[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18773]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   WILDFIRES IN THE WEST RAISE QUESTION ABOUT ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 20, 2000

  Mr. BEREUTER Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues the 
following editorial from the September 8, 2000, Norfolk Daily News. The 
editorial questions the Administration's actions restricting the 
construction of wilderness roads which have allowed preventive measures 
designed to avoid blazing forest fires.

              [From the Norfolk Daily News, Sept. 8, 2000]

    Poetic Justice in Accusations--Clinton Administration Deserves 
                 Criticism for Policy That Aided Fires

       President Clinton is no more to blame for the wildfires 
     ravaging the West than he is responsible for the nation's 
     economic prosperity. But there is a certain poetic justice in 
     political efforts to portray him and Vice President Al Gore 
     as villains in the frightening destruction of thousands of 
     acres of forest.
       Several Western politicians--who, not coincidentally, are 
     Republicans and allies of George W. Bush--have taken 
     particular aim at a sweeping White House executive order 
     preventing the building of large numbers of wilderness roads 
     needed for forest-thinning by the lumber industry. The 
     rationale of the order was that the lumber industry would do 
     critical damage to the forests. But some critics have 
     maintained that, by cutting some smaller trees and removing 
     the underbrush, the industry can help keep forests healthy 
     and prevent small fires from becoming raging blazes.
       Vice President Gore, who is constantly lambasting 
     industries in his presidential campaign for supposed 
     instances of greed and chicanery, was an outspoken supporter 
     of the executive order. Judging by the language he used, his 
     thesis seems to be that making profits from trees is a 
     premeditated and soulless insult to nature. A number of 
     experts--and not just Republicans and industry spokesmen--
     agree, however, that some controlled lumbering activity in 
     these area can be a blessing to nature.
       Mr. Gore's business-bashing rhetoric and other aspects of 
     the Clinton roadless policy suggest it was at least as much 
     as effort to score political points as an effort to protect 
     wilderness. The administration, as a result, seems to have 
     earned the politically motivated accusations being tossed its 
     way during this dreadful summer of fires.
       In the end, of course, the fires are mainly a result of a 
     very hot, very dry summer and of unfortunate no-burn federal 
     policies that scarcely made their first appearance when 
     President Clinton was elected.
       President Clinton and Vice President Gore simply happen to 
     have been in office when the fires occurred, just as they 
     simply happened to be in office when the end of the Cold War, 
     high-tech productivity and Federal Reserve anti-inflation 
     policies helped create good economic times.

     

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