Political Quotes

“it isn't often I rise to talk about these kinds of issues because, by and large, these issues generally affect the West, and we in Pennsylvania do not have much direct involvement. But in this case we are directly affected in Pennsylvania. We have a national forest in Pennsylvania, the Allegheny National Forest. What has been going on in the Allegheny National Forest over the past several years has been a very troubling thing to thousands of residents in my State; it has had a dramatic negative impact on the quality of life for the residents in northwestern and north central Pennsylvania, as the amount of timber harvests have continued to decline. What we have seen, as a result of that, is a real damaging of the economy. It is a very rural area. Most people think of Pennsylvania and think of big cities and factories, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But Pennsylvania has the largest rural population of any State in the country. I repeat that. Pennsylvania has the largest rural population of any State in the country. That rural population, by and large, survives on agriculture and off the natural resources, whether it is coal mining or whether it is quarrying or whether it is timber or whether it is what we consider traditional agriculture. The Allegheny National Forest is vitally important for several of our smallest counties.”