Rep Maloney Letter to Clinton

[Ned Daly <ndaly@tap.org>]

  Distributed to TAP-RESOURCES, a free Internet Distribution List
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  TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - NATURAL RESOURCES POLICY ADVISORY
  (please distribute freely)
  
  TAP-RESOURCES
  July 15, 1996
  
  *	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
  Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney 
  
  1504 Longworth Building Washington DC 20515 202-225-7944
  
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2, 1996 
  CONTACT: Lisa Baumgartner 202-225-7944
  
  REP. MALONEY DECRIES TIMBER SALVAGE "DISASTER"
  
  WASHINGTON, D.C. --Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY" released a letter
  she is sending to President Clinton regarding the Forest Service's timber
  salvage program.  Over 50 other Members of the House have joined her in
  signing the letter which draws attention to the catastrophic timber salvage
  program and rider passed by Congress last year.
  
  Rep. Maloney's letter states, "Congress and the Administration should
  immediately take legislative and administrative action to stop the ecological
  destruction, fiscal losses, and criminal wrongdoing that permeate every
  aspect of the salvage program."  Nearly 150 Members of the House of
  Representatives already cosponsored Rep. Elizabeth Furse's bill to repeal the
  salvage rider.  Maloney's letter calls on the President to "endorse and work
  for passage of the Furse-Bradley language to repeal the rider;" to abolish
  the timber salvage program; and to investigate, prosecute and stop fraud in
  the timber salvage program.
  
  "Under the Forest Service's salvage program, living trees and living forests
  are being termed 'salvage' so they can be sold away from the citizens who own
  them.  This long standing practice of falsely classifying green, healthy
  trees as salvage has increased under the disastrous salvage rider," Maloney
  continued.
  
  Maloney said, "Despite a Congress that is the most anti-environmental in
  recent history, the concerns of the people almost succeeded in getting the
  House to overturn the salvage rider but this effort fell just short in a 211
  to 209 vote.  A close vote alone will do little to save groves of ancient
  trees.  The House's failure to repeal the timber salvage rider only
  intensifies the need for President Clinton to take immediate action to end
  this crisis.  Without swift action, irreplaceable forests will continue to
  fall, and will be lost forever."
  
  The Maloney letter also calls on the Clinton Administration to take the
  following steps to protect our forests: 1) Halt the abuses and order a full
  review of the salvage program under the rider to date; 2)Rescind all
  appropriated and trust fund monies used to plan and execute salvage sales
  pursuant to the salvage rider: 3) Designate as protected areas and off-limits
  to logging all priceless forests throughout America which are scheduled for
  logging under the salvage rider: 4) Order an Environmental Impact Statement
  for each National Forest to analyze the effects of logging and road building
  authorized under the rider; 5) Ban all salvage sales in roadless areas
  greater than 1500 acres; and 6) Investigate and prosecute any individual in
  the timber industry and the Forest Service who has committed illegal acts
  under the salvage program.
  
  Rep. Maloney concluded, "The owners of the forests--American citizens--have
  already lost all but 4% of the 1 billion acres of primary, virgin forests
  that once towered over their land.  The timber salvage program and the
  salvage rider constitute an all-out assault on what remains of one of our
  nation's greatest treasures."
  
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