Political Quotes

“due to the prominent nature of this debate, perhaps the first thing we ought to do is to put in context how much, in the way of our national forests and our timber, we are talking about in the contracts that go beyond pure salvage. As a consequence, I have a picture here. The President's forest plan for the Pacific Northwest involves some 24 million acres in the States of Washington and Oregon. Mr. President, 19 million of those acres, more than three-quarters of them, are protected as statutory wilderness or park areas or set aside as research, old growth, and riparian acres. Ten thousand acres in existing contracts are called for to be harvested in this amendment. I have indicated those 10,000 acres here. Oh, you say, Mr. President, you cannot see it? Maybe this magnifying glass will help. Mr. President, you still cannot see it? That is because what we are talking about is so small that, on a graphic illustration like this, you literally cannot see it. Ten thousand acres of harvest in the Pacific Northwest, already under contract, will be canceled automatically by this amendment should it pass. As Senator Hatfield pointed out, these 10,000 acres are not some permanent forest plan. They are unharvested acres in contracts which the Federal Government offered, received bids for, accepted the bids, and signed the contracts between 1990 and 1995. They are legal and binding contracts.”