits as recently noted in a May 2003 General Accounting Office 
report.
  Maybe the devil is in the details, but as a former States attorney 
and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of my 
greatest concerns with the House bill, H.R. 1904, is its encroachment 
into the judicial branch. H.R. 1904 not only interferes with how the 
courts should manage their dockets, but it further tips the scales of 
justice in favor of the government. This is not the appropriate role of 
this Congress or of the executive branch. As noted, by my good 
colleague from Alaska, Senator Stevens, in a debate last week on 
another bill, ``the separation of powers is one of the most distinct 
advantages of this democracy. It is the longest living government on 
the face of the Earth today because it is a government of the people, 
by the people, and for the people, but it has a Constitution. That 
Constitution we all swear to uphold and defend. Part of that 
Constitution is the separation of powers concept.'' H.R. 1904 violates 
that concept.

[[Page S9908]]

  The Forestry and Community Assistance Act of 2003 allows for public 
involvement, requires compliance with environmental laws, and allows 
for judicial review, while allowing work to be completed in an 
expedited manner. Further, my bill works towards addressing the health 
of our Nation's Federal lands by placing an emphasis on addressing the 
large-scale insect and disease epidemics that are harbingers of an 
unhealthy forest. The bill would also conserve lands in a healthy 
forest reserve program to provide protection for species at risk. 
Lastly, but not of least significance, the Forestry and Community 
Assistance Act focuses on providing economic and technical assistance 
to rural communities that depend on this Nation's natural resources for 
a living.
  I hope that my colleagues will take a very close look at H.R. 1904 
and recognize that it goes much further than its claims of addressing 
wildfire. I hope my colleagues will recognize that we need to take a 
different approach.
                                 ______