Christopher Shays: “protecting and preserving our environment is one of the most important jobs I have, but I don't think we as a Congress…”

“protecting and preserving our environment is one of the most important jobs I have, but I don't think we as a Congress are doing very well at it. The conference report before us today includes funding for hundreds of important and beneficial programs and projects. Unfortunately, it also contains provisions that will weaken several significant land and water protections. When the House passed the Interior Appropriations Act in June, we included a pro-environmental provision that would block new roadbuilding in the Tongass National Forest. The amendment passed because environmentalists came together with fiscal conservatives to end a long-standing subsidy for the logging industry while protecting the rainforest. Doing so just made sense. I am disappointed that this important provision is absent from the conference report before us today. What is included, however, is language that reduces judicial review on Tongass timber sales by placing a 30-day statute of limitations on challenging those sales in court, making it much more difficult for the public to participate in the process. In addition, the conference report waives National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of nearly 1,000 expiring Federal-lands grazing permits, which will further discourage agencies from complying with environmental laws and could lead to continued degradation of sensitive public lands.”