[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 7206-7207]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          ENCOURAGE THE PRESIDENT TO PROTECT NATIONAL FORESTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 3, 2001

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, by May 4, 2001, the 
Bush administration must publicly reveal its plans to either protect 
forests or continue to allow the construction of roads into our 
nation's remaining pristine forest areas.
  For the past thirty years, Congress has been part of the debate over 
protecting national forests from activities that put economic interests 
above ecological concerns. We have had debate after debate on the 
merits of a 380,000 mile road network, the role of taxpayer dollars in 
expanding the existing network, and the appropriate balance between 
preservation and multiple-use.
  News reports indicate that the Bush Administration plans to dilute or 
overturn the historic roadless conservation plan proposed under the 
Clinton Administration.
  Over 1 million Americans submitted comments to the Forest Service 
during the lengthy public comment period in which over 600 public 
hearings were held, including at least one hearing for each national 
forest that might be affected by the policy.
  More Americans spoke out in favor of this historic conservation plan 
than on any other federal rule-making in history. The public is clear--
it wants to protect America's remaining pristine forests.
  The problem that the Bush Administration faces on this issue is that 
some very powerful--if narrow--special interests do not want what the 
public wants. They want new roads built in the remaining 31 percent of 
our national forests where today there are no roads for the purposes of 
logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling.
  Mr. Speaker, these special interests are not concerned about the 
tradeoff between the long-term ecological damage caused by those 
activities and the very limited amount of natural resources available 
for extraction if new roads are to be built. They are not concerned 
about the fact that more communities depend on fresh water from 
national forests than from extractive industries. They are not 
concerned that the recreational value of our national forests is of 
critical importance to the majority of Americans and that roadbuilding 
often conflicts with recreational opportunities.
  Congress has learned, after many pitched battles, that the public 
does not want to pay for constructing new roads into the remaining 
portions of our national forests that are undisturbed. My fear is that 
the Administration has not learned this.
  With all due respect to the President, his administration should 
spend more time protecting America's environment and public lands and 
less time protecting the special interest corporations who clearly have 
captured his attention.
  But I am pleased to say that over 130 of my Democratic Colleagues 
have joined me in urging President Bush to immediately implement the 
forest conservation policy that was finalized on January 12--without 
loopholes and without delays. In March, 22 Republican colleagues wrote 
their own letter to the President with the same message.
  The American public should know that some of us in Congress have 
heard their appeal on protecting the remaining forests in which there 
are no roads. But they need to be equally aware that the Administration 
has already shown its willingness to ignore public sentiment in its 
zeal to please its special interest allies. President Bush abandoned 
his pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, for example, and he appears to 
be close to abandoning his pledge not to drill for oil off of Florida's 
protected coastline.
  We must assume then that he will be willing to ignore public 
sentiment again and open our remaining pristine forests to road-
building despite the public's opposition to such a move.
  We are sending a clear message to the President to protect our 
remaining forests. We hope that he will heed our call and the call of 
the American people.
  I submit for the Record a copy of the letter that I and over 130 of 
my colleagues sent to President Bush on Wednesday, May 2, 2001.

                                Congress of the United States,

                                      Washington, DC, May 1, 2001.
     The President,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: By May 4, 2001, your Administration 
     must publicly articulate its policy on the protection of 
     roadless areas in our national forests. There are few public 
     land issues of greater import to the majority of Americans. 
     Many of us in Congress care deeply about carefully managing 
     America's critical natural resources and protecting the 
     remaining pristine areas in our national forests. The 
     Roadless Area Conservation Policy finalized by the Forest 
     Service on January 12, 2001 represents a balanced, 
     scientifically based, publicly supported policy. We strongly 
     urge you to immediately implement the policy as finalized, 
     without exceptions or loopholes.
       As you know, the Roadless Area Conservation Policy will 
     protect 58.5 million acres of pristine national forest land. 
     This balanced policy protects the remaining pristine regions 
     of our national forests from logging, mining, and energy 
     exploration, while allowing those activities to proceed on 
     the majority of national forest lands. Currently, our 
     national forests contain over 383,000 miles of roads. The 
     forest conservation policy does not limit public access on 
     the current road infrastructure or regulate off-road vehicle 
     use. Nor does the policy limit recreation opportunities. The 
     policy does allow the Forest Service to concentrate its 
     efforts on addressing the tremendous maintenance backlog 
     instead of constructing expensive and controversial new roads 
     which will add to the maintenance burden in the future.

[[Page 7207]]

       America's leading scientists have repeatedly informed us 
     that the roadless portions of our national forests are not 
     only the most significant habitat for fish and wildlife, but 
     are critical sources of clean drinking water for over 60 
     million Americans. As our population grows and open space 
     succumbs to development, watersheds on public lands are 
     increasingly important.
       The forest conservation policy is the result of an 
     unprecedented public input process and has overwhelming 
     public support. Claims by opponents of this policy that it is 
     just an 11th hour regulation by the previous Administration 
     are unfounded. The debate over roadless area management has 
     been fought in the courts and the Congress for over 30 years. 
     The path towards an affirmative policy on roadless area 
     management began in January 1998 with the Forest Service's 
     announcement of a proposed road-building moratorium. The 
     final policy released on January 12, 2001 received more 
     public comment than any other federal rulemaking process in 
     our nation's history. It is a product of over 600 public 
     meetings, including several in every single national forest 
     in the nation. At its conclusion, the agency had received 
     input from over 1.6 million Americans, the vast majority of 
     whom supported the policy, with a remarkable level of support 
     for the inclusion of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.
       The Roadless Area Conservation Policy is not a partisan 
     issue. It is about the future of our national forests and our 
     ability as a nation to manage them in a sustainable manner 
     and to the benefit of all the diverse interests who seek 
     their use. We implore you not to cash in on the short-term 
     and short-sighted opportunity to extract resources from our 
     pristine forests in a manner that will permanently diminish 
     them. Instead, we urge you to take the opportunity now before 
     you to preserve these forests for future generations.
       We appreciate your consideration of our views and we look 
     forward to working with you to ensure that America's great 
     forest legacy will be preserved.
           Sincerely,
         George Miller, Nick Rahall, Jay Inslee, Maurice Hinchey, 
           Frank Pallone, James Moran, Richard Gephardt, David 
           Bonior, Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi, Ellen Tauscher, 
           Mark Udall.



       Original cosponsors continued: J. Maloney, Blagojevich, 
     Doggett, Kilpatrick, Capuano, Levin, Clement, Baldwin, 
     Roybal-Allard, Clay, McKinney, Kennedy, Delahunt, T. Udall, 
     Allen, Rangel, Hoyer, Honda, Harman, Eshoo, Schiff, Neal, 
     Olver, Holt, Lee, Millender-McDonald, W. Jefferson, John 
     Lewis, D. Price, S. Brown, Borski, E.B. Johnson, A. Smith, 
     Tierney, Filner, Frank, McGovern, DeGette, Kildee, Markey, 
     DeLauro, Ford, Farr.
       Clayton, Solis, Evans, McCollum, Napolitano, Wexler, 
     Crowley, Hastings, Blumenauer, McDermott, Nadler, Gordon, 
     Matsui, Waters, Boucher, D. Davis, Towns, Woolsey, Rivers, 
     Baldacci, Pascrell, Larsen, Hoeffel, Rush, Serrano, Kaptur, 
     Stark, Conyers, Moore, Capps, Lantos, Sanders, Ackerman, S. 
     Davis, Wu, McNulty, LaFalce, Berkley, Larson, Cummings, 
     Hooley, Menendez, Rothman, Velazquez, B. Thompson.
       Abercrombie, Watt, Berman, Becerra, Matheson, Lowey, 
     Kucinich, Deutsch, Schakowsky, Mink, Sanchez, C. Brown, 
     Meehan, Scott, DeFazio, Gonzalez, Wynn, Bentsen, Langevin, 
     Green, Gutierrez, Payne, Jones, Meek, Jackson, Jr., Hinojosa, 
     Reyes, C. Maloney, C. McCarthy, Fattah, Sabo, Norton, K. 
     McCarthy, Weiner, Andrews, Slaughter.

     

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