Please help with this effort!
Please call your Representative at 1-800-839-5276 and tell them to
vote NO on HR 1904, the "Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003."
The "Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HR 1904) will:
1. Cut the Heart out of NEPA. The McInnis bill allows the Forest
Service to conduct large-scale, environmentally damaging logging
projects without considering any alternatives, including the "no
action" alternative or their relative environmental impacts.
2. Remove the Public from the Process. The McInnis bill eliminates
the statutory right of citizens to appeal Forest Service logging
projects.
3. Log the Backcountry rather than Protecting Communities. The
McInnis bill promotes logging in threatened and endangered species
habitat, allows logging and temporary road building in roadless
areas, and gives the Secretary "sole discretion" to log in old growth
areas and old growth fire resistant trees -- all under the guise of
protection of communities from fire.
4. Interfere with the Independent Judiciary. The McInnis bill seeks
to restrict a core principle of our democracy -- the right of
Americans to seek redress in the court for grievances involving the
federal government. The bill limits preliminary injunctive relief to
45 days, and forces any U.S court to render a final decision on the
merits of a case within 100 days. Finally, the bill seeks an
astounding change in American legal standards by requiring courts to
give deference to agency findings regarding the balance of harms in
deciding whether to enter a temporary restraining order, preliminary
injunction, or a permanent injunction in ANY court challenge where
the agency claims the action is necessary to "restore fire-adapted
forest or rangelands ecosystems."
5. Create New Insect Categorical Exclusion. The McInnis bill creates
a new Categorical Exclusion from the National Environmental Policy
Act on all Department of Interior and Forest Service lands by
authorizing an unlimited number of projects (up to 1,000 acres each)
for all lands that the agencies claim are at risk of infestation by
certain insects.
6. Provide New Logging Subsidies. The McInnis bill would authorize
$125 million in subsidies to the biomass industry to log our National
Forests.
