Dear HCN,
Readers of Andy
Wiessner’s letter about land exchanges (HCN, 5/10/99) might have
been better able to evaluate his criticisms of Janine Blaeloch and
the Western Land Exchange Project had he acknowledged that he was a
consultant to Plum Creek Timber Co. on the Interstate 90
exchange.
Yes, the I-90 exchange will result in
some environmental gains. But they are at least in part the result
of Blaeloch’s determined opposition to the trade, which forced Plum
Creek into a legislated exchange which would be virtually immune to
lawsuits. To get any environmental support at all for this
unpopular alternative, the company had to sweeten the deal
considerably.
The legislation, which slipped
through Congress as a rider on the infamous Omnibus Appropriations
Bill of 1998, contains language that encourages yet more Plum Creek
exchanges.
Lynne Bama
Wapiti,
Wyoming
Lynne Bama wrote the article, “Wheeling and dealing,” on Western land exchanges, in the March 29, 1999, High Country News.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Land swap reporter comments.
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