Bush’s fruitcake recipe
Just in time for
the holidays, the Bush administration released its fruitcake recipe. It’s a
recipe for disaster in the West.
Sweeping changes
in regulations governing operations in 155 national forests could literally gut
them.
The changes
would:
Exempt the U.S.
Forest Service from producing environmental impact statements when changes are
proposed to master plans that govern logging, use of motorized vehicles,
recreational activities and ski area expansions.
Drop the
requirement that forest planners consult with a panel of scientists when
drafting management plans.
Allow forest
supervisors to approve projects that run counter to forest plans already in
place.
Eliminate
requirements that projects don’t harm wildlife populations or biodiversity.
Require the
Forest Service to ignore public comment by postcard, from e-mails or other mass
mailings.
Require that any
public comment focus on laws, regulations or policies.
The recipe, while
tasty to the industries that created it, would lay waste to Western forests and
their wild inhabitants.
The
administration claims its fruitcake will save $300 million and protect rural
communities from forest fires. As part of the Bush Administration’s new spoils
system whose motto is "Pay, play, or perish," the cake won’t be
pretty.
Forest
supervisors will face pressure from powerful political contributors to approve
pet projects—any owls be damned—or face professional banishment.
Forest
supervisors will face pressure to embrace crackpot theories like one gaining
popularity in Colorado where some claim that city reservoirs will get more water
if more land is stripped of trees. In other words, trees should be cut because
they steal water that people want.
The Federal
Register will carry the new regulations this week, opening a 90-day comment
period.
On the off chance
they might be counted, comments may be sent to USFS Chief Dale Bosworth at P.O.
Box 96090, Washington, D.C. 20090-6090, or e-mailed to [email protected].
Bush’s
fruitcake ought to be sent back to the kitchen. It’s utterly inedible.