Political Quotes

“the problem of forest fires in the West that are aggravated, in some cases caused, by human mismanagement has been a problem as long as I have been in Congress. I am pleased that with the work of Oregonians Representative Peter DeFazio, Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Greg Walden, the bill that's moving forward is better than the bill I voted against in the past. I wish I could vote for H.R. 1904 in good conscience, but it still has three fundamental problems. First, the procedural fix far exceeds any procedural problem. This bill would undermine the National Environmental Protection Act, the judicial process, and the system of administrative appeals to fix a perceived problem of too many projects being tied up in environmental litigation. However, the Government Accounting Office estimates that only 1 percent of forest management projects have been tied up in litigation. This type of sweeping procedural change is unnecessary. Second, the bill opens up our forests to much broader timber harvest. This should be debated on its own merits and not under the guise of forest health and fire prevention. If we want to substantially increase timber harvest on Federal lands we ought to be clear and deal with it directly. Last, and most troubling of all for me, is that this bill does not adequately protect families whose lives and property are at risk because of forest fire hazard.”