Dear HCN,
Contrary to your
suggestion (HCN, 2/4/02: No game plan for the public lands), the
Bush administration has a very clear game plan: Drill, mine and
log.
Start with the all-out campaign to turn the
Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain into a sprawling oil field. The
president also has expressed interest in drilling in the national
monuments, and exploration is under way already outside Arches and
Canyonlands national parks. The administration, always professing
its belief in listening to local interests, is rolling over
Californians in asking the courts to allow drilling off the
California coast. A little-publicized December memo from BLM
headquarters directed the agency’s field staff not to take any
action that might preclude energy development.
A
major new mining regulation was watered down, and the
administration is trying to push mining in Oregon’s Siskiyou
National Forest and on California lands sacred to the Quechan
tribe. Three top administration officials told the Northwest Mining
Association that they wanted to soften regulations adopted in
recent years. The off-road vehicle lobby has persuaded the
administration to back away from plans to protect Yellowstone and
Grand Teton national parks from snowmobiles.
In
the national forests, the historic Roadless Area Conservation Rule
is being emasculated. The regulations that made watersheds and
ecosystems the top priorities are being weakened. The
forward-looking plan for managing the 11 Sierra Nevada forests,
based on a decade of scientific study and public comment, has now
been sent back for review, as you reported in this story. Two
roadless area timber sales are proposed on Idaho’s Clearwater
National Forest.
The Bush administration has
stocked the Interior Department and Forest Service with political
appointees whose careers have been invested in the mining, logging,
livestock, and oil and gas industries. They know exactly what they
want to do to the lands belonging to all Americans, and it’s up to
all of us who value the enduring qualities of these lands to make
sure that this game plan blows up in their
faces.
Craig
Gehrke
Boise, Idaho
The writer is the Idaho regional director of The Wilderness Society.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bush’s game plan a clear and present danger.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
