[Peakoil] State of Play: Bush drives a bulldozer through laws protecting the wilderness

[roland mccall]

www.thetimes.co.uk

America

May 07, 2005



Bush drives a bulldozer through laws protecting the wilderness
>From Roland Watson in Washington



PRESIDENT BUSH has enraged environmentalists by opening protected millions 
of acres of national forest lands to logging, mining and energy interests.
The wilderness, which covers an area bigger than the whole of Great Britain, 
was placed beyond the reach of developers or any mechanical vehicle by one 
of President Clinton’s final acts in office.



But Mr Bush has taken the potentially far-reaching decision to allow 
roadbuilding in the huge tracts of land, which account for a third of 
America’s national forests.

The Administration argues that giving greater access to the untouched land 
will allow the US Forest Service to reduce the risk of wildfires by better 
maintaining the woodlands. Roads into the remote areas would also provide 
access for firefighters to fight blazes.

The Administration was committed to “protecting and restoring the health and 
beauty of our national forests”, Mike Johanns, the US Agriculture Secretary, 
said. But environmental groups said that the decision, like the US rejection 
of the Kyoto treaty and Mr Bush’s plans to drill for oil in the Alaskan 
wildlife refuge, relegated the environment below energy interests. They said 
that habitats and water sources would be threatened.

They also said that the move, which they dubbed the “no tree left behind” 
policy, marked an irreversible move to open unspoilt lands to mining and 
logging. Energy companies welcomed the decision, and analysts said that the 
first moves into the forests were likely to be by groups drilling for 
natural gas rather than by loggers.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America, which represents energy 
companies, said that up to 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be 
developed in areas that had previously been off-limits.

The fate of the country’s national forests has simmered for decades in the 
American West and other parts of smalltown rural America. Small communities, 
especially those struggling economically, often want to exploit lands that 
they regard as a natural resource. They deride environmentalists as 
representing suburbanites rather than rural folk.

Mr Clinton’s sweeping measure to place national forests beyond the reach of 
developers was bitterly opposed by some Western governors, who argued that 
the lands should be open to a variety of uses. The abrupt manner in which Mr 
Clinton acted, in the dying days of his Administration, also irked many in 
the West. The law has become the subject of a number of lawsuits that are 
still going through the courts.

Mr Bush’s move concerns 58.5 million acres, most of it in the West. States 
most affected include Alaska, with 14.8 million acres of roadless forest, 
Idaho, with 9.3 million, and Montana, with 6.4 million. Colorado, California 
and Utah all have more than 4 million acres. Wyoming and Nevada have more 
than 3 million. The total area involved, is 91,406 square miles.

Under the administration plan, 34.3 million forest acres will become open to 
road-building. New management plans will have to be written for the other 
24.2 million acres before roads can be build on them.

One effect will be to place decision-making over federal land in the hands 
of local state authorities. Robert Vandermark, director of the Heritage 
Forests Campaign, said that millions of acres of America’s last wild forests 
were “immediately at risk”. He added: “National forests deserve national 
protection and should not be subject to the whims of local politics.”

The group said that 386,000 miles of roads already existed in US forest 
lands and that the Forest Service had a backlog of maintenance work on them 
totalling $10 billion.

Niel Lawrence, of the Natural Resources Defence Council, said that Mr Bush 
had replaced the roadless rule with a “treeless” rule, so depriving “future 
generations of their birthright and national heritage”.

Environmental groups claim to have the public on their side. Four million 
people voiced support for Mr Clinton’s act, according to the League of 
Conservation Voters.

Bill Richardson, the Democratic Governor of New Mexico, said the move was 
anti- environment and a wholesale assault to drill more oil or gas and cut 
more timber. “It’s going to start a war in the West.”

PRESIDENTIAL RECORD

Withdrew from Kyoto accord, designed to cut greenhouse gases

“Clear Skies” initiative aims to reduce sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and 
mercury emissions by 70 per cent. But is voluntary and does nothing about 
carbon dioxide

Is pushing $1.7 billion, five-year plan to develop hydrogen technologies as 
alternative to oil and petroleum fuel

Won Senate approval to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge

Loosened pollution controls on coal-fired power plants and abandoned more 
than 50 investigations into possible breaches of the Clean Air Act.