Utah Environmental Congress:
In The News

Debate: Timber and mining industries welcome the Bush changes; the environmentalists are disappointed
By Joe Baird
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
 

The schism that divides the two sides in Utah's ongoing public lands debate probably got a little wider Wednesday with the Bush administration's announced overhaul of management rules for the nation's national forests.
   The new rules, which will provide the U.S. Forest Service with more flexibility in managing the forests and will shorten the environmental review process for logging, mining and other commercial projects, were predictably panned by local environmental groups and cheered by businesses.
   "The Forest Management Act was passed in 1976, and the regulations were finalized by the Reagan Administration in 1982. What we literally have here is the Bush administration gutting the environmental regulations of President Reagan," said Kevin Mueller, spokesman for the Utah Environmental Congress. "It sets a new low for environmental protection."
    The UEC and other environmental groups bemoan the elimination of environmental impact studies currently required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which Mueller calls the "essential zoning document for how management occurs on national forest land. If this is an attempt to exclude [forest plans] from NEPA, I guarantee it will be challenged."
    The new rules also relax fish and wildlife protections on national forest lands. Those determinations will be made instead by forest managers at the local level. But timber and mining businesses, and forest service officials, have long decried an environmental review process that can take up to six or seven years to complete. New logging and mining projects could now be green-lighted in two or three years under the new rules.
   "It could make a huge difference," said Terry Thompson, a partner in the Kamas-based Thompson Lumber Co. "During the Clinton administration, we had five lumber companies up here. Now we're down to three, and only two are running strong. Our forests are dying of beetle kill, and they're dying because they've quit harvesting up there.
   "This gives the Forest Service a chance to look at these areas, and instead of going through this lengthy bureaucracy, it can act more quickly - which will improve the health of the forests."
   Bush administration opponents say they're not surprised by Wednesday's announcement, calling the new rules an extension of the administration's earlier "Healthy Forest Initiative." But the result, they say, is the same.
   "This, of course, makes forest management more of a political process than a scientific process," said Wayne Hoskisson, spokesman for the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club. "It's something we've been expecting for a long time. But what this is really is a way of keeping the public away from watching public business."
   Forest Service Associate Chief Sally Collins said the new rules will allow forest managers to respond more quickly to changing conditions, such as wildfires, and emerging threats such as invasive species.
   The new approach could cut costs by as much as 30 percent, she said, noting the new rules require independent audits of all forest plans.
   The audits, to be conducted in some cases by private firms and in others by federal employees, are based on standards frequently used by the timber industry to address environmental issues and ensure compliance with the law, Collins and others said.
   Environmentalists said there is no evidence a corporate model will ensure accountability.
    jbaird@sltrib.com
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    The Associated Press contributed to this story.