House Dems criticize Bush defense of forest road ban
Date: 03-May-02
Country: USA
Author: Christopher Doering
Democrats on a House Resources subcommittee criticized the U.S. Forest Service for failing to vigorously defend the road ban in court challenges brought by Boise Cascade Corp . and the state of Idaho. They also accused the agency of dragging its heels after promising to draft its own revised version of the rule.
"Many of us are surprised that the administration is so slow on moving forward on this very, very important rule," said Rep. Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat.
Several lawmakers and environmental groups have said the Bush administration has backed down from an earlier promise to vigorously defend the road ban in court by side-stepping the issue and not make any significant changes to the rule.
The administration said last May that it would move forward with the plan to ban new roads in forests, but also would modify the rule to allow local input so changes are made on a forest-by-forest basis.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge in Boise, Idaho, blocked the Bush administration from carrying out the Clinton ban on building roads in federal forests. Lodge called the Administration's proposal to modify the rule a "Band Aid approach."
The case was appealed by environmental groups and is now before a federal appeals court in San Francisco.
"It was laughable" how the administration defended the rule in court, said Rep. Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat.
The Forest Service's half-hearted attempt to defend the road ban is a way to "lose the trust of the American people," Inslee added.
"It's been almost a year to the date that you indicated you are going to put a hold on going forward on the new rule," he said.
Lawmakers said the Forest Service can't afford to build additional roads, citing a $7 billion backlog of projects already in need of attention. The Forest Service is a division of the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Days before leaving office in January 2001, the Clinton administration issued a ban on new roads from nearly 60 million acres (24 million hectares) of forest land. The rule was opposed by U.S. timber, mining and oil companies, which cannot move in heavy equipment without roads.
Mark Rey, USDA undersecretary for natural resources, told the panel that the Forest Service will issue proposed rule changes in "late fall" of 2002.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman defended the Forest Service, blaming the Clinton administration for poor environmental planning.
"I thought the criticism was pretty unfair for (our handling of) the roadless rule today," Veneman said after the hearing. "The criticisms basically didn't recognize that it is in the court system. We have dealt with the issue in a way that is responsible and balanced," she said.
The Bush administration also has yet to issue a proposal to create a pilot program for forests, in which local groups would be given planning authority.
At a hearing last week, a Forest Service official said the agency is working to craft a charter forest plan, but that it does not have a timetable when it will be released.
