SALVAGE BILL SELLS OUT
DEMOCRACY
Dear
HCN,
This is an open letter to Colorado Sens.
Brown and Campbell, who recently voted for the salvage logging
bill: I am writing to express my outrage at your vote to exempt the
logging industry from environmental laws. There can be no
justification for allowing a particular industry to be exempt from
the law, whether the law is environmental or otherwise, and the
precedent you establish with the salvage logging bill goes against
every principle we hold dear in a democratic
society.
You have decided that if a particular
industry or lobbying group is sufficiently powerful, they do not
have to obey the law. This nation has gone too far down that road
already, and I am sickened, saddened and disgusted by
it.
I am by no means a radical environmentalist.
I do not belong to any environmental groups and I consider myself
to be an average, moderate American.
The
environmental laws of this country were established to preserve
those elements of our natural world that are critical to our health
as individuals and as a nation – our air, our water, our land, our
forests and the diversity of our natural species. If these laws
need some minor modifications over time, then the proper course of
action is to debate changes to the law that might be necessary, and
get the opinion of the people you supposedly
represent.
Senators, the national forests you so
blithely toss into the hands of an industry no longer constrained
by law do not belong to you. They do not belong to the logging
industry. Those forests belong to me, and every other citizen of
this country, and we want them protected. I will be reminding you
of that fact come election
day.
Kevin M.
Bailey
Fort Collins,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Salvage bill sells out democracy.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
