Posted on 09/21/2002 10:42:42 AM PDT by madfly
WASHINGTON — Senators threw their hands up yesterday, unable to reach consensus on how to implement even pieces of President Bush's strategy to clean out forests and reduce wildfire risks.It appears the task could fall to the administration to change its regulations and implement what it can from President Bush's "Healthy Forests Initiative," announced last month in a charred corner of the Pacific Northwest.
The Democratic-controlled Senate is deadlocked over how far Congress should go to exempt the most fire-prone forests from environmental and judicial reviews, as Bush requested.
"I am not here to blame anybody," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee's forests panel, after negotiations for a compromise dissolved.
But "the Senate cannot leave this subject for long," he added. "Too many lives and too many communities will be devastated if the Senate washes its hands of this issue."
This year's fire season has burned almost 6.5 million acres and cost the government $1.25 billion. Western lawmakers are eager to act while forest health has the nation's attention, but both parties are unwilling to compromise on the thorny details of thinning forests to reduce wildfires. The issue has held up the Interior spending bill for nearly two weeks.
"I am almost out of ideas," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., told reporters yesterday.
The gridlock is shifting the focus from Capitol Hill to the Agriculture and Interior departments, where officials are crafting administrative-rule changes as part of Bush's forest initiative.
Among the most controversial would be a rule exempting fire-related projects from environmental reviews and public comment required under the landmark National Environmental Policy Act. The administration could release a proposal as soon as this fall.
Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary David Tenny said these exclusions from the environmental law would be used in places where the government has enough experience to predict the projects' outcomes.
The Forest Service also wants to shorten its internal appeals process. And the agency is looking at ways to change its paperwork and processes to improve its communication with the Interior Department.
Environmentalists are skeptical. They have long used the law to block projects they think pose a detriment to public lands. The law lays out a process that results in months, if not years, of review to keep federal agencies in check.
The proposals come as the Forest Service has promised to revise two Clinton administration policies: the roadless rule, which banned most logging and road-building on a third of national forest lands, and a second rule that guides how the agency creates long-term forest-management plans.
"We are feeling besieged," said Mike Anderson of the Wilderness Society's Seattle office. "There is a major attack under way on the ability of the public to be meaningfully involved in national forest-management decisions."
In Congress, senators have been negotiating behind closed doors and sniping during debate over how to make progress on a wildfire measure.
Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., want a vote on their proposal, which would exempt from environmental reviews and most judicial appeals up to 10 million acres of forests near communities, or forests that are damaged or diseased.
Democrats are struggling to coalesce. Some want to limit the amount of land sped through the process to 2.5 million of the most threatened acres, with 70 percent near communities.
Many Republicans say Daschle opened the door to the divisive issue of skipping environmental reviews when he secured legislation this summer to exclude a small slice of a South Dakota forest from the traditional environmental processes.
Much of the debate comes down to election-year politics, with lawmakers keenly aware of the power of interest groups. Last night Daschle was the keynote speaker at a League of Conservation Voters dinner.
The group puts out a report card on lawmakers' environmental records — a point not lost on Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., before a procedural vote this week on the Craig-Domenici proposal: "Whoever votes to pass this amendment will fail in (the league's) eyes to protect the environment."
The timber industry is watching, too. Said Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland: "The bottom line is that we have to have acres treated."
Katherine Pfleger: 206-464-2772 and kpfleger@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company
At the time, I posted on FR the point that Congress has full power to withdraw jurisdiction from the federal courts over ANY issue -- environmental law suits that tie up fire prevention, "civil rights" suits that seek to prevent the use of the word "God" in public places, whatever. A month ago that WAS Daschle's idea -- to help Johnson beat Thune in South Dakota. But not for any other fire-prone states.
I guess Daschle is only "out of ideas" when the subject offers him no way to lie, cheat and steal his way into power -- or keep from being thrown out of power.
Congressman Billybob
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"I am almost out of ideas," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., told reporters yesterday.
Even a child could make a quick decision here.
Let the logging companies do what is needed. Save money and create jobs in the process.
What is so hard about this?
For little Tommy to admit that he's almost out of ideas sends a message to the voters of South Dakota.........
Please send somebody (Republican preferred) else to the Senate who can think and not just obstruct!!
The reporter did in fact mention "The Daschle Dodge", back when Li'l Tommy did have an "idea".
However, the reporter so qualified the paragraph as to make it appear that it was the GOP "playing politics" with it, instead of Daschle. And, of course, Li'l Tommy reserved only "a small slice". Fittingly, perhaps...
The media just can't help it, can they...???
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