Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Montana, who I am sorry to see have such a hard time this year in forest management, for his remarks. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), my friend and colleague. Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Gosar of the Western Caucus for arranging this Special Order tonight and especially for his exemplary leadership as chairman of the Western Caucus. The wildfire crisis facing our forests across the West comes down to a very simple adage. Excess timber comes out of the forest one way or the other. It is either carried out or it burns out, but it comes out. When we carried out our excess timber, we had healthy resilient forests and we had thriving, prosperous communities. Excess timber sales from Federal lands not only generated revenues for our mountain communities, but created thousands of job. But in the 1970s, we adopted laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act that have resulted in endlessly time-consuming and cost-prohibitive restrictions and requirements that have made the scientific management of our forests virtually impossible. Timber sales from our Federal lands has dropped 80 percent in the intervening years, with a concomitant increase in forest fires. In California alone, the number of saw mills has dropped from 149 in 1981 to just 27 today.…”