"Harry Hope" <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:ofqls0prb12i187s5oj27r3mcom72vsul9@4ax.com...
"With Bush's anti-environmental forest policy, you can't blame him for
trying to hide behind other news, but not even Scrooge would unveil
these regulations," Udall said.
"These regulations, being offered two days before Christmas, cut the
public out of the forest planning process, will inspire many more
lawsuits and provide less protection for wildlife. It's a radical
overhaul of forest policy."
Just before leaving office, Clinton finalized a set of regulations
that emphasized ecosystem health and wildlife protection over
commercial exploitation; President Bush reversed those rules just
before Thanksgiving 2002.
One-quarter of U.S. species at risk of extinction -- including more
than 25 species of trout and salmon -- live in national forests,
according to the conservation group NatureServe.
Large animals such as grizzly bears, wolves and elk depend on the
forests' large, undisturbed swaths of land for habitat.
"The end result of all this is there will be more logging and less
conservation of wildlife," said Mike Leahy, natural resources counsel
for Defenders of Wildlife.
"They're not going to provide enough land for these species to hang
on."
National forests are also an increasingly popular tourist destination
for tens of millions of Americans.
The number of visitors to national forests doubled over the past eight
years, said Chris Wood, a Clinton administration Forest Service
official who is now vice president of the conservation group Trout
Unlimited.
From The Washington Post, 12/23/04:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20752-2004Dec22.html
New Rules Issued for National Forests
Some Environmental Protections Eased
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 23, 2004; Page A01
The Bush administration issued comprehensive new rules yesterday for
managing the national forests, jettisoning some environmental
protections that date to Ronald Reagan's administration and putting in
place the biggest change in forest-use policies in nearly three
decades.
The regulations affect recreation, endangered-species protections and
livestock grazing, among other things, on all 192 million acres of the
country's 155 national forests.
You know.....it would always be nice to hear why the administration felt
this was required. I often find after research that a good many of these
changes make a lot of sense. For example Bush was skewered when he
relaxed regulations affecting power plants. Nothing he did allowed the
plants to increase pollution. The old rules said that the plants couldn't
be upgraded unless they installed expensive pollution control
equipment......as it wasn't economically viable most of these plants just
continued to operate. The Bush plan allowed upgrades without installing
pollution equipment. Typically the upgrades allow the plant to operate
more efficiently with newer generators that produce 5-8% more power. This
means that effectively pollution is reduced on a per kilowatt basis and
perhaps construction of a new power plant is avoided as well.
____________________________________________________________
Another part of the Bush Crime Family legacy.
Harry
.
