Tina Smith: “I thank my colleague, Mr. President. I join Senator Wyden in saying this is my No. 1 priority as well. It is an…”

“I thank my colleague, Mr. President. I join Senator Wyden in saying this is my No. 1 priority as well. It is an emergency. It is not a natural disaster, but it is related to natural resources. It is a disaster that has been in the making through the course of a decade and more of Congresses, courts, and, obviously, the effort of the Clinton administration to reduce timber harvest on public lands in the Pacific Northwest. That has created a circumstance in the Pacific Northwest that Senator Wyden and I seek to address. We do so because it is such an emergency. We have to look for every opportunity, every train that is leaving the station, to bring this to the attention of Congress and to get it to President Bush, who has said he will sign an extension. For the benefit of the record, let me indicate some of the history of this issue. All of this was done with the best of intentions as it relates to natural resources and the management of public lands. It was done to benefit the spotted owl, threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. I should add that after 15 years of negligible harvest on public lands, the owl is still not recovering and its habitat is being incinerated by catastrophic wildfire. Whether tacit or intentional, those management decisions have caused severe costs that are borne on the backs of those who can least afford it. These people and communities need relief as much as those burdened by other disasters, such as hurricanes or tidal waves.”