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Colville, Washington Event 9/14/92 [OA 7580]
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323154241
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Colville, Washington Event 9/14/92 [OA 7580]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Speech Backup Chronological Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Backup Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13832
Folder ID Number:
13832-008
Folder Title:
Colville, Washington Event 9/14/92 [OA 7580]
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Section:
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Position:
G
26
23
1
1
PAGE
2
2ND STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1992 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
May 26, 1992, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
Carol for
SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 4; National Desk
Grady Envio
LENGTH: 1799 words
spece
HEADLINE: Strongest U.S. Environment Law May Become Endangered Species
JB
BYLINE: By TIMOTHY EGAN, Special to The New York Times
DATELINE: SEATTLE, May 25
BODY:
The American bald eagle sits on one side of the dollar bill and in tall trees
of every state in the union but Hawaii. It was not always so, of course. A
series of Government actions that gave legal protection to animals on the verge
of extinction has been largely responsible for bringing the national symbol back
to the skies of America.
By contrast, a rare California songbird that lives in the scrub brush around
Los Angeles is virtually unknown outside of birdwatcher circles, but it has
given fits to the faltering house-building industry. If anything, the bird, the
gnat catcher, is a symbol of a law that protects birds at the expense of
subdivisions.
The fate of the eagle and the gnat catcher may depend in large part on what
happens to the Endangered Species Act, the nation's most powerful environmental
law. Enacted in 1973 with the strong support of President Richard M. Nixon, the
act faces a fight this year in Congress in which the law will either be renewed
or be allowed to expire.
Compromise in Most Cases
Though the vote may be delayed, the act has become the prime target for a
major backlash against environmental protection.
But beyond the polarized words in Congress and headlines over spotted owls
and lost logging jobs here in the Pacific Northwest, a close look at the record
shows that the act has led to surprisingly few confrontations between man and
nature. Most commercial or Government projects proposed for areas with rare
species have in fact been allowed to go forward, to the benefit of both.
But critics of the act, led by Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., say it is
a gross impediment to economic progress and needs to be changed, or gutted
altogether. An alliance of timber, ranching, mining and farming interests has
lined up in Congress to push for dismantling the act.
On the other side, a powerful lobby of the nation's major environmental
groups have made preservation of the Endangered Species Act an election-year
rallying cry. They say the law, with its simple and direct mandate backed by a
1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the act's constitutionality, is a tool to
save vanishing wild places as well as the plants and animals that live there.
TM
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PAGE
3
The New York Times, May 26, 1992
The idea behind the act was to maintain some of the nation's natural
diversity and avoid a future glutted with little more than pigeons, beetles and
rats. In 19 years, 727 species, nearly half of them plants, have been listed as
threatened or endangered. Of the species that were on the list, 16 have been
taken off: 7 of them have become extinct, and 9 have flourished to the point of
full recovery. At least 000 species are candidates for the list.
The bald eagle was nearly extinct in the mid-1960's but has bounced back to
number 6,000 in the contiguous United States. Discussions are under way to take
the bird off the list in some states.
Once a species is listed, the law protects it against manmade encroachment,
no matter what the cost. Thus, snail darters delayed construction of a $100
million dam in Tennessee, grizzly bears stopped construction of roads in
Montana, sea turtles changed the shrimping industry in the Gulf states, owls
curbed the extensive logging here in the Northwest and smelt took away water
from farmers in California's Central Valley.
700 Species Saved
But these are the exceptions. From 1987 to 1991, the Government calculated
that 34,203 projects were proposed in areas where there was a potential to harm
endangered species. In each case, the developer had to consult with the Fish and
Wildlife Service, and perhaps slightly modify the project, before going ahead.
In only 367 cases did the Government say that the project would harm a species.
And only 18 of those projects were actually canceled or stopped because of
incompatibility with the act.
"You wouldn't know it by what we've been hearing lately, but the Endangered
Species Act has been very successful," said John C. Sawhill, President of the
Nature Conservancy, a private group that buys and protects land for wildlife.
"In all but but a few cases, people have been able to work things out without a
loss of jobs. And in that time, we have kept at least 700 plant and animal
species from going under."
But in the cases that have led to economic sacrifice, the act has been
vilified as an instrument of big government that sacrifices human interests to
those of animals.
"If you listed all the species that are waiting to go on the list, you would
shut down the natural resource industry in this country," said Charlie Jans,
chairman of the Oregon Lands Coalition, a citizens group heavily financed by the
timber industry. "The flaw in the act is it makes no provision for people or
economics."
On average for the last decade, the Government has added about 50 new species
to the list every year. To go beyond that pace would require the kind of
financing that few political leaders have advocated. It would cost an average of
about $460 million a year over 10 years to come up with recovery plans for all
the species that are candidates for protection, one Government study has found.
AS it is, the Fish and Wildlife Service operates on an annual budget of about
$60 million.
Forcing Tough Decisions
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PAGE
4
The New York Times, May 26, 1992
In some more extreme cases, the heavy restrictions on development have come
about because Federal courts, acting on lawsuits brought by environmentalists,
have forced the Government's hand.
"The Endangered Species Act is the pit bull of environmental laws," said
Donald Barry, a vice president of the World Wildlife Fund. "It's short, compact
and has a hell of a set of teeth. Because of its teeth, the act can force
people to make the kind of tough political decisions they wouldn't normally
make."
As such, the law has been used as a surrogate by people who had other causes.
The true intent of many people who want to save the northern spotted owl is to
protect ancient forests and the dozens of other species that depend on them.
Similarly, by saving salmon on the Columbia River or delta smelt in the
Sacramento, the law is forcing a reversal of decades-old Federal water policy
away from subsidies to farmers and toward protection of fish.
Referring to the billions in Federal subsidies given to Columbia River water
users while one of the world's great salmon runs dwindled nearly to extinction,
Mr. Barry said: "It reminds me of a drunk at the bar who runs up a 50-year tab,
and then somebody comes along and says the tab is due. That tab is what we have
done to the fish."
Protecting Popular Animals
In a way, the Endangered Species Act represents the revenge of nature. But
critics point out that the act was never intended to be a weapon to change the
behavior of entire industries. What President Nixon and other early backers had
in mind was the protection of big creatures like grizzly bears and grey whales.
The California gnat catcher, which has held up construction of housing
projects because it nests in areas coveted by developers, or the Oregon
silverspot butterfly, which likes the same coastal areas desired by golf course
designers, are seldom evoked by the act's most passionate defenders.
Some biologists, saying it is impossible to save the thousands of species
facing extinction, have urged that the Government set up a priority list of
plants or animals to be saved. While this could lead to popularity contests,
with cuddly and lovable creatures winning out over ugly and unknown animals, it
would at least get rid of the random nature of the law.
Another approach would be to save entire ecosystems rather than focusing on
the individual species that reside in them. By continuing to take a
species-by-species approach to protecting plants and wildlife, the country faces
years of political gridlock and court actions, some Goverment officials and
members of Congress say. But if the entire ecology of a region -- including the
human beings who work there - are considered for preservation, there would be
much less conflict, these leaders argue.
This approach is similar to that taken by the Nature Conservancy, which has
bought large working ranches in the West and managed to allow commercial grazing
to continue while protecting rare plants and animals. "What we need is a new
approach, taking into account exactly what it is we are trying to save and the
people who work there," said Representative Jolene Unsoeld, a Washington
Democrat whose district includes some of the most heavily logged national
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PAGE
5
The New York Times, May 26, 1992
forests in the country. "What WE have had so far is solution by press release."
Both Democrats and Republicans are critical of the position taken by the Bush
Administration, which once supported the Endangered Species Act but now appears
intent on crippling it.
On May 14, Mr. Lujan disclosed a plan, largely designed by Senator Slade
Gorton, Republican of Washington, that would allow the spotted owl to become
extinct in areas of Washington State containing 01ympic and North Cascades
National Parks. Under the plan, owls would be captured and moved south to other
Federal land so logging could continue around the parks.
The plan would need the approval of Congress, but the dean of Republican
political leaders from the Northwest, Senator Mark 0. Hatfield of Oregon,
dismissed the Administration's latest plan as "irrelevant" and gives it little
chance of passing.
Mr. Lujan has repeatedly questioned the value of saving different endangered
species -- even though he is charged by law with protecting them. He voted last
week, with a Cabinet-level committee known informally as the God Squad, to allow
logging to go ahead on 1,200 acres of Federal land in Oregon where it could lead
to the demise of the spotted owl in that area.
"Of course, I'm the protector of endangered species, but by the same token, I
must make resources available to the American public," he said in an interview.
In the political climate of a Presidential election year, the reauthorization
fight over the Endangered Species Act will probably be put off until next year,
leaders in Congress say. But even if the renewal battle is put off, the act
requires financing from Congress this year, and a fight over its merits could
develop in budget committees this summer.
Senator Hatfield, who was the original sponsor of the act in 1972, remains
a staunch backer of the law, even though it has hit his state harder than any
other. He said he would like to see some changes in the act, for example, having
the Government pay for retraining and employment counseling for people who lose
their jobs as a result of listing a species as endangered.
"If we don't put back some part of the human element, the act will be
gutted," Mr. Hatfield said. "It does not need to be overhauled, it just needs
to be fine-tuned."
GRAPHIC: Chart: "Species on the Brink" -- Endangered and threatened species
listed, since 1973, under the Endangered Species Act.
Fish: 93
Birds: 85
Mammals: 65
Clams: 42
Reptiles: 34
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PAGE 6
The New York Times, May 26, 1992
Insects: 23
Snails: 13
Amphibians: 11
Crustaceans: 10
Arachnids: 3
(Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) (pg. A11)
SUBJECT: ANIMALS; ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (1973) ; ENDANGERED AND EXTINCT
SPECIES
NAME: EGAN, TIMOTHY; LUJAN, MANUEL JR (SEC)
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Carol:
3:20.
12 Syt
Hancy said Dovid
said San Diego and
Oregon speeches are OK! 0
JB
Carol-
3:30 pm
Ed Cowling
Called from
Jan Digo
in Stall office
d3
(His faxing you info
CAROL-
I
I WENT TO EAT. WILL BE BACK.
AM ON PAGER.
JB
09/12/92
10:16
503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
001/010
EFB
EUGENE F. BURRILL LUMBER CO.
Manufacturers of Kiln Dry White Fir and Douglas Fir Studs
P.O. BOX 220
MEDFORD. OREGON 97501
(503) 826-2221
DATE:
9/12/92
TO:
ATTN:
Carol aarhus
SUBJECT:
Press packet from
EF Burrile Lumber Co.
This is still dark our broc hure
is done nota color and the copies won't
any eighter
FROM:
OF:
Carey Burrill Lumber
PAGES INCLUDING COVER:
10
PLEASE NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY AT (503) 826-2221 IF ALL PAGES
ARE NOT RECEIVED.
Dean Ricks,
Safety Supervisor
09/12/92
10:17
503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
002/010
A Letter From
the President
There was a time in this country
when crattsmanship and
depondability meant something
at Burrill I umber Co. it still
does.
I'm Michael Burrill president and
general manager. Since 1947,
when Burrill Lumber was founded,
craftsmanship and dependability
has meant everything to US. We
are very particular about what we
do, our customers know they can't
buy a better 2x4 stud anywhere.
This brochure tells the story of our
35 years of dedication to quality
from the first stud my father
trimmed and shipped to every
Burrill stud that comes from our
mill today.
We would be dolighted to tell
you more about our company and
product, the BURRILL" stud. Then I
invite you to write or call for
quotations and let us get to know
you better. We are confident that,
after talking with us, you will be
convinced that the best way to
save money in the building
industry is to buy the best.
President & General Manager
09/12/92
10:17
503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
003/010
We thought
Small long Before
It became a slogan
Burrill Lumber Company got Its
start In the growth boom following
World War II. Three and a half
decades later, we're still here.
Through the numerous ups and
downs over the years, the demand
When logger Eugene F. Burrill
for our studs has remained strong
started his mill In 1946, he had
- strong enough that even during
logging experience, dogged
a prolonged recession we work
determination, and new Ideas. One
two shifts to fill orders.
idea was to utilize White Fir, a
species which makes excellent
we continue to do, is with a
2x4's but which, until then, was
singleness of purpose: produce
virtually ignored by the Industry.
the best. And that simply can't bi
Attitude makes
Another major resource, largely
done without the right attitude, ti
ignored by the industry, was
The Difference
stubborn support and old-
smaller diameter trees with their
fashioned pride of every
natural advantage of fewer,
A good mix of large and small
employee. We provide the right
smaller. tighter knots. We began
logs is one of the tangible reasons
environment and our employees
using them around 1970 and now
for the quality of Burrill studs. But
provide the right attitude, it's a
produce about half of our studs
it's the intangibles that have given
hand-in-glove relationship
from these trees to achieve
us a 35-year lead in the industry.
reflected in the antique, chrome-
optimum production-quality mix.
Everything we've done, everything
plated bucking saw given to
09/12/92
10:18
2503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
004/010
The standards of quality that go
"Burrill" stands
into Burrill studs begin up in the
For Quality
Oregon woods, long before they
reach our mill. We maintain a
standing-log inventory of 90 to
100-million board feet
a three-
year supply
so that we have a
BURRILL
backlog that allows us the time to
shop for only the best stands of
timber.
The way our timber is handled
in the woods also improves the
quality of our final product.
Our old customers know what
Incorrect tree felling or bucking
our new customers soon learn,
can cause damage that will show
Eugene Burrill. which hangs in our
that the quality of our studs is not
up in the finished lumber. The
lobby.
merely sales hype. Orders
bucker, for example, must make
The inscription reads:
specifying "Burrill" rather than
his cuts straight and out the limbs
Douglas or White Fir studs are so
off flush with the bark to prevent
routine that our name is becoming
the debarker from pulling. People
a generic term. Indicative of these
are vital here too. There is a
Gene 'Big Daddy' Burrill
qualities, 9 percent of our
difference in knowledge,
"In appreciation for making this mill
employees have been with us 20
experience and workmanship in
more than just a place to work"
years or more; over 30 percent
the woods as well as out. We
Your Employees 1973
have more than 10 years' with us;
contract only with the top fellers
and 43 percent have worked for
and buckers to ensure our studs
Burrill more than 5 years.
get the proper start.
09/12/92
10:19
503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
005/010
We write our
The Burrill stud is a product of
our customer receives only White
Burrill standards. We grade,
Fir, not White Fir and Hemlock.
Own Rules
inspect, over and over by
exceptionally stringent rules.
Precision End
The West Coast Lumber
Inspection Bureau has established
some excellent grading rules for
No Species
Trimming
Our PET (Precision End
achieving a consistently high level
Mixing
Trimming) ensures the correct
of quality. We apply these rules
length of every stud. A final lengt
and then we apply our own
We sort by species, so our
inspection is even made in the
stringent grading specifications,
grading specifications prohibit
stack, just before banding. Order:
that go beyond the accepted
mixing. If an order is for
can be custom cut to any length
Industry norm.
White Fir,
between six and ten feet without
delaying delivery.
Surfaced Lumber
All Burrill studs are fully surface
09/12/92
10:19
503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
006/010
Dryer Wood
All Burrill® studs are kiln dried to
a remaining moisture content of
End Waxing
12 to 14 percent by weight.
Prior to shipment both ends of
Precise placement of separator
every Burrill stud are coated with
"stickers" dramatically reduces
wax to seal them from moisture.
warpage during the drying
process. Among other advantages,
this dryer wood is a benefit to
builders in the Sunbeit where
moisture is low.
SIZE
WHITE FIR, KILN DRIED
DOUGLAS FIR, GREEN
2 X 4's
"C" & BETTER CLEAR
'BURRILL
STUD
STANDARD & BETTER
SELECT ECONOMY
SELECT ECONOMY
DUNNAGE
DUNNAGE
LUMBER GRADES
09/12/92
10:20
6503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
007/010
Production
and Delivery
Our mill produces and ships
On the assumption that the best
approximately 1½ million board
of studs are no good at all until
feet per week, out to lengths
our customers receive them, we
ranging from 6 to 10 feet. Custom
work as hard on meeting delivery
lengths, anywhere between these
schedules as we do on quality.
maximum and minimum lengths,
Most of our shipments are by rail,
are available without affecting the
although we also ship by truck.
delivery schedule.
COM
ECONOMY
DUNNAC
JTY & BETTE
BETTER
46,000
EFB
SECURITY
HAVE July
M
RECEIVE BOULT
I I
09/12/92 10:21 10 21
5503 826 6653
4
3.
BURRILL LUMBER
008/010
09/12/92
10:23
503 826 6653
BURRILL LUMBER
009/010
FBURRIL
Proof of the
Pudding
BURRILLE
TAURRIEL
THURRIE
PORRIL
As a firm to whom the merely
acceptable is unacceptable, we
can offer you some strong
business advantages. You have
BURRILL
BURRILL
BURRILL
THURRILL
our word on it. We welcome your
inquiry and il chance to prove
BURRILL
"BURRILL
BURRI
we're as good as our word.
SURRIA
BURRILL
TBURRILL
BURRIEL
BURRILL
FEURRILL
BURRILL
BURRL
BORRILL
TBORRILL
BURRE
BURRI
BURRILL PEURRIER BURRE
BORRILL
BURRILL BURRILL
BURRILL "BURRILL"
"BURRIE!
(BURRILL)
BURRILL
EUGENE F. BURRILL LUMBER CO.
P.O. Box 220
Medford, Oregon 97501
Office: (503) 826-2221
Sales: (503) 626-4541
DURKILL
LUMDER
010/919
lead Dave Anderson
9/11/92
e
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
VISIT TO VAAGAN BROS. LUMBER COMPANY Inc.
COLVILLE, WASHINGTON
Monday, September 14, 1992
Sen. Gorton
A
Packwood
Thank you, Dwayne Vaagan, for that introduction. And thanks
to all of you for letting me visit with you today. Being out
here in the great Pacific Northwest, I cannot help but think of
Teddy Roosevelt.
He was the first President to really focus the attention of
the Nation on the condition of our natural resources and the need
to manage these treasures for the benefit of future generations.
Cyclopedia
He said: "Neither man nor nation can prosper unless, in dealing
p.103
with the present, thought is steadily taken for the future.' " And
he was right.
But Teddy Roosevelt said something else: "In the West, " he
Theodore Roosevelt
(thegrazing lands, the reserves of every kind,)
said, "the forests should be so handled as to be in the interests
Cyclopedia
settler, the actual
of the actual home-maker. He should be encouraged to use them at
p.103
once, but in such a way as to preserve and not exhaust them. "
For the past four years, my Administration had devoted a
great deal of thought and effort to protecting our environment.
Like many of you, I love the outdoors and love to hunt and fish,
And like you, I have learned through a lifetime of experience to
appreciate and respect the beauty of the wilderness.
I know that you -- you who have chosen to live in these
woods -- respect and revere these forests as others cannot. And
you resent the implication that earning your livelihood here --
with sound management of the forest -- makes you less of an
2
environmentalist than the city dweller or the suburbanite. I
have come here today because I understand.
For the last four years, we have worked to protect the
environment -- and we have accomplished a great deal.
Campaign inform
Four years ago, I promised Americans a new Clean Air Act.
info
For 13 years, the Congress was stuck in gridlock and had passed
x
no clean air law. But we proposed a new one, we negotiated it
Jim
through a divided Congress, and I proudly signed it into law.
Fitzhenny
That law will cut acid rain in half, reduce smog in our cities,
abzx
and get toxic pollutants out of the air.
Four years ago, I promised that I would protect the
BQ88
campaign
environmentally sensitive areas of our coasts from oirshore Stet
info
stet
OH development
(sen)
drilling And today, there will be no drilling off the coast of
Jinana
stet
California, off the coasts of Washington and Oregon not far from
Sequoia
here, off the Florida Keys, off the New England coast, because we
Spelech
7.14.92
have placed those areas under a moratorium until the next
century.
Four years ago, I promised to be a good steward of our
Factsheet
public lands. And we have added thousands of miles of trails for
7/14/93
X
Americans like you who love the outdoors, we are reopening and
upgrading campsites all across America, and we have added over a
Sequoia
X
speech
million and half acres to our National Parks, and Wildlife Refuges
BudgetFV1993 7.14.92
and Forests and recreation public lands.
stet
The fact is that every American cares about the
environment -- and most consider themselves environmentalists.
That is particularly true here in the Pacific Northwest. But
Americans today, Teddy Roosevelt three quarters of a- century
like X X 3 X nearly ax X X
TR
elected
ago, realize that the protection of our lands is not inconsistent
1901
with their use. They care about the growth of our country, and
about the ability of Americans to make a living. They
understand, that stewardship does not mean stopping all progress.
X
that
As Teddy Roosevelt said "wise protection of resources does
TR
Cycloppon
Ropedia
not mean the withdrawal of those resources from contributing
their full share to the welfare of the people.
gup.,188 P. 188
What President Roosevelt had in mind, and what the American
people have always wanted, is balance. But in these ancient
forests, the balance has been lost.
Not far from here is a timber town called Forks. Like
X
BobGrady
Corville, Forks supported a mill, and the mill supported the
x4742
town. And the town gave life to a community. Today,
Jimitshamy
unemployment in Forks is at 20 percent -- more than double what X
X
X
it was just two years ago. The car dealership has closed. The main
X
store is gone. The movie theatre -- shut down.
violence complaints have doubled, just in the last X year.
X
The community has been ravaged.
Forks is in crisis for a simple reason: the balance has
been lost.
My friends, I have come here because we must restore the
balance.
I want to quote you something from Oregon's Senator Mark
X
Hatfield, who has served in the Senate long enough to remember
WPost oped 6/12/92
X
X
the creation of the Endangered Species Act. Not long ago, he
4
x
wrote:
"There is no question that the Act is being applied in a a
manner X far beyond what any of us envisioned when we wrote it
twenty years X ago."
The application of the Endangered Species Act to these
forests has gone far beyond what the drafters intended. The
curtis
balance has been lost.
X
X
X
X
X
x
The fact is that the Endangered Species Act was intended as
a shield for species against the X effects of major Federal construction
Fitzhenief
projects like highways X and dams -- not a sword aimed at the jobs,
families, and communities of the Northwest.
DaleCurtis
x
But today, when all harvesting on Federal timberland is
Jm x2808
stopped outright by 11 different lawsuits, the balance has been
to, we (?)
lost. It's time factor in the worries about jobs, families and
+
communities.
When X hundreds of mills have been shut down, thousands of
Jim
timber X workers thrown out of work, and revenues to communities
for schools and X other local services slashed as XX a result, the
X
balance has been lost. It's time to worry about jobs, families,
and communities.
Today, when interest groups X can tie our Federal agencies up
X
X
X
X
x
Fitzbonry Time
in knots by suing them under five different statutes enacted by
Congress -- each inconsistent with the other -- the balance has
been lost. It's time to worry about jobs, families, and
communities.
JmF.
Mark Ray, Forest
Rey
Today, when a class project at Wesleyan University in
Connecticut is to come up with lawsuits to stop people from
GS
Billo' connor
5
earning a living in the Northwest -- when students can play games
with people's lives -- the balance has been lost. It's time to
worry about jobs families and communities.
I have come to this great Pacific Northwest, to these
beautiful and productive forests, to join you in saying: we must
restore the balance. We must worry about jobs, families and
communities. Enough is enough.
The time has come to talk sense about the Endangered Species
Act, about the spotted owl, and about the management of our
forests. Because after all, people and their jobs deserve some
protection too.
Let me be clear: I care about protecting the environment.
The basic purpose of the Endangered Species Act is a good and
noble one: to save the species of this country.
X
X
But today, the Act is being used, particularly here in
Jim
Washington and Oregon, to achieve in the courts what can't X be
x
X
x
X
X
Fitzhenny x2800
achieved through legislation or adminsitrative procedure X -- the
X
X
X
X
X
complete lock-up of the most productive forests in the entire
United States.
X
X
X
X
X
The Endangered Species Act, in its current form as
X
X
X
X
X
interpreted by some courts and as driven by the Democrats in
Congress, has forced a radical approach and X created X an
X
X
Jimo
X
Fitzhenig x2800
unnecessarily tragic situation here in the Northwest. Massive
X
X
X
X
X
X
and unnecessarily large areas of Federal land are being set aside
for the owl. And jobs, families and communities are being wiped
X
out in the process.
se Dalet
Curtis
comments
6
You know, the other side has been talking lately about a
"false choice." They claim that this timber crisis is just
politics. The simple fact is this: the false choice is being
driven by the Endangered Species Act and its application to the
Northern Spotted Owl. It is being driven by those in Congress
who have permitted this crisis to go unresolved.
The simple fact is that when it comes to the Owl, the Act is
too rigid -- and Congress is too timid.
Now let's set the record straight. We have always worked
within the paramaters of the law to address this problem -- but I
can tell you this. The law is broken, and it must be fixed.
We have asked Congress for funds to cut enough timber in
RonCogswell
X
OMB
this region to keep people employed. But these conflicting laws
X4586
allow challenge after challenge.
So this year, we asked Congress to make a choice. We showed
them the Spotted Owl Recovery Plan, as required by the Endangered
Ron
more than (32,000)
Species Act -- a plan that would cost this region 30,000 jobs.
Cogswell
OMB
And, because that plan imposes too great a cost on the families
x 4586
and communities of the Pacific Northwest, we asked them to
consider instead an alternative: a preservation plan that would
cut that job loss in half.
morethan
(17,000)
peromB
We sent Congress a bill that would help save 15,000 jobs.
And Congress has failed to act. So while the gridlock Congress
Jim
Fitzhenry
stalls, no timber is being cut -- and your jobs are disappearing
X2800
Ron Cogswell
alot faster than the owl.
OMB
x4586
I spoke before about balance.
7
It is not balance when mills that have operated responsibly
for generations are threatened with extinction because of a lack
of fiber from our public lands.
It is not balance when the Act prevents the mere
Jim
consideration, at key points in the process, of costs that
Fitzhening x2800
directly affect people and their livelihood -- of the human
X
factor.
My friends, it is time to consider the human factor in the
spotted owl equation. My opponent talks about "putting people
first" -- well, we can start right here in the Pacific Northwest.
Today, it's time to face one fact: the situation is out of
control -- and it must be addressed
because the balance must be
restored.
So let me say this:
Dale Curtis
reauthorization
CEQ
I will not sign an extension of the Endangered Species Act
Ron Coaswell
that does not allow economics to be considered, and that is not
OMB
X4586
accompanied buy a specific plán to harvest enough timber to keep
timber families working in 1993 and beyond. It's time to make
people just as important as owls.
I call upon Congress to X pass my plan to cut 2.6 billion
Coashell
X
OMB
board feet in the Forest Service Pacific Northwest region next
x45 86
X
year -- and to tie that plan to language which makes sure that a
FY
X
reasonable cut that provides protection for species cannot be
budgetrequest service
blocked on procedural grounds. It's time to put people ahead of
process.
8
My administration has recently announced several steps X to
X
X
X
X
WH
speed up the harvesting of dead or dying timber. We will shortly
Press
issue a rule to allow these timber salvage operations to occur
Release 9.9.92
X
X
without triggering some of the restrictive and time-consuming
X
laws that are disrupting the balance today.
This will help in two ways: by reducing the risk of fire
from the large volume of dead or dying X trees on our forest floor;
x
X
X
WH
X
Pressase 9.9.92
and by providing up to 450 million board feedt of timber for the
X
mills in the near term. It's time to protect jobs and put people
back to work.
X
X
I will fight for legislative language to end the injunctions
that have put an economic strangle-hold X on hte Northwest, in
X
X
X
order to free up the timber that we need today -- because x the
X
X
families and the timber communities of the Pacific Northwest need X
relief now.
And I call upon Congress today X to pass XX the Spotted Owl
X
X
Bob X4742 Grady
n Preservation Plan -- Senator Gorton's bill X --- because we must
preserve the owl; we must preserve the livelihood of the Pacific
Northwest; and we must preserve the jobs of the American people.
Fitzhenny
Finally, I am X today directing the X Secretary of X Commerce X to X
X
X
increase the Federal ban on the export of raw logs from
Bobx4742
Washington State lands from 75 percent to X 100 percent. It is
time to make sure that mills in Washington have an opportunity to
process timber grown on their state lands.
Now, my opponents would have you believe that they, too are
in favor of balance. They won't commit to any specific action to
9
solve the problem. Their idea of balance is doublespeak --
promise both sides exactly what they want to hear.
4/22/92
When Bill Clinton spoke on Earth Day back in Pennsylvania,
AP
he earned the praise of the Sierra Club for promising the
dd -growth
protection of Old Growth forests in the Pacific Northwest
He
wanted their endorsement, and he got it.
(9/8 -Hotline)
Nancy in David
Tell's office
Now just today recently, with the election nearing, he has come
to Oregon to hold out false hope to timber families by promising
a meeting. Classic doublespeak. But we. should face one fact.
This problem isn't going to be solved with one meeting. We've
had enough meetings, it's time for action.
earlyinhis administration
ctr.fomB.C.
Bill Clinton says that he 11 have his meeting within 100
days.
Well, we ve been meeting for two years.
What's
needed
is
a change in law. I will fight for it. Bill Clinton will not.
Now I know that the Governor of Arkansas is famous for being
on both sides of every issue. But I hope you'll ask him -- for
once -- to stop the rhetoric and take a stand. Families are in
the Northwest are at risk. So this is one issue where sincerity
would be better than slickness.
The plain truth is that the other ticket is on the record on
this problem, and here is what they have said.
In his book, Senator Gore said this, and I quote: "I helped
Gore
lead the successful fight to prevent the overturning of
book
Davidtell Givady/
protections for the spotted owl." The reasoning offered was
wrote their would have been
simple. The Senator said: "The jobs will be lost anyway. The
A
10
only question is whether the effort XX to create X new jobs will begin
X
X
X
X
X
now or later.
Senator Gore and Governor Clinton don't realize that
X
X
generation after generation of families -- families like the
VaagenSbrothers ---- have made a living for their family, for their
neighbors, and for their community --- not by locking these
forests up, but by managing them wisely. By restoring what they
take, so that the land can sustain the next generation and the
one after that. After all, it's no mistake that America today is
Grady
home to more forest land than it was when Teddy Roosevelt was
USForest Service
President. (1901)
Connor
The other side doesn't understand that leading the fight
against any change in the tangled web of conflicting laws means
leading the fight against your job and your family and your
community and your way of life.
or maybe they do understand. But I ask you only to do this:
let them know that you understand, too. And do not be fooled by
this doublespeak.
It's time we worried not only about endangered species --
but about endangered jobs.
You know, the father of our national forest system, and one
of America's great conservationists, Gifford Pinchot, once
defined conservation this way: "Conservation means the wise use
Grady
of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men."
I have come here today to tell you that I am the candidate
who will worry about jobs, families, and communities.
11
XXXXX
I have come here today to tell you that I will not stand for
Ron Cogswellx
x4586 a solution that puts ^ 30,000 people out X of work. That is a non-
X
Xmoret than (52,000)
solution. And on my watch, it will not stand.
I have come here to tell you that we haven't forgotten about
the human factor -- because in the end, that's the most important
factor of all.
I have come here today to tell you that we can restore the
balance, we must restore the balance, and with your help, we will
restore the balance.
Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United
States of America.
#
#
#
#
All
For Oregon speech
Find Burriel employee
in and,
we want to use
his name.
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BUSH
***
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92
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Washington, DC 20005
Date:
9-12-92
To:
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AARhus
Organization:
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456 - 6218
From:
many for David Teel
Number of Pages to Follow:
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Additional Information:
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Airport, Window Rock, Ariz.
10 a.m.: Navajo Nation Parade. Navajo Nation Reservation,
Window Rock, Ariz.
2:45 p.m.: Arrives New Mexico State Fair. San Pedro Blvd.,
Albuquerque, N.M.
Sept. 13
BILL CLINTON
In Little Rock, Ark.
AL GORE
DELETE
Guest on NBC News "Meet the Press."
DELETE
Sept. 14
BILL CLINTON
Midday: Gives a speech. Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland,
Oregon
PM Eugene, Ore.
RON San Jose, Calif.
Sept. 15
BILL CLINTON
AM San Jose State University, San Jose, Calif.
PM San Francisco, Calif.
RON Los Angeles, Calif.
Sept. 16
BILL CLINTON
In Los Angeles, Calif.
RON Los Angeles, Calif.
Sept. 17
BILL CLINTON
In Denver, Colo.
RON Little Rock, Ark.
I94 / Earth in the Balance
paper mills, for example, facing a round of investment in new
approach to ecoi
capacity, must decide whether the current interest in recycled paper
quences for the
is here to stay. If so, then large investments in recycling plants will
attention has b
be profitable; if not, they may face serious risks in making such
merger mania, a
investments. Such prophecies often tend to be self-fulfilling, of
unrelated to the
course. But here is where the government can play an important
result is not onl
role - and too often has failed to do so. The Bush administration
States in the wo
talks loudly about the tendency of a free marketplace to solve all
toward the kin
problems. But many of our markets are highly regulated, often in
formulate a credit
hidden ways. In the case of the paper industry, for instance, tax-
crisis.
payers currently subsidize the manufacture of paper products made
But it is not
from virgin timber, both as the largest single purchaser and by
and the United
further subsidizing the construction of logging roads into national
struggle with c
forests. In addition, the federal government pays the entire cost of
for individuals
managing the forest system, including many activities that ex-
nomic system !
clusively benefit the timber industry. All of these policies encourage
sense of oblig
further destruction of a critical natural resource.
must correct
The Bush administration and the entire U.S. government ought
guide the milli
to understand the economic significance of a healthy environment
of Adam Smit
as a kind of infrastructure supporting future productivity. If it is
our current n
destroyed, many jobs now at risk will be lost. A case in point is the
absurdity.
heated dispute between the timber industry in the Pacific North-
Some of th
west and conservationists eager to protect the endangered spotted
ment. Others
owl. This issue has been billed as a conflict between jobs and the
to see things
environment. But if the remaining IO percent of old-growth forest
ourselves to
is logged out, as the timber industry prefers, the jobs will be lost
stituted for s
anyway. The only question is whether the effort to create new jobs
Council of E
will begin now or later, after the forest is completely gone.
there is no i
The current administration also ought to do a much better job of
in order to S
encouraging appropriate technologies, since they can be an impor-
the reasoning
tant benefit to set against all the costs of environmental degrada-
temperature
tion. Japan, for example, is already implementing an ambitious
Blarge as the
plan to cultivate what it believes will be a massive global market for
evidence tha
new technologies for renewable energy and environmentally be-
risk than N
nign processes. Tragically, however, after having developed the first
what will A
products using wind and solar energy, the United States is now a
What will -
net importer of both technologies.
occur in th
There is an Alice-in-Wonderland quality to much of our current
were of cou
Skin Deep / I2I
pean forests such as Germany's beloved Black Forest. Waldsterben
IS the name Germans have coined for the widespread phenomenon,
which is even worse in heavily polluted Eastern Europe. And in the
United States, particularly in heavily logged regions like the Pacific
Northwest and Alaska, there is a renewed assault on the great
stretches of temperate forest that are so important to us. The
statistics about forests can be deceptive too: although the United
States, like several other developed nations, actually has more
forested land now than it did a hundred years ago, many of the
huge tracts that have been "harvested" and replanted have been
converted from diverse hardwoods to a monoculture of softwood
conifer forests that no longer support the species that once thrived
in the woods. In national forests throughout the country, logging
roads are being built in order to facilitate the more rapid logging,
even clear-cutting, of public lands under contracts that require the
sale of the trees at rates far below market prices. This enormous
taxpayer subsidy for the deforestation of public land contributes to
both the budget deficit and an ecological tragedy.
It was partly for this reason that many people drew the line at
protecting an endangered species - the spotted owl - in Oregon
and Washington. I helped lead the successful fight to prevent the
overturning of protections for the spotted owl. In the spirited
Senate debate, it became clear that the issue was not just the
spotted owl but the "old growth" forest itself. The spotted owl is a
so-called keystone species, whose disappearance would mark the
loss of an entire ecosystem and the many other species dependent
upon it. Ironically, if those wishing to continue the logging had
won, their jobs would have been lost anyway as soon as the
remaining IO percent of the forest was cut. The only issue was
whether they would shift to new employment before or after the
last remnant of forest was gone.
Whether in the tropics or the temperate zones, forests represent
the single most important stabilizing feature of the earth's land
surface, and they cushion us from the worst effects - particularly
those associated with global warming - of the environmental cri-
sis. But local and regional problems contribute to the strategic
threats brought on by our destruction of the environment. For
instance, many forests now absorb huge quantities of CO2, but
Webster's
NewWorld
DICTIONARY
QUOTABLE
DEFINITIONS
THOUSANDS OF THE MOST
MEMORABLE DEFINITIONS ON
EVERY SUBJECT, ARRANGED
ALPHABETICALLY BY TOPIC
EUGENEE.BRUSSELL
CONSCIOUSNESS
106
107
Conscience and cowardice are really the same
Old ways
the safest and surest ways.
thing.
Oscar Wilde
An in
Edward Coke
accep
The soft whispers of the God in man.
An organized hypocrisy.
Benjamin Disraeli
Edward Young
(That which) stands on man's confessed limita-
The I
Love is the source and substance
If it were not
tions
(It) has no inventions; it is all mem-
for our need to love and to be loved there would
ory
believes in negative fate.
be no conscience; there would remain only animal
SEE
Ralph Waldo Emerson
fear and animal aggression.
Gregory
Zilboorg
To keep what progressiveness has accomplished
A voice doing its duty.
Anon.
R. H. Fulton
A thinking man's filter.
Anon.
(A) (
The search for a superior moral justification for
A cur that will let you get past it but that you
selfishness.
John Kenneth Galbraith
cannot keep from barking.
Anon.
A sta
Distrust of the poeple tempered by fear.
distir
Your moral personality.
Anon.
William Gladstone
repla
Something that does not keep you from doing
A philosophy that takes into account the essential
Victo
things, but from enjoying them.
Anon.
differences between men, and, accordingly,
Midc
That small inner voice that tells you that the tax
makes provision for developing the different po-
prop<
collector-might check your return.
Anon.
tentialities of each man.
Barry M. Goldwater
That small inner voice that does not speak your
Something that starts with the purchasing of
All g
language.
Anon.
home and the birth of a child.
Max Gralnick
patier
forev.
SEE ALSO BIBLE, BRAIN, CONFESSION,
On the whole, their policy meant that people had
custo
GUILT, MORALITY, REPENTANCE.
to fill up fewer forms than under the policies of
ogniz
other parties.
Alan P. Herbert
All c
CONSCIOUSNESS
Sometimes a symptom of sterility. Those who
They
have nothing in them that can grow and develop
born
Evolution looking at itself and reflecting.
must cling to what they have in beliefs, ideas and
parer
Pierre T. de Chardin
possessions. The sterile radical, too, is basically
defen
conservative. He is afraid to let go the ideals and
An illness-a real thorough-going illness.
A co
beliefs he picked up in his youth lest his life be
Fedor M. Dostoievski
prove
seen as empty and wasted.
Eric Hoffer
for th
The name of a nonentity, and has no right to a
Adherence to the old and tried, against the new
see i
place among first principles.
William James
and untried.
Abraham Lincoln
have.
work
The inner light kindled in the soul
a
music,
Traditionalism become self-conscious and foren-
strident or sweet, made by the friction of exis-
sic.
C. Wright Mills
tence.
George Santayana
One
To believe in thinking as you were brought up to
exper
think.
Charles S. Peirce
apply
CONSERVATION
Not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet
meet
new
The wise use of the earth and its resources for the
the last to lay the old aside.
lasting good of men.
Gifford Pinchot
Adapted from Alexander Pope
The
bette
The worship of dead revolutions.
imag
CONSERVATISM
Clinton Rossiter
reass
Those coercive arrangements which a still-linger-
One
A bag with a hole in it.
Josh Billings
ing savageness makes requisite.
respe
The politics of reality.
William F. Buckley 2
Herbert Spencer
WA-Colville
Sen. Slade Gorton (willinto POTUS)
Deagne Vaagen, president of Vaagen Bros.
Lumber Inc.
Richard Kuhling, BQ Ch. (WA)
Mayor Duane Scott (Mayor of Colville)
(Q-ling)) (Q ling)
Medford,
OR
Burrill Lumber Company
Kevin Hart, lead
Mike Burrill, 1 will intro POUS
Burrill family & co. employees (some be hind PORS)
pres. & gen. mgr.
Sen. Packwood ten.
Mc Cormick
BQ Ch. (OR)
Bill
(do not ack.)
mn
per advance
Don Johnson, Que event coor.
owner of a mill in Oregon
Valerie John
RUG 25 '92 20:34
P.5
Clinton
Gore
August 25, 1992
sigurd Lucassen
William Hubbell
Michael Draper
Sherry Scott
United Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America
Carpenter's Bldg.
101 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
Dear Mr. Lucassen, Mr. Hubbell, Mr. Draper, and Ms. Scott:
Thank you for your recent letter which so clearly outlined
the problems facing the forest products industry. I agree
with you that a remedy must be found, and soon.
This crisis represents yet another example of a White House
long on the politics of blame and short on leadership.
George Bush has had more than two years to help the parties
find a solution. But instead of looking for answers, this
administration has made the problem worse by playing
political games and frustrating the process.
I believe that all parties to this dispute feel used and
manipulated. They seek new and decisive ways to bring about
a resolution that protects both jobs and the environment.
Lat me assure you that under a Clinton Administration the
politics of blame will end. I personally want to take a
constructive, hands-on role in seeking resolution of the
crisis which is hurting 50 many of our timber families and
dividing too many of our citizens in oregon, Washington, and
California. Bo on a future trip to the Northwest, H plan to
continue a dialogue with all affected parties, including a
visit with a timber family.
National Campaign Headquarters P.O. Box 615 Little Rock, Arkansas 72203 Telephone (501) 372-1992 FAX (501) 372.2292
Pold for by the Clinion & Sore '92 Committee
MONTHS nn Resysted #3387
AUG 25 '92 20:34
P.6
August 25, 1992
Page Two
Furthermore, if there is no resolution to this matter during
this Congress, early in my administration I will convene a
Pacific Northwest Forest Summit to work out a legislative
solution. I will work with the Congress and all interested
parties to help break the gridlock which has caused 50 much
pain in our Pacific Northwest communities.
It is time for us to all come together and seek common
ground.
sincerely,
Ruis Clinita
Bill clinton
BC:sh
August 4. 1992
Honorable Bill Clinton
Office or the Governor
State Capitol
Little Rock. Arkansas 72201
Dear Governor Clinton:
We were deeply gratified to learn of your willingness to meet with
representatives of organized labor to discuss the ongoing timber availability
crisis during a future campaign to Oregon.
We also appreciate your expressed concern for the thousands who have lost
their jobs in the region since the northern spotted owl was listed as threatened
species two years ago.
For the record. you should know that 88 mills have shut down in Oregon and
Washington since 1990. prompting more than 8.500 layoifs. The numbers for
California are just as sobering. Thirty-seven mills have either cut back or
suspended operations. leaving 4.300 workers unemployed.
The solution to this extremely complex and troubling issue must be developed
by Congress and the executive branch working together. This solution must
protect workers. families and communities as well as owls. We certainly want
to brief you on the importance of developing a balanced and equitable solution
to this vexing issue that is literally dashing the hopes and dreams of tens of
thousands in this region.
In addition to a meeting on the timber availability crisis. we invite you to
spend an evening at the home of a timber family to experience firsthand what
the sense of uncertainty about the future does to a normal family situation.
We look forward to discussing the possibility of arranging such a briefing and
visit with members of your staff.
While these details are being arranged. we would like you to consider a novel
proposal for bringing an equitable resolution to this crisis. If Congress fails to
act upon this question this year. we propose that you convene a Pacific
Northwest President. Forest Summit to try to develop a solution. if you are elected
Such a summit including members of the Pacific Northwest congressional
delegation and the governors of the affected states was successful in 1989 in
creating a temporary solution to this crisis. Your call for a summit Involving
these parties would provide the bipartisan spirit necessary to move the issue
from deadlock.
2
Last Saturday, you discussed the need for taking the timber availability crisis
out of the courts and settling it once-and-for-all by means of a negotiated
settlement. We clearly understand that achieving this pact would be extremely
difficult. requiring compromise on the part of all parties. including ourselves.
Our proposed summit meeting is consistent with your desire for a consensus
agreement.
One of the key issues at the timber summit meeting would be the subject of
legal sufficiency. We share your expressed concern that this issue has become
gridlocked as a result of crippling lawsuits that have prompted widespread
layoffs within our membership.
The United States Supreme Court, in an unanimous decision earlier this year,
upheld the constitutionality of Congress' approving legislative language that
declares that environmentally sensitive forest management plans are consistent
with existing laws. This was the essence or the 1989 summit.
By including sufficiency language in a long-term. negotiated comprehensive
solution to the timber availability crisis. we can be assured that the future of
tens of thousands of hard working men and women are not jeopardized by the
continuing limbo of the judicial system.
It would be extremely helpful to timber workers and organized labor if the
Democratic ticket would embrace the concept of legal sufficiency to end the
gridlock in the courts, and allow for our forests to be managed for the benefit
of both the environment and the economy.
We salute the motto of the Clinton-Gore ticket: "People First." We believe
we can advance the cause of hard working people without jeopardizing the
environment by negotiating a balanced. legally sufficient legislative package.
We look forward to meeting with you in the near future to discuss this critical
issue.
Best wishes to you in your presidential bid.
Sincerely,
wills Huilti
Sigurd/Lucassea
William Hubbell
President
Miehael Draper
President
Executive Secretary
United Brotherhood of
International
Western Council of
Carpenters and Joiners
Woodworkers of America,
Industrial Workers
of America
U.S.
Sherry Scott
Financial Secretary
Local #2739
Western Council of Industrial Workers
cc:
Chuck Richards
Susan Thomases
David Wilhelm
Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
(George Bush Library)
Document No.
Subject/Title of Document
Date
Restriction
Class.
and Type
01. Memo
Bob Grady to Dick Darman, Re: Attached Spotted Owl
08/25/92
P.S
Language. (2 pp.)
Collection:
Record Group:
Bush Presidential Records
Office:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Open on Expiration of PRA
Series:
Speech File, Backup
(Document Follows)
Subseries:
By SN (NLGB) on 4/5/2005
WHORM Cat.:
File Location:
Colville, WA Event 9/14/92
Date Closed:
12/8/2004
OA/ID Number:
07580
FOIA/SYS Case #:
S
Appeal Case #:
Re-review Case #:
2004-2265-S
Appeal Disposition:
P-2/P-5 Review Case #:
Disposition Date:
AR Case #:
MR Case #:
AR Disposition:
MR Disposition:
AR Disposition Date:
MR Disposition Date:
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - [5 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P-1 National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA]
(b)(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P-2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA]
(b)(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of an
P-3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(a)(3) of the PRA]
agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P-4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
(b)(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA]
(b)(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P-5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA]
(b)(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P-6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy [(a)(6) of the PRA]
(b)(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed of
(b)(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
(b)(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
PRM. Removed as a personal record misfile.
OFFICE
and
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
iplice
UNITED
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
SENTS
WASHINGTON, D.C. 2050,3
8/25/92
MEMORANDUM FOR DICK DARMAN
FROM:
Bob Grady
RE: Attached Spotted Owl Language
A
The policy implications of this language are as follows:
1.) We are calling for a change in the Endangered Species Act --
at a minimum, to allow the consideration of economic impacts
in the listing decision (where it is not now allowed to be
considered) and in the recovery phase, where it can now be
considered only in limited ways (e.g., it cannot interfere
with the recovery of the species).
2.) We will not sign an ESA extension unless it is accompanied
by sufficiency language in the Interior Appropriations bill,
and unless that appropriations bill includes enough funds to
fund our cut of 2.6 billion board feet in the Pacific
Northwest region.
3.) Congress should include our 2.6 bbf recommendation in the
appropriations bill.
4.) We will put out a rule that exempts timber salvage
activities from the requirements of the ESA and the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This is something USDA and
Interior are considering -- and there are two variations on
this. You could exempt from NEPA up to 1 million board feet
of salvage in any given harvest, and it would be relatively
non-controversial (and not that helpful!!). The larger
alternative is to exempt salvage altogher from ESA and NEPA.
You could make a plausible argument that this does not harm
the owl habitat, and that the current level of excessive
dead timber lying around is exacerbating severe fire
conditions in the West. But frankly, this exemption would
likely be challenged in the courts.
5.) Congress should pass S.2762, the Gorton bill which
implements Secretary Lujan's "Preservation Plan. " By
way of explanation: The ESA now requires that a
species not just stabilize, but "recover" (i.e., grow
in population). The only plan our agencies could come
up with that would do this would cost at least 30,000.
Interior has come up with a "preservation plan", that
they argue will allow the owl to survive -- but not
necessarily grow. The bill basically limits the range
of protected areas (e.g., it does not include the
Olympic Peninsula and Northern Washington). Some
-
scientists in the agencies are attacking this plan as
not credible. This plan itself, of course, embodies
some rather significant departures from the ESA.
6.) This language certainly implied that next year we would
support changes in the ESA to include more economics
and allow less blocking of sales through process. I am
attaching a portion of a memo that gives you a flavor
of the kind of things that the agencies are discussing.
At a meeting of the agencies hosted by Teresa Gorman
about two weeks ago, all pretty much agreed to go with
a thematic "Hatfield" approach (see attached op-ed),
rather than formally proposing these specific changes
to the Act at this time.
LC'. Zoellide
THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
MAKING IT WORK IN THE FUTURE
WELL-REASONED PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE
BY
WASHINGTON STATE PUBLIC LANDS COMMISSIONER
BRIAN BOYLE
JUNE 1992
THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
MAKINGTT WORK IN THE FUTURE
WELL-REASONED PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE
BY
WASHINGTON STATE PUBLIC LANDS COMMISSIONER
BRIAN BOYLE
JUNE 1992
1
THE LAW, THE CONTROVERSY AND THE NORTHWEST EXPERIENCE
The Endangered Species Act (PL 93-205) was passed by the United States
Congress in 1973 to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which
endangered and threatened species depend may be conserved and to provide
a program for the conservation of such species.
The Act is among the most popular and well-known laws ever passed by
Congress. The bald eagle - the symbol of American democracy - and the
grizzly bear are two prominent species that have benefitted from protection
under the Endangered Species Act. More than 600 other species have been
listed as threatened or endangered. It is estimated that there are another 3,000
plants and animals that should be listed.
The ESA is a vital element in our nation's effort to assure a healthy
environment. In almost every instance, the provisions of the 1973 Act -
with its subsequent amendments - serve the goal of species' protection
extremely well.
But the public has become overwhelmed by the dominant attention given
to those few species where protection means dramatic economic hardship -
for a project, an industry, a community, or an entire region of the country.
The salmon and the northern spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest, and
perhaps later this year the California gnatcatcher, are species evoking
particular controversy.
Exceptions to the rule - as these three species clearly are - should not
sound the death knell for a well-conceived and highly successful law that has
protected jeopardized species for two decades. Some pending attempts to gut
the Endangered Species Act obviously would weaken species' protection. But
simply ignoring the polarization surrounding controversial species would be
just as irresponsible.
The Pacific Northwest has a unique relationship with the natural
environment and wildlife. Our region is blessed with well-watered land that
nurtures fast-growing, soaring forests and abundant fisheries - as well as
bountiful agricultural and aquatic lands. Environmental quality is one of this
region's engines of economic prosperity. Our future is tied to healthy natural
2
resources. Our comparatively unspoiled environment retains a diversity of
species long absent from some other regions in this country.
However, as the Northwest has grown, we also have had more experience
dealing with controversy resulting from the Act than any other region in the
country. The Act in its present form is poorly designed to handle the
inevitable challenges of the future. Our experience with the Act provides the
insight needed to present the following forward-thinking proposals.
3
A REGIONAL VOICE
Today's Problem:
Important scientific conclusions about sustaining wildlife should be based
solely on biology. But applying the measures to protect these species, if based
only on biology, dismisses the human equation.
Decisions to protect salmon and the northern spotted owl mean far-
reaching economic costs in the Northwest and throughout the U.S.
Protecting salmon runs will easily impact one-third of a million acres of
irrigated agricultural land which annually produces $300 million worth of
commodities. Salmon protection efforts will substantially raise electric utility
rates to millions of customers in Washington, Oregon and California, and
affect transportation costs. Protection of the northern spotted owl will result
in job losses in the tens of thousands, and result in dislocation of families in
some rural Pacific Northwest towns.
The owl was first listed as threatened in July 1990, yet no concrete plan to
protect the owl exists. The owl is an example of how the processes in the
ESA, while adequate for most species, are not capable of fundamental regional
policy-making in cases where it is needed. Consequently, because it is the
region that is most affected, regional interests begin seeking their own
solutions to the controversy they live with every day. They search for other
venues that lead, for example, to an Administration alternative to the spotted
owl recovery plan, special "ancient forest" legislation in Congress, and drastic
attempts to overhaul the entire Endangered Species Act.
So far, implementation of the Act has worked better in the case of listed
runs of salmon. Affected regional interests and elected officials have been
more actively involved, with the blessing of federal officials. This has been
accomplished outside the explicit procedures of the Act, but has produced
beneficial results.
The Boyle Proposal:
A separate approach must be created in the Act for species whose recovery
would entail severe regional economic consequences. Severe regional
economic consequences would be defined according to specific criteria in the
Act, such as:
4
the employment base of the industries likely to be significantly affected,
for example, as a percentage of a state's or region's employment;
the contribution to gross domestic state or regional product of industries
likely to be significantly affected;
other appropriate criteria.
Two pathways should be constructed in the Act for recovery planning: the
current planning process for most species, and a new alternative process for
listed species meeting the economic impact criteria above.
The recovery planning approach for these "high economic impact" species
would be developed with involvement and leadership from the affected
region to better accommodate regional needs and values within the objectives
of the Act. The intent is to promote compromise and build regional
ownership of the resulting recovery plans.
Features of the alternative recovery planning process would include:
The Secretary (of Interior or Commerce) requests the governor(s) of the
affected state(s) to convene a regional recovery team;
The regional recovery team would consist of representatives of all
affected interests, specialists in a variety of disciplines and regional policy
leaders;
The regional recovery team would be required to develop a wide range of
options and separately analyze both the economic and biological costs,
risks, and benefits of each option;
If unacceptable adverse economic consequences would result from
complete recovery, the regional recovery team could have the option to
adopt a goal of partial or delayed recovery. Partial recovery must include
population viability over at least a major portion of the species' current
range, but not necessarily the species' entire range.
Unacceptable economic consequences would be defined in the Act.
The criteria for "unacceptable" economic impacts should include major
5
social hardship, damage to the state or regional economic base, and other
long-term factors.
The team would have a two-year time limit, with consensus as the
preferred goal. In the absence of an agreed upon plan, the Secretary could
re-assume responsibility if the regional team doesn't meet its two-year
deadline.
An agreed upon recovery plan must include provisions to address and
supersede, if necessary, other implementing mechanisms of the Act.
These include consultation, designation of critical habitat, prohibition on
"taking" and other prohibited actions.
6
BETTER FUNDING CHOICES
Today's Problem:
The funding needs for recovery of all listed species are enormous - an
estimated $4.6 billion over 10 years. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough
funding to meet all the needs. State and federal agencies spent $100 million
on endangered and threatened species in 1990. Even with realistic increases
in appropriations, a huge gap would remain between the need for protection
and the ability to pay for it. As a result, inevitable choices must be made on
where to direct the resources - which species get the funding? In 1990, more
than one half of the $100 million spent was devoted to less than 2 percent of
the listed species. These critical funding choices currently are being made
without input from the Congressional policy makers.
The Boyle Proposal:
The Endangered Species Act needs explicit criteria to establish funding
priorities. Agencies responsible for implementing the Act should be required
to follow these criteria for listed species:
Species whose recovery would cause severe regional economic
consequences (as discussed above) receive a higher priority for funding;
There must be a greater distinction between threatened and endangered
species. Endangered species with good recovery potential receive a higher
priority for funding. Threatened species and endangered species with
lower recovery potential are considered a lower priority for funding.
A higher priority should be given to "keystone" species. In emerging
scientific thinking, keystone species play a pivotal role in the
functioning of an ecosystem and support of a large part of the biological
community. For example, the spotted owl may not be considered a
keystone species because the surrounding biological community may not
depend upon its survival. Some runs of salmon, however would be
considered keystone species bécause an entire ecosystem revolves around
them.
Listed and candidate species that share common habitat requirements
would receive a higher funding priority, so that a single recovery plan
could provide multiple species protection. (For example, both the
northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet share old growth habitat.)
7
PREVENTIVE CARE FOR BIODIVERSITY
Today's Problem:
When the Endangered Species Act was created in 1973, it was designed to
serve as "emergency room" intervention for species in critical shape.
However, there's an increasing attempt to use the Act as a weapon in natural
resource debates going well beyond individual species. The crisis
intervention approach called for by the Act is not well suited to meeting our
fundamental ecosystem management needs. No effective system of
"preventive care" for ecosystems and species in trouble exists in federal law.
This policy gap needs to be addressed separately from the Endangered Species
Act.
The Boyle Proposal:
Separate legislation needs to be developed for a new federal biodiversity
program. The goal of such legislation would be to protect or restore healthy
ecosystems and biodiversity. This proactive approach would serve as
"preventive care" before a species needs protection under the Endangered
Species Act. Meanwhile, the ESA's goal would continue to be emergency
intervention.
Broad features of this separate biodiversity legislation:
There should be identification of areas particularly rich in species or
ecosystem functions. Where such areas are under-represented in existing
public or private nature preserves, additional efforts should be
undertaken. These could include acquisition of such areas from willing
sellers, effective incentives for private parties to voluntarily protect
biodiversity, or improved protective management if such areas are
currently on federal lands.
A scientific program should be designed to better define ecosystems, their
functions, and their resiliency or vulnerability to human activity. This
knowledge could help identify species that are critical or are not critical to
the healthy functioning of an ecosystem. This would help establish
priorities if such species become candidates for listing under the
Endangered Species Act.
-5-
ESA vs Industry
washington
Forks and the Spotted Owl
Efforts to save the spotted owl are wrecking havoc on a small
timber town called Forks. Unemployment is 20% and counting - up
from 10% in 1990. The car dealership, the main clothing
retailer, the movie theater, and half a dozen other businesses
have closed down since the beginning of this year. Domestic
violence complaints in the past year have risen by more than
100%.
Telico Dam
Telico Dam, a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) project, was taken
to court over the issue of the snail darter, a three inch snail-
eating fish, first observed in 1973, six years after Telico began
construction. Although TVA complained that Tellico's
environmental-impact statement had passed two federal court
reviews, that $50 million in taxpayers' money had already been
spent and that the dam would provide flood control, hydro-
electric power, and recreational facilities, the Supreme Court
ruled in favor of the "infinitely valuable fish." Tellico's
principal sponsor, Senate minority leader Howard Baker, however,
rammed through legislation exempting the TVA project. The dam
was built; few years later more snail darters turned up in other
rivers nearby. The fish was downgraded to "threatened" in 1984.
Central Valley Farmers
Central Valley farmers have come to see the ESA as their enemy
because the Act could force costly changes in agriculture to help
save the Sacramento River's winter-run chinook salmon and the
delta smelt. Farmers are concerned that the plight of the two
declining species could permanently change the arrangement by
which the Central Valley Project has brought them cheap water for
four decades.
Oil Drilling
The Alaskan wilderness, more than half the country's total, has
been put off-limits to oil drilling a mere year after the U.S.
fought a war to preserve such access in the Persian Gulf.
Virtually, the whole California coastline has been similarly
blocked out.
AUG-27-1992 13:59 FROM THE GALLATIN GROUP
TO
912023955730 P.02
STATE OF WASHINGTON
will of H COVERNOR
OLYMPIA
BOOTH GARDNER
GOVERNOR
Remarks by Governor Oardner
State Labor Council
26 August 1993
1 don't gel angry easily. But I've spent too much time listening to
Republicans during the last week and half.
I'm not angry at them for beating up on Congress, or for congratulating
themselves on foreign policy, or for taking the wrong position on a woman's
right to choose.
What I'm angry about is their attempts to divide the American people at a
time when unity 10 so urgently needed. Their viclous attacks on Hillary
Clinton are dividing women in the workforce and women who stay home.
Their misuse of the term "family values" divides the self-righteous from the
rest of us, Their economic policies divide rich and poor, and their rhetoric
divides us by race,
And then, as If that weren't enough, President Such says that the
Democratic platform to missing "thred simple lotters: a . o . D." 1 just
couldn't figure out why a President would imply that Democrate are godless
because We don't wear our religious convictions on our sleeves. But then It
same to me # he wanted us to know he could spell.
But this election campaign isn't about spelling. It eught to, be about pulling
AUG-27-1992 14:00 FROM THE GALLATIN GROUP
TO
912023955730 P.03
the American people together to certifrent the problems of our esonomy, our
schools, our streets, and our health care system,
Next week, President Bush will be in our state. He's coming here to divide
us again " and this time, he intends to deepen the division between timber
workers and environmentalists, and to pit the environment and the
economy against each other.
He knows perfectly well that what's at issue here $8 the need for a balanced
solution that ends the management of our forests by court Injunction.
He has had four years to bitng everyone to the table and craft such 8 solution.
But netther the plight of our people nor the danger to our forests was
important enough to the Bush administration to warrant real leadership. He
hasn't oven gotten his own people -- from the Fish and Wildlife Service. the
Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management or to Bit down together,
Each one of these Bush administration agencies has gone off In its own
direction, and the result has been confusion and division even within Bush's
own team.
His agencies have flaunted the law 60 flagrantly that our forests have been
tied up in the courts for as out of the 48 months that this administration
has been in office. And that total would have been 45 months If it hadn't
been for the Dicks-AuCoin amendment that at least allowed a few unber
onlos for 19 months.
And while this administration has ignored its responsibilities to find a
solution, they opposed aid to the very fumilies who were being devastated by
federal Insetion and incompotence. Here in Washington, we believe that
family values mean that we value every family " net just our OWN.
We begged this administration for a stable timber supply. extended
2
AUG-27-1992 14:00 FROM THE GALLATIN GROUP
TO
912023955730 P.04
unemployment, for job training for timber workers, and for measures that
would require that all of us share the burden of protecting our forests.
But the Bush administration has made the families in our timber
communities pawns in a cynical political game.
They didn't oven answer our letters.
For their own political reasons. they want to make this an either/or
question: either WE protect our forests. or we protect our jobs and families.
Either we have jobs today, or We have forests tomorrow.
But this 1sn't an either/or question It's an and/and question. We need jobs
today and forests for tomorrow, We need protection for our families and
protection for our forests. And we could have that if we had B national
leader who cared enough. We could find the balance. we could solve the
problem, and we could move shead tostead of failing further and further
behind.
We need to make a resolution: When President Bush comes here next week
to divide us all over again. we just can't lot him do it. We need to stand
together, and we need to stand up to the Bush administration and just say
no.
No. we will not be used. No, we will not be divided. And no, we will not let
our timber families be used BE pawns In this synteal game.
We do have an alternative BY and his name to Bill Clinton.
On August 4, a group of northwest labor leaders wrote fairn & letter asking
that the spend time with a timber family. and Anking him If no would call a
Umber summit to work out BMS compreptise that would got our forests sut
from under court injunctions.
$
AUG-27-1992 14:01 FROM THE GALLATIN GROUP
TO
912023955730 P.05
on August 85, Bill Clinton responded. He used yes # yes he will spend time
with 1 umber family next time he is in the Northwest, and yes, his
administration would make st # priority to get everyone to the table to solve
this problem. I have this letter with 200, and I want to share It with
representatives from the Carpenters Union, the IWA, and the Lumber and
Sawmill Workers Union.
But before I do that, 1 just want to conclude by driving this point homes We
don't have any more time to waste. This is not 1880, and It is not morning
in America. This 10 1992, and this to the morning after in America.
It's time for all of us to face the reality that our country 18 headed in the
wrong direction, and we need to change. We need a leader who brings us
together, and we need citizens who are willing to take personal
responsibility for making democracy work again.
And this year. we have that opportunity. it's up to us to use It or lose it.
Thank you.
4
TOTAL P.05
PAGE
1
Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1992
birthday, but it's not likely his father will be around later to celebrate.
"It's kinda hard with nobody around to look up to but your older brother,' he
says as he racks up points. Even when his father is home, no one can pretend
things are the way they used to be. "My Dad, when he's around, well he loses his
temper a little more," Danny says. "He doesn't always have the money for the
bills. So sometimes we are a little short on water or the lights go off for a
little while."
Those are problems many families in Forks are familiar with. Social
services people rattle off the most recent statistics they have to document the
distress: welfare grants to families with children up 64% from January to
December, 1990; the number of food-stamp recipients up by a third; reports of
sexual assaults up 113% and domestic violence up 96% between September, 1990,
and September, 1991, at the Forks Abuse Program; a 66% jump in the number of
people getting food from the Forks food bank between 1989 and 1990. The worst
is yet to come. There were jobs in the woods last summer. In a frenzy of cutting
that some say has been environmentally devastating, private landowners rushed to
harvest for fear that the government will soon stop them from logging at all. On
federal land, loggers cleared the timber they'd bought before harvest limits
were imposed. New timber sales in the 01ympic National Forest for 1991
plummeted to less than 10% of those made in 1990, and as the old sales are
logged off, there just won't be much left to cut.
TM
TM
TM
LEXIS:NEXIS®
LEXIS-NEXIS®
LEXIS-NEXIS®
Services of Mead Data Central, Inc.
Recyclable
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Middletown, New Jersey)
For Immediate Release
September 9, 1992
Emergency Timber Salvage Effort
in the Northwest to Ease Fire Danger
The President today announced several actions that the
Administration will take to expedite salvage operations of dead
or dying timber in the Northwest and Northern California in order
to ease the growing fire danger in that region. Western States,
particularly California, are experiencing one of the worst fire
seasons in history. This summer alone, there have been over
70,000 wildfires that have destroyed approximately 1.7 million
acres of forest and rangeland, burned over 1,200 homes and other
buildings, and required the evacuation of over 35,000 people.
Fire danger has been particularly acute due to the unusually
large volume of timber that is dead or dying because of a seven
year drought that also has exacerbated damage from insects and
disease.
The President has directed the Departments of Agriculture and the
Interior, and all other appropriate federal agencies, to expedite
their existing timber salvage sales programs for those areas not
falling within spotted owl habitat, where timber harvesting is
prohibited by federal court order. In addition, the Department
of Agriculture will issue final regulations updating their policy
and procedures for complying with the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA). The final USDA regulation increases to 1.0
million board feet the amount of dead or dying trees which can be
harvested in a single salvage project without having to prepare
documentation under NEPA. Pursuant to NEPA and applicable
regulations, USDA has determined that timber sales of this
magnitude will have no significant environmental effect. In
addition to reducing the danger from forest fires, the U.S.
Forest Service estimates these actions will increase the timber
harvest from these lands by 250 to 450 million board feet for
fiscal year 1993.
# # # #
Mark U. Haijiela
June 12, 1992
Can't See the Forests for the Endangered Species
I have supported-and I continue to support-
undoubtedly be improved, I question the tactic of
ests" prepared by Forest Service and university
were not going to allow the demise of a species.
the Endangered Species Act. I helped write it. I
using the Endangered Species Act as a weapon to
scientists, and using information from a Forest
We decided that where humans could stop ex-
offered the 1972 version of the act that eventual-
accomplish judicially what could not be done
Service inventory of old growth forests, there
tinction, we would take steps to stop it. We
y became law in 1973: I want it to survive.
through the legislative and administrative pro-
are today 3.1 million acres of old growth in
intentionally wrote protections into the act that
But unlike many of my colleagues from urban
cesses. Moving this battle over management of
Oregon and Washington. Of that, 62 percent is
were Draconian in scope to protect those species
areas, I also have to deal with the human side of
withdrawn from any kind of timber harvesting
that were truly threatened with extermination.
the act, and thus have special reason to know
and will never be harvested.
But we have now elevated the act above all
that it has come to be an environmental law that
"The human factor has
What, then, are the implications of our deci-
our other resource management and protection
avors preservation over conservation,
sion to apply the Endangered Species Act to
laws to an extent that those laws have now
During my years in public service, I have
been lost.'
millions of acres of public land in the Pacific
become all but meaningless. The work and
been in the middle of continuing natural re-
Northwest?
investment in balanced resource management
source negotiations in my state. The goal of
Virtually every credible study shows that
that has occurred over the years is about to be
these efforts was to find and maintain a balance
public lands into the judicial arena threatens to
worldwide demand for forest products is expec-
thrown into the recycling bin, swept aside and
between humans and nature. By being able to
undermine public support for the act and for all
ted to double in the next 50 years or less.
replaced by a "zero-risk, maximum-protection"
negotiate definitive solutions to these problems,
our other environmental protection laws.
Where will this material come from? And if we
strategy for a single use: wildlife management.
we were, until recently, able to "keep the peace"
The fact is that Congress always considered
don't use wood, what materials will we use?
The argument that spotted owl protection
in our state by recognizing the legitimacy of the
the human element as central to the success of
What are the implications-local, regional, na-
really doesn't address old growth forest concerns
arguments of the many sides.
the Endangered Species Act. But today, with
tional and global-of using other materials?
has provided justification for legislation such as
Unfortunately, the strict application of the
the act being applied across entire regions, the
We are on the verge of shifting the harvest of
two bills approved by House committees, one of
Endangered Species Act in the case of the
human factor has been lost. "Science" has been
timber from the Pacific Northwest-which ac-
which would reduce the timber sale level in the
northern spotted owl has pui an end, for the
used to support a philosophy that emphasizes
counts for 20 percent of the nation's supply of
Northwest from 3.4 billion in art feet under the
time being, to balanced resource management
single-use lock-up of our natural resources on
wood-to other parts of the nation or the world
new forest plans to 814 million board feet. I am
the Pacific Northwest.
the grandest scale imaginable.
that are biologically and politically unprepared
hard-pressed to remember a time in our nation's
There is no question that the act is being
The fundamental premise of those challeng-
for that burden-places that lack forest practice
history when the federal government made a
applied in a manner far beyond what any of us
ing the administration of our public lands is that
and environmental laws. The net result will be
conscious decision to do what this bill would:
envisioned when we wrote it 20 years ago. It
we have "mismanaged" our forests. Some people
less, not more, protection for our environment.
eliminate 48,000 to 61,000 jobs.
vas originally conceived as a law to ensure the
are convinced that the lands of the Pacific
While we debate the future of the Pacific
We have witnessed an abuse of the concepts.
survival of species threatened with or in danger
Northwest were all one continuous blanket of
Northwest and the protection of the spotted
the basic premises, of the Endangered Species
of extinction because of specific actions such as
old forests-250 years or more old-stretching
owl, we tend to forget that the application of the
Act. We need to think about the implication for
road-building, observatories, sewer systems,
from Northern British Columbia to Northern
Endangered Species Act in this case has nation-
truly threatened and endangered species if public
buildings, dams or other such projécts. But
California.
al implications. There are currently more than
support for the act declines to the point where
today the act is being applied across entire
That picture simply doesn't add up. The
7,000 species or subspecies in this country
efforts are made to amend or repeal it. We need
states and regions, with the result that it now
forests of the Pacific Northwest have been
considered to be either "sensitive" or "candi-
to think about this conflict, and about how to
fects millions upon millions of acres of publicly
dynamic, evolving and constantly changing.
dates" for threatened or endangered listings.
resolve it, and bring peace back to our forests.
and privately owned land, and many thousands
They were never all old growth-they will
The situation has gotten out of control. We
of human beings.
never be all old growth.
conceived the Endangered Species Act with a
The writer is a Republican senator from
While the management of our public lands can
According to a definition of "old growth for-
simple premise for a difficult problem: that we
Oregon.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
THE WHITE HOUSE
2 JUL 13 P6: 03
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
July 14, 1992
FACT SHEET
President Bush's Accomplishments for Protecting and
Enhancing Forests and the Outdoors
0
Expanded and improved America's treasury of national
forests, national parks, wildlife refuges, and recreation
areas.
-
Since 1989, the President has doubled funding for
parks, wildlife, and outdoor recreation and has tripled
funds to states under the Land and Water Conservation
Fund to support local outdoor recreation.
-
Twenty national park units and 57 wildlife refuges have
been added or proposed in addition to existing units,
an addition of over 1.5 million acres.
-
2700 miles of rivers have been designated as wild and
scenic and 6.4 million acres have been designated as
wilderness.
-
The Forest Service has reopened or upgraded campgrounds
and picnic areas all across America that had been
previously closed and has constructed or improved over
5000 miles of trails.
0
Proposed an ambitious reforestation program to plant one
billion trees per year across America.
-
In 1991, the first year of the initiative, over 25
million trees were planted in urban areas.
-
This year, to support the rural element of this
initiative, nearly $20 million will be spent for cost-
shared projects on private lands in support of tree
planting and other stewardship programs.
Announced an ecological approach to the management of our
National Forests.
-
The Forest Service has adopted the principle of
ecosystem management for the entire National Forest
System.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Colville, Washington)
For Immediate Release
September 14, 1992
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO EMPLOYEES OF VAAGEN BROTHERS LUMBER COMPANY
Vaagen Brothers Lumber Company
Colville, Washington
1:09 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. What a wonderful
welcome. (Applause.) And may I thank your very special Senator,
Senator slade Gorton, for that introduction, and much more for all he
does for this great state back in Washington, D.C. You have an
outstanding Senator. (Applause.) And thanks to Dwayne Vaagen, and
all of the rest of you for letting us visit here today. I know we've
disrupted not only this wonderful facility, but a lot of things around
town. And I'm grateful to the Mayor, Mayor Scott, and the police
officials and everybody else who assist in the planning and the success
of a visit like this.
I'll tell you, I really enjoyed flying in here in that
helicopter. And for those of you who haven't been up there, there are
a lot of trees around here. so don't listen to some of the critics --
(applause.)
You know, last week out in Detroit, I released an Agenda
for American Renewal. I see a sign back there on that. And the agenda
was based on a fundamental premise: that the challenges America faces
-- foreign, domestic and economic, and, yes, environmental -- are
connected, they're linked. And the solution to one cannot be divorced
from the solution to the other. We need an integrated approach.
We need to bring this integrated approach to the
relationship between the economy and the environment. Environmental
protection and economic growth must go hand in hand, they can't be
divorced from each other. This morning down in southern California,
I spoke about ways to bring them together. But frankly, I believe that
when it comes to the Endangered Species Act and its application here
in the Northwest, the balance has simply been lost.
Like many of you, I love to hunt and hike and fish. And
I love the outdoors. (Applause.) And like you, I have learned through
a lifetime of experience to appreciate and respect the wilderness. I
know that you, and you who have chosen to live in this beautiful part
of the country -- respect and revere these forests as others never can.
(Applause.) And you resent the implication that earning your
livelihood here -- with sound management of the forest -- makes you
less of a conservationist than the city dweller or the suburbanite.
(Applause.)
For the past -- and I'm proud of this record, although I
don't have the endorsement of some of the extreme environmental groups
-- but for the past four years, we've worked hard to protect our
precious environment -- and we've accomplished a great deal. Four
years ago, I promised Americans a new Clean Air Act. For over a
decade, no one could get it done. But we did. My Clean Air Act
reduces smog in our cities, and gets toxic pollutants out of the air
and will cut acid rain in half.
MORE
Four years ago, I promised I would protect the
environmentally sensitive areas off our coasts from the excesses of
offshore drilling. And today, there will be no drilling off the coast
of California or Washington and Oregon not far from here, off the
Florida Keys, off the New England coast. We have banned ocean drilling
until the year 2000.
Four years ago, I promised to be a good steward of our
public lands. And we've added thousands of miles of trails for
Americans like you who love the outdoors. We're reopening and
upgrading campsites all across America. And we've added a million and
a half acres to our national parks, wildlife areas, forests and
recreation lands.
The fact is that every American cares about the
environment -- and most consider themselves environmentalists. That
is particularly true here in the Pacific Northwest. And yet Americans
today realize that we can protect our lands while also using them for
people's benefit. (Applause.) They understand the need for wilderness
and recreation areas, as well as the need for paper for our schools and
offices and timber for new homes.
Being out here in the great Pacific Northwest, I'm
reminded of Teddy Roosevelt -- the very first President to focus the
attention of the nation on the condition of our natural resources.
Teddy Roosevelt once said this: "Wise forest protection does not mean
the withdrawal of forest resources from contributing their full share
to the welfare of the people.' What President Roosevelt had in mind,
and what the American people have always wanted, is balance.
(Applause.)
Not far from here is a timber town called Forks. Like
Colville, Forks supported a mill, and the mill supported a community.
Because of a lack of timber, the mill had to close. Today unemployment
in Forks is at 20 percent. The car dealership has closed. The
clothing store -- gone. The movie theater -- shut down. Domestic
violence complaints have doubled, just in the past year.
Forks is in crisis for a simple reason: the balance that
I was talking about, that balance has been lost. I've come here
because we must restore the balance. (Applause.) Listen to Oregon's
Senator Mark Hatfield, who was a cosponsor of the original Endangered
Species Act back in 1972. This year, he wrote: "There is no question
that the act is being applied in a manner far beyond what any of us
envisioned when we wrote it 20 years ago."
The Endangered Species Act was intended as a shield for
species against the effects of major construction projects like
highways and dams -- not a sword aimed at jobs and families and
communities of the entire regions like the Northwest. (Applause.)
But today, when harvesting on federal timberland is
stopped outright by 13 different lawsuits, under seven different
statutes, each inconsistent with the other -- the balance has been
lost. It's time to fight for jobs, families and communities.
(Applause.)
The time has come to talk sensibly. When hundreds of
mills have been shut down, thousands of timber workers thrown out of
work, and revenues for schools and other local services have been
slashed, the balance has been lost. And it's time to fight for jobs,
families, and communities. (Applause.)
And so, as I say, we must talk sense about the Endangered
Species Act, about the spotted owl, and about the management of our
forests. Because it is my firm belief that people and their jobs
deserve protection, too. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: What about AIDS? What about AIDS?
MORE
- 3 -
THE PRESIDENT: Let me digress for one minute -- let me
digress. This man has asked a question here. I hadn't planned to
discuss this. His question is -- if you'll listen, sir, I'll t plain
to you what about AIDS. AIDS is a serious problem. Under my
administration we've appropriated $4.3 billion, ten times as much per
victim as for cancer. We've asked for $4.9 billion. We are the
leaders in research, and we're going to keep on fighting until we get
this thing whipped. (Applause.)
Now, let me go back to the Endangered species Act. And
let me be clear: The basic purpose of the Endangered Species Act 1s
good and noble -- to save the rare and threatened species of this
country. But today, the act and other laws are being used by people
with extreme views, particularly here in Washington and Oregon, to
achieve in the courts what no sane official would ever have voted for
-- the complete lock-up of the most productive forests in the entire
United states.
The Endangered Species Act, as rigidly interpreted by some
courts and as driven by the Congress, has forced an extreme approach
and created an unnecessarily tragic situation here in the Northwest.
Massive areas of federal land are being set aside for the owl --
virtually ignoring the fact that two-thirds of the Northwest's old-
growth forests are already designated as parks, wilderness, or other
classifications. (Applause.) other classifications that prevent
harvesting. And each pair of owls -- listen, America -- gets 3,500
acres to itself, while jobs, families and communities are being wiped
out in the process. (Applause.)
And the other side has been talking about a false choice.
They claim that this timber crisis is just politics, and the simple
fact is this: The false choice is being driven by extremists who are
twisting the Endangered Species Act and its application to the Northern
spotted Owl. (Applause.) So I came up here to set the #ecord
straight. And let's do that for the entire country, right here. We
have always worked within the parameters of the law to address this
problem. But I can tell you this: The law is broken, and it must be
fixed. (Applause.)
We have asked the United states Congress for funds to Sixt
enough timber in this region to keep people employed. But those
conflicting laws allow challenge after challenge. so this year we name
Congress an alternative plan -- a preservation plant that would SAVE
17,000 jobs compared to the recovery plan required by the act. And
Congress has simply failed to act.
My friends, it is time to consider the human factor in the
spotted Owl equation. (Applause.) My opponent talks about putting
people first. Well, we can start right here in the Pacific Northwest.
And, so, here's what I propose. Here's what I propose. First, I will
not sign an extension the Endangered Species Act unless it gives
greater consideration to jobs. And to families and to communities,
too. And I will not sign it without a specific plan in place to
harvest enough timber to keep timber families working in 1993 and
beyond. It is time to make people more important than owls.
(Applause.)
And, second, I will fight to end the injunctions that have
put an economic stranglehold on the Northwest in order to free up the
timber that we need today, because the families and the timber
communities of the Pacific Northwest need relief now.
And I call upon Congress to pass my plan to produce 2.6
billion board feet of timber from Forest Service lands in the Northwest
region next year and to pass language that prevents lawsuits from
stopping reasonable harvests with reasonable species protection.
(Applause.) It is time to put people ahead of process.
MORE
- 4 -
Third, my administration will speed the harvesting of
The Endangered Species Act was intended as a shield for
species against the effects of major construction projects like
highways and dams -- not a sword aimed at the jobs, families, and
communities of entire regions like the Northwest.
But today, when harvesting on Federal timberland is
stopped outright by 13 different lawsuits -- under 7 different
statutes, each inconsistent with the other -- the balance has been
lost. It's time to fight for jobs, families and communities.
when hundreds of mills have been shut down, thousands of
timber workers thrown out of work, and revenues for schools and other
local services have been slashed, the balance has been lost. It's time
to fight for jobs, families, and communities.
The time has come to talk sense about the Endangered
Species Act, about the spotted owl, and about the management of our
forests. Because it is my firm belief that people and their jobs
deserve protection too.
Let me be clear: the basic purpose of the Endangered
species Act is good and noble -- to save the rare and threatened
species of this country.
But today, the Act and other laws are being used by people
with extreme views, particularly here in Washington and Oregon, to
achieve in the courts what no sane elected official would ever vote
for -- the complete lock-up of the most productive forests in the
entire United States.
The Endangered Species Act, as rigidly interpreted by some
courts and as driven by the Congress, has forced an extreme approach
and created an unnecessarily tragic situation here in the Northwest.
Massive areas of Federal land are being set aside for the owl --
virtually ignoring the fact that two-thirds of the Northwest's old
growth forests are already designated as parks, wilderness, or other
classifications that prevent harvesting. Each pair of owls gets 3,500
acres to itself! Meanwhile, jobs, families and communities are being
wiped out in the process.
The other side has been talking about a "false choice."
They claim that this timber crisis is just politics. The simple fact
is this: the false choice is being driven by extremists who are
twisting the Endangered species Act and its application to the Northern
Spotted Owl.
Now let's set the record straight. We have always worked
within the parameters of the law to address this problem -- but I can
tell you this. The law is broken, and it must be fixed.
we have asked Congress for funds to cut enough wither in
this region to keep people employed. But these conflicting Laws allow
challenge after challenge.
So this year, we sent Congress an alternative plan: a
preservation plan that would save 17,000 jobs compared to the recovery
plan required by the Act. Congress has failed to act.
My friends, it is time to consider the human factor in the
spotted owl equation. MY opponent talks about "putting people first" -
- well, we can start right here in the Pacific Northwest.
so here is what I propose:
First, I will not sign an extension of the Endangered
Species Act unless it gives greater consideration to jobs, families,
and communities. And I will not sign it without a specific plan in
MORE
-
place to harvest enough timber to keep timber families working in 1993
and beyond. It's time to make people more important than owls.
Second, I will fight to end the injunctions that have put
an economic strangle-hold on the Northwest, in order to free up the
timber that we need today -- because the families and the timber
communities of the Pacific Northwest need relief now.
I call upon Congress to pass my plan to produce 2.6
billion board feet of timber from Forest Service lands in the Northwest
Region next year -- and to pass language that prevents lawsuits from
stopping reasonable harvests with reasonable species protection. It
is time to put people ahead of process.
Third, my Administration will speed the harvesting of dead
or dying timber that has been dangerously building up during a 7-year
drought. One step is our new rule to allow more timber salvage
operations to occur without triggering some of the time-consuming
requirements that are blocking progress. This will reduce the risk of
fire, it'll provide up to 450 million board feet of timber for the
mills in the near term. And it's time, then, to protect jobs with
timber that's available now. (Applause.)
And fourth, we will make sure that 100 percent of the raw
logs from Washington State-owned public lands are processed here. It's
time to put the mills back to work. (Applause.)
And, finally, I call upon Congress to pass the spotted Owl
Preservation Plan -- and that's Senator Gorton's bill which he calls
"the Northern Spotted Owl Preservation and Northwest Economic
Stabilization Act of 1992." It's time to preserve both owls and jobs.
And that's what Slade Gorton's act does, and he helps the families in
the process. (Applause.)
Now, the Senator mentioned my opponent, so I will, too.
(Laughter.) My opponent's approach to this problem -- to your jobs -
- is doublespeak. when Bill Clinton spoke in Pennsylvania, he said
what the Sierra Club wanted to hear. They concluded that Governor
Clinton was -- quote -- "promising the protection of old growth forestr
in the Pacific Northwest." And then, when he heard I was coming here,
Mr. Clinton cynically held out. false hope to timber families by
promising -- get this -- another meeting.
There have already been more than 40 bipartisan assistings
of the Northwest congressional delegation on this issue for three
years. Now, here, you wondered what these are -- these 020 the
studies. Look at them. We don't need any more studies of this
problem. We need action in the United states Congress. Good heavenst
(Applause.) We've produced a pile of studies and proposals the high.
The best thing for the timber industry is all the trees it took to
print these reports. No more studies, let's change the Law. Let's
change the law. (Applause.)
And the difference on this is clear. The difference on
this is clear. It's as simple as this: My opponent will not fight to
change the law to restore balance. And now I know that be's getting
famous for being on both sides of every issue. (Laughter.)
Do you want to know the real views of the other ticket?
Senator Gore wrote it in black and white in his book, before he knew
that he'd be looking for your votes.
In his book, Senator Gore said this, and : quote: "I
helped lead the successful fight to prevent the overturning of
protections for the Spotted Owl." And Senator Gore wrote, and 3 quote:
" the jobs will be lost anyway." I challenge Governor Clinton: Do
you agree with your running mate? Do you endorse the book that you
once called "magnificent"?
It is time we worried not only about endangered species -
- but about endangered jobs, jobs in the timber industry and in
agriculture, and in transportation and in recreation as well --
$ 6 -
It is time we worried not only about endangered
species -- but about endangered Jobs, jobs in the timber industry and
in agriculture, and in transportation and in recreation as well --
(applause) -- all of those are threatened by the Endangered Species
Act. (Applause.)
I have come here to tell you that I am a candidate who
will respect wildlife, yes -- but who will also fight for jobs, and
families, and communities. And I have come here to tell you that I
will not stand for a solution that puts at least 32,000 people out of
work. I can tell you -- that solution will not stand. (Applause.)
And I have come here to tell you that we haven't forgotten
about the human factor -- because in the end, no matter how you look
at it, that's the most important factor of all.
I have come here today to tell you that we can restore the
balance, and we must restore the balance, and with your help, we will
restore the balance.
Thank you, And may God bless you. And may God Bless the
United (Applause.) States of America. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
END
1:30 P.M. PDT
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 14, 1992
The Spotted Owl/Timber Supply Crisis: a Chronology
FACT SHEET
The Problem
The Administration has persistently sought to achieve a balanced
solution to the timber supply crisis brought upon by the listing
of the northern spotted owl as a threatened species. The
Departments of the Interior and Agriculture have held dozens of
public meetings and received tens of thousands of public comments
on such issues as whether to list the species, the preparation of
environmental impact statements and the Interagency Scientific
Committee's Report on the owl, the designation of critical
habitat, and the preparation of the recovery plan and the
alternative preservation plan. These efforts to reach a workable
solution have been thwarted by repeated lawsuits, judicial
activism, and a lack of decisive action by the Congress.
Environmental organizations have filed eleven lawsuits seeking to
lock-up our public forest lands and opposing Administration
efforts to implement spotted owl management plans. These
lawsuits exploit the conflicting mandates of laws passed by
Congress governing the management of our federal forest lands.
Laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the
National Forest Management Act (NFMA), and the Endangered Species
Act (ESA) were passed by Congress without any review of how these
statutes, each with their own particular Congressional mandate,
work together.
This avalanche of litigation regarding forest management, heard
by judges who have gone far beyond simply interpreting the
statutes, and a Congress that has failed to pass legislation
necessary to appropriately change the law, has resulted in
stopping the federal timber harvest program in the Northwest. As
a result, hundreds of mills have been shut down, and thousands of
timber workers have been thrown out of work, reducing critical
federal timber harvest revenues to local communities for schools
and other services.
The Administration's Response
Faced with the court-imposed ban on timber harvest in the
Northwest, and a Congressionally mandated spotted owl recovery
plan that would result in the loss of over 32,000 jobs, the
Administration has proposed an alternative spotted owl
preservation plan. This plan would provide for the sufficient
protection for the owl in selected areas of the region so that
current population levels are maintained and extinction is
prevented while saving over 17,000 jobs that would be lost under
the recovery plan.
In addition, the Administration has consistently indicated its
willingness to work with the Congress to pass the preservation
plan, or any other acceptable resolution that will minimize the
impact on jobs while still protecting the owl. To date, the
Congress has rejected all such efforts.
The following is a chronology of the major developments in this
issue:
1987
-
Green World petitions the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (FWS) to list the spotted owl under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA).
-
Environmental groups sue the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) challenging 200 timber sales in Oregon as being
in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA).
-
FWS denies the petition to list.
1988
-
The lawsuit against BLM is dismissed by Federal
District Court Judge Helen Frye in Portland; the
decision is appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals.
-
Environmental groups sue FWS over the failure to list
the spotted owl.
-
Federal District Court Judge Thomas Zilly in Seattle
orders FWS to reconsider its decision.
-
The Forest Service releases a final environmental
impact statement (EIS) on its forest management plan
for the protection of the spotted owl.
1989
The Ninth Circuit reverses the Frye decision, enjoins
200 proposed timber sales on BLM land, and orders Judge
Frye to reconsider the case.
Environmental groups file suit in Seattle against the
Forest Service, alleging that the EIS fails to comply
with the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), NEPA,
and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Timber industry
groups file suit alleging that the forest management
plan is too restrictive.
-
Federal District Court Judge William Dwyer in Seattle
issues a preliminary injunction against 135 proposed
Forest Service timber sales in spotted owl habitat.
-
FWS proposes to list the spotted owl as threatened
under the ESA.
-
At Congressional direction, an interagency scientific
committee was formed to prepare a conservation strategy
for protection of the spotted owl.
-
Congress adopts Section 318 of the Interior
Appropriations bill that mandates timber sale levels
for the Forest Service and the BLM and voids any legal
challenge to those sales.
-
The lawsuit against the BLM timber sales is dismissed
by Judge Frye on the grounds that Section 318 renders
the case moot. Judge Dwyer lifts his injunction
against the Forest Service timber sales on the same
grounds.
1990
-
The interagency scientific committee issues their
report and recommendations, which would, if fully
implemented, reduce timber-related jobs in the
Northwest by 30,000.
FWS lists the spotted owl as threatened. The
Administration establishes a high-level task force,
Chaired by Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter, to
develop alternatives to the interagency scientific
committee report.
Environmental groups file suit to compel FWS to
designate critical habitat for the spotted owl.
-
The President signs into law legislation restricting
the export of unprocessed lumber from certain federal
and state lands.
The Ninth Circuit strikes down Section 318 as
unconstitutional. The Administration task force, led
by Secretary Yeutter, recommends a plan to harvest 3.0
billion board feet from Northwest Forest Service lands,
in a manner "not inconsistent" with the interagency
scientific committee report (the so-called "Thomas"
report). BLM announces the use of the "Jamison
strategy" to protect the owl and ensure a reasonable
timber harvest. The combination of the Yeutter plan
and the Jamison strategy would have significantly
reduced the job loss associated with the Thomas report.
The Forest Service publishes a notice that it will
manage the forests in a manner not inconsistent with
the ISC report.
1991
-
Judge zilly rules that FWS must designate critical
habitat for the spotted owl. Secretary Lujan appoints
a team to prepare a recovery plan for the owl as
required by the ESA.
-
Judge Dwyer rules that the Forest Service notice to
manage the federal forest not inconsistent with the
interagency scientific committee recommendations
violates provisions of NFMA.
-
Environmental groups sue the BLM on the grounds that
the Jamison Strategy violates the ESA by failing to
consult with FWS.
-
Judge Dwyer orders the Forest Service to prepare a new
EIS by March 5, 1992 to adopt a plan to protect the
spotted owl.
-
FWS proposes to designate 11.6 million acres in the
Northwest as critical habitat for the owl.
-
FWS issues "jeopardy" opinions on 44 proposed BLM
timber sales claiming such sales will place the owl in
jeopardy at those sale sites.
-
FWS revises its critical habitat proposal to cover 8.2
million acres.
-
Federal District Court Judge Robert Jones in Portland
rules that BLM violated the ESA in failing to consult
with FWS on the implementation of the Jamison Strategy.
BLM requests that the Endangered Species Committee be
convened to review the jeopardy opinion on the 44
timber sales.
The Ninth Circuit upholds Judge Dwyer's rulings against
the Forest Service.
1992
-
FWS publishes a final critical habitat rule
encompassing 6.9 million acres of federal land.
-
The Forest Service releases the final EIS on its owl
protection plan as required by Judge Dwyer.
-
Secretary Lujan announces creation of a new task force
to develop an alternative to the spotted owl recovery
plan. Judge Frye enjoins logging on old growth forests
on BLM land.
-
The Supreme Court overturns the Ninth Circuit and holds
Section 318 constitutional.
-
Judge Dwyer dismisses the environmental suit because
the Forest Service complied with his earlier rulings.
-
The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund files a request for
attorneys fees in the amount of $1.2 million.
-
Environmental groups file suit challenging the new
Forest Service EIS on the grounds that it violates NEPA
and NFMA.
-
The Endangered Species Committee votes to exempt 13 of
the 44 BLM timber sales from the ESA. On the same day,
the Fish and Wildlife Service releases the draft
spotted owl recovery plan and Secretary Lujan issues
his alternative preservation plan, which would save
over 17,000 jobs that would be lost under the recovery
plan and which would require Congressional action.
-
Judge Dwyer rules that the Forest Service's recent EIS
violates NEPA and enjoins their timber harvest program.
Judge Frye enjoins the BLM from conducting timber sales
in owl habitat.
-
Judge Dwyer orders the Forest Service to prepare a new
EIS.
Fifteen separate bills have been introduced in Congress
relating to the spotted owl and old growth forests. To date, no
legislation has been enacted.
# # #
TOTAL P.05
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
CCF
All : 55
For Immediate Release
September 14, 1992
Caring for America's Forests
FACT SHEET
The Federal Government manages about 212 million acres of
forest land, about 8.5 percent of the land area of the U.S.
comprising an area the size of the States of Texas and Louisiana
combined. These national forestlands, which include National
Forests and forested lands controlled by other agencies are
managed under a multiple use mandate that includes recreational
activities, wildlife and habitat conservation, and
environmentally appropriate commercial activities such as timber
harvesting, mining, grazing, and fishing.
The Bush Administration is committed to caring for our
National Forestlands to meet the needs of the people and conserve
those treasures for the use and enjoyment of future generations.
Meeting the Needs of People
The National Forests provide an opportunity for Americans to
enjoy the outdoors and the Bush Administration has enhanced
recreational opportunities by expanding and improving America's
and recreation areas.
treasury of national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges,
Since 1989, the President has doubled federal funding
for parks, wildlife refuges, and outdoor recreation and
has tripled funds to states under the Land and Water
Conservation Fund to support local outdoor recreation.
an addition of over 1.5 million acres.
been added or proposed in addition to existing units,
Twenty national park units and 57 wildlife refuges have
2700 miles of rivers have been designated as wild and
wilderness. scenic and 6.4 million acres have been designated as
The and Forest Service has reopened or upgraded campgrounds
miles of trails.
been closed and has constructed or improved over 5000
picnic areas across America that previously had
-2-
The National Forests also provide jobs for thousands of
Americans. For example, over 188,000 people have jobs relating
to outdoor recreation activities on federal land, and visitors to
the National Forests spend over $6.0 billion per year in local
communities.
America's forests also provide about one-fifth of the
nation's production of softwood timber. In 1991, national forest
timber harvesting generated $1.2 billion in revenues, over
100,000 timber-related jobs, and almost $5.0 billion in timber-
related income, primarily for local communities.
Conserving and Enhancing America's Forests for Future Generations
The President has proposed an ambitious reforestation
program to plant one billion trees per year across America.
In 1991, the first year of the initiative, over 25
million trees were planted in urban areas.
This year, to support the rural element of this
initiative, nearly $20 million will be spent for cost-
shared projects on private lands in support of tree
planting and other stewardship programs.
In June the President announced the use of a new approach to
the management of our national forests.
The forest service has adopted the principle of
ecosystem management for the entire National Forest
System.
Both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land
Management have announced that they will no longer use
the practice of clearcutting as the primary means of
harvesting timber on public land.
Our forests, by law, must be managed on a sustained-
yield basis; i.e. no more timber can be harvested than
can be grown over time. All areas harvested must be
reforested.
Timber growth on National Forests exceed timber harvest
by more than 50 percent. Since 1952, tree growth on
National Forest land has increased by 67 percent; from
about 9 billion to over 15 billion board feet per year.
There are over 7.0 million acres of old growth forest
in the Northwest, over half of which is protected in
wilderness refuges, parks, and other land
-3-
classifications where timber harvesting is not
permitted.
The President has initiated international forestry
conservation initiatives, in particular the adoption at UNCED of
principles for conservation and sustainable development of
forests and the Forests for the Future Initiative.
At the 1990 international economic summit in Houston,
the President called for negotiating a global forests
convention to improve conservation of all the world's
tropical, temperate, and boreal forests.
-
The President has called on the international community
to double worldwide forest conservation assistance from
$1.35 billion to $2.7 billion by 1994. The goal of his
"Forests for the Future" initiative is to halt the net
loss of forests over the next decade. As a down
payment, the U.S. has pledged to provide an additional
$150 million in bilateral forest assistance next year.
This will bring U.S. funds available for international
forestry assistance to more than $485 million.
The President has enhanced wildlife protection on federal
lands.
-
Funding for federal fisheries management has increased
by $80 million since 1989.
-
Full funding has been requested for the Wallop-Breaux
(sport fish restoration) program to finance projects to
acquire and restore fish habitat, to improve public
access to lakes and rivers, and to conduct research
into fisheries problems.
# # #
THE WHITE HOUSE
office of the Press Secretary
(Medford, Oregon)
For Immediate Release
September 14, 1992
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO EMPLOYEES OF BURRILL LUMBER COMPANY
Burrill Lumber Company
Medford, oregon
6:30 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Mike, thank you, sir. Thank you very
-- he's getting our props ready for this presentation. (Laughter.)
Now, thank you so much, Mike, for the introduction. Thanks to your
wonderful dad and to the entire Burrill family, and all of you for
letting me visit here today.
Last week in Detroit, I released my Agenda for American
Renewal. And the agenda was based on a fundamental premise: that
the challenges that America faces -- foreign, domestic, economic and,
yes, environmental -- are connected. And the solution to one cannot
be divorced from the solution to the other. And we need an
integrated approach.
And we need to bring this integrated approach to the
relationship between the economy and the environment, too. And
environmental protection and economic growth must go hand in hand,
and they cannot be divorced from each other. And this morning, I
spoke in California, down in San Diego, about ways to bring them
together. But, frankly, I believe that when it comes to the
Endangered Species Act and its application here in the Northwest, the
balance has been lost. (Applause.)
Like many of you, I love to hunt and hike and to fish.
And like you, I have learned through a lifetime of experience to
appreciate and respect the great outdoors -- the wilderness.
And I know that you -- you particularly who have chosen
to live in these marvelous parts of the woods -- respect and revere
these forests as others never can. And you resent the implication
that earning your livelihood here -- with sound management of the
forest -- makes you less of a conservationist than the city dweller
or the suburbanite.
(Applause.)
And for the past four years, my administration and I
have worked hard to protect the environment -- and we've accomplished
a great deal. Four years ago, I promised Americans a new Clean Air
Act. For over a decade, no one could get it done, but we did it.
And our Clean Air Act reduces smog in our cities and gets toxic
pollutants out of the air and will cut acid rain in half.
And four years ago, I promised that I would protect the
environmentally sensitive areas of our coasts from the offshore
drilling. And today, there will be no drilling off the coast of
California, off the coasts of Washington and Oregon and off the
Florida Keys and off the New England coast. And we banned that ocean
drilling until the year 2000.
And then, four years ago, I promised to be a good
steward of our public lands. ANOMORE have added thousands of miles of
trails for Americans like you who love the outdoors; and we're
- 2 -
reopening and upgrading campsites all across this great country; and
we've added a million and a half acres to our national parks and
wildlife areas and forests and recreation lands.
But the fact is that every American cares about the
environment -- and most consider themselves environmentalists. And
that is particularly true here in the Pacific Northwest. And yet
Americans today realize that we can protect our lands while also
using them for the people's benefit. They understand the need for
wilderness and recreation areas, as well as the need for paper for
our schools and offices and timber for new homes. (Applause.)
And being out here in the great Pacific -- the
Northwest, I'm reminded of Teddy Roosevelt -- the very first
President who focused the attention of the entire nation on the
condition of our natural resources. And Teddy Roosevelt once said:
"Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest
resources from contributing their full share to the welfare of the
people." What President Roosevelt had in mind, and what the
American people have always wanted, is balance.
And not far from here, in the state of Washington, is a
timber town called Forks. And Forks supported a mill, and the mill
supported a community. And because of the lack of timber, the mill
had to close. Today unemployment in Forks is at 20 percent. The car
dealership is closed. The clothing store is gone. The movie theater
-- shut down. Domestic violence complaints have doubled, just in the
past year.
Now, Forks is in crisis for a simple reason: the
balance has been lost. And I've come here because we must restore
the balance. (Applause.)
Listen to one of the senators -- Senator Mark Hatfield,
from here, who was a cosponsor of the original Endangered Species Act
back in '72. And this year, he wrote: "There is no question that
the act is being applied in a manner far beyond what any of us
envisioned when we wrote it 20 ago."
The Endangered Species Act was intended as a shield for
species against the effects of major construction projects like
highways and dams -- not a sword aimed at jobs, families and
communities of entire regions like the Northwest.
But today, when harvesting on federal timberland is
stopped outright by 13 different lawsuits, under seven different
statutes, each inconsistent with the other -- the balance has been
lost. (Applause.) And it's time to fight for jobs, for families and
for communities.
And when hundreds of mills have been shut down,
thousands of timber workers thrown out of work, and revenues for
schools and other local services have been slashed, the balance has
been lost. And it's time to fight for jobs, families, and
communities. (Applause.)
And so the time has come to talk sense about the
Endangered Species Act, about the spotted OW], and about the
management of our forests. Because it is my firm belief that people
and their jobs deserve protection, too. (Applause.)
Let me be clear: The basic purpose of the Endangered
species Act is good and noble -- save the rare and threatened species
of this country. But today, the act and other laws are being used by
people with extreme views, particularly here in this state, here in
Oregon, to achieve in the courts what no sane elected official would
ever vote for -- the complete lock-up of the most productive forests
in the entire United States. (Applause.)
MORE
- 3 -
The entire Endangered Species Act, as rigidly
interpreted by some courts and as driven by the Congress, has forced
an extreme approach and created an unnecessarily tragic situation
here in the Northwest. Massive areas of federal land are being set
aside for the owl -- virtually ignoring the fact that two-thirds of
the Northwest's old-growth forests are already designated as parks,
wilderness, or other classifications that prevent harvesting. Each
pair of owls gets 3,500 acres to itself. And meanwhile, jobs and
families and communities are being wiped out in the process.
And the other side has been talking about a "false
choice." And they claim that this timber crisis is just politics.
And the simple fact is this: The false choice is being driven by
extremists who are twisting the Endangered Species Act and its
application to the Northern Spotted Owl. (Applause.)
And now let's set the record straight. We've always
worked within the parameters of the law to address this problem. But
I can tell you this. The law is broken, and it must be fixed.
And we have asked the Congress for funds to cut enough
timber in this region to keep people employed. But these conflicting
laws allow challenge after challenge.
We convened the God squad to exempt 13 timber sales here
in southern Oregon from jeopardy opinions from the Fish and Wildlife
service. And every one of those sales is now enjoined.
And so this year, we sent Congress an alternative plan,
a preservation plan, if you will, that would save 17,000 jobs
compared to the recovery plan required by the act. And Congress has
failed to act on my plan.
My friends, it is time to consider the human factor in
the Spotted Owl equation. My opponent talks about putting people
first -- well, we can start right here in the Pacific Northwest.
(Applause.)
so here is what I propose:
First, I will not sign an extension of the Endangered
species Act unless it gives greater consideration to jobs, to
families, and to communities. (Applause.) And I will not sign it
without a specific plan in place to harvest enough timber to keep
timber families working in 1993 and beyond. It is time to make
people more important than owls. (Applause.)
And second, I will fight to end the injunctions that
have put an economic strangle hold on the Northwest, in order to free
up the timber that we need today, because the families and the timber
communities of the Pacific Northwest need relief and they need it
now.
And I call upon the United States Congress to pass my
plan to produce 2.6 billion board feet of timber from Forest Service
lands in the Northwest region next year, and at least 500 million
board feet on BLM land. And I ask Congress to tie that plan to
language that prevents lawsuits from stopping reasonable harvests
with reasonable species protection. (Applause.) It is time to put
people ahead of process. And the Congress must understand that.
And third, my administration will speed the harvesting
of dead or dying timber that has been dangerously building up during
a seven-year drought. One step is our new rule to allow more timber
salvage operations to occur without triggering some of the time-
consuming requirements that are blocking progress. This will reduce
the risk of fire, and it will provide up to 450 million board feet of
timber for the mills in the near term. And in other words, it's time
MORE
to protect jobs with timber that's available now and put the mills
back to work. (Applause.)
And finally, I call upon Congress today to pass the
spotted Owl Preservation Plan -- that's the bill sponsored by
Senators Packwood and Hatfield and slade Gorton, which they call "The
Northern Spotted Own Preservation and Northwest Economic
stabilization Act of 1992". It's a long name, but it's a good bill.
And it's time to preserve both owls and jobs -- jobs in the timber
industry and in agriculture, transportation and in recreation as
well, where they, too, are threatened by this Endangered Species Act.
And now a word about my opponent. My opponent's
approach to this problem -- and I'll try to be fair -- no, but his
approach to this problem, to your jobs, really is -- and look at the
record -- doublespeak. When he spoke in Pennsylvania -- Governor
Clinton spoke in Pennsylvania -- he said what the Sierra Club wanted
to hear. They concluded that Governor Clinton was -- quote --
"promising the protection of old-growth forests in the Pacific
Northwest." And then, when he heard I was coming here, Mr. Clinton
cynically held out false hope to timber families by promising another
meeting.
There have already been more than 40 bipartisan meetings
of the Northwest congressional delegation on this issue for three
years. Now, look, here are the studies. We've produced a pile of
studies and proposals this high. And the only good reason for the
timber industry -- the only good news is all the trees in took to
print all these darn reports. (Applause.) Look at them. And so I
say to Governor Clinton, no more studies. Help me change the law.
That's what needs to happen. (Applause.)
And the difference on this is clear: I will. I will
change it. And it's as simple as this: My opponent will not fight
to change the law to restore balance.
And now I know that Mr. Clinton -- and Governor
Doublespeak I call him -- (laughter) -- but, nevertheless, is getting
famous -- getting famous for being on both sides of these issues.
But do you want to know the real views of the other ticket? I hate
to bring this word up, but Senator Gore --
AUDIENCE: BOOO --
THE PRESIDENT: He wrote it in black and white in his
book before he knew that he'd be out there pandering for votes. And
in his book, Senator Gore said this -- and I quote: "I helped lead"
-- I want to get it right here -- "I helped lead the successful fight
to prevent the overturning of protections for the Spotted owl." And
he wrote -- and this is an exact quote -- "the jobs will be lost
anyway." I challenge Governor Clinton -- do you agree with your
running mate? DO you endorse the book that you once called
"magnificent"? It is time we worried not only about endangered
species, but about endangered jobs. (Applause.)
And I am here to tell you that I'm the one who will
respect the wildlife, yes. I think we all do. We all agree. But
I'm also the one who will also fight for jobs, for families, and for
communities.
I have come here to tell you that I will not stand for a
solution that puts at least 32,000 people out of work. It will not
stand. I mean it. (Applause.)
And I've come here to tell you that we haven't forgotten
about the human factor; because in the end, in the final analysis
when all the campaigns are over and all the charge and countercharge
takes place, the human factor, that is the most important factor of
all.
MORE
- 5 -
And I've come here today to tell you that we can restore
the balance. we must restore the balance. And with your help, we
will restore the balance.
May God bless your families, your jobs, your hopes for
our great country. And may God bless the United States of America.
Thank you all very, very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you
all. (Applause.)
END
6:47 P.M. PDT
SEPTEMBER 14, 1992 LB 49145 $2.95
TO
Republicans after Houston: Buckley, Brookhiser, McGurn
3/75/2
SCHOOL
BACK
NATIONAL
RE W
P
I DON'T
WANT TO SET
=
THE WORLD
ON FIRE
NEXT!
Gore's
Globaloney
GMT
WASHINGTON, DC 20008-5107
9256 MN AVE NN00 eete
MR. ANDREW FERGUSON
dw00 ) 0479218 E9601091689W
20008 11910-9
Apocalypse
CAPTAIN PLANET
FOR VEEP
Al Gore is a family man, and he voted for Desert Storm.
But his big contribution to the ticket is his
environmentalism. Fortunately (for Republicans)
it's all there in his book, Earth in the Balance.
KW
RONALD BAILEY
'J
UDGE ME by my first deci-
and Daniel Inouye's 20 per cent, and
Gore fiercely opposed the deregulation
sion," challenged Bill Clinton.
equals Daniel Patrick Moynihan's and
of the oil and natural-gas industries.
He was speaking of his choice of
Patrick Leahy's records.
Apparently buying into the dotty the-
running-mate, Al Gore. Let us indeed
"That dog won't hunt," as Bill Clin-
ory that oil companies had conspired
judge Mr. Clinton by this decision.
ton might say of the claim that Gore is
to raise prices by as much as 300 per
Pundits have rushed to label Clin-
a moderate.
cent above their natural levels, Gore
ton and Gore as "moderates"; Gore de-
claimed Congress might have stum-
scribes himself as a "raging moder-
Gore's Fast-Track
bled onto "the largest criminal con-
ate." However, looking at Gore's re-
spiracy case in our history, involving
cord in Congress leaves little doubt
HE SON of a U.S. senator,
billions of dollars, and it may be con-
that George McGovern was right when
T
Gore has been on the political
tinuing to this day." He also argued
he told the New York Times, "I have a
fast-track ever since he entered
that decontrolling oil prices would cost
hunch that they're much more liberal
the House of Representatives at age
consumers billions of dollars and add
underneath and will prove it when
28. He ran successfully for the Senate
to inflation in exchange for "benefits
they're elected."
in 1984, and made a fairly good show-
that are almost illusionary."
Gore's 1990 Americans for Demo-
ing in the Democratic presidential pri-
In fact, decontrol increased domestic
cratic Action rating of 78 per cent
maries in 1988. If the Democrats lose
production and helped bring about the
places him quite comfortably in the
in November, he is perfectly posi-
collapse of the OPEC cartel, leading to
company of such notorious moderates
tioned to garner his party's presiden-
much lower world oil prices by the mid
as Howard Metzenbaum (78), George
tial nomination in 1996.
1980s. Similarly, the result of the de-
Mitchell (83), and Carl Levin (78). His
Dave Stockman wrote in 1979 that
regulation of natural gas which Gore
lifetime record of 87 per cent support
"At age thirty, Al is already a major-
so strenuously opposed is that there is
for AFL-CIO positions places him with
league politician. Unfortunately, he
now a glut and prices have plum-
Ted Kennedy (93), Alan Cranston (90),
inhales populist nostrums as naturally
meted. It's particularly ironic that
and Patrick Leahy (84). In addition,
as he breathes. If there is one great
Gore now sees the burning of today's
Gore has rarely seen a tax hike he
service I can perform for the Republic
plentiful and cheap supplies of natural
didn't like. He has consistently op-
it may be to teach Al Gore some basic
gas as a way to reduce smog in Ameri-
posed cutting the capital-gains tax,
economics before it is too late."
can cities and as part of the solution to
and in 1986 he voted in favor of creat-
Evidently Stockman did not suc-
the alleged global-warming crisis.
ing a third tax rate of 35 per cent.
ceed. Gore has since consistently voted
Many pundits, pointing to Gore's
Gore's National Tax-Limitation Com-
for increases in the federal minimum
support of the Gulf War and the in-
mittee rating of 15 per cent on tax is-
wage-although it is an economic fact
vasion of Panama, hailed Clinton's
sues is worse than Alan Cranston's
that raising the minimum wage hurts
choice as a way to shore up his weak
the most vulnerable workers worst,
foreign-policy credentials. Gore him-
those at the bottom of the pay scale
self seems to endorse this view: with-
Mr. Bailey is a PBS television producer,
whose book Ecoscam: The False Prophets of
and those trying to enter the work-
out so much as a blush, he hails the
Ecological Apocalypse will be published by
force for the first time.
"political earthquake" that "topple[d]
St. Martin's in February 1993.
As a congressman in the late 1970s,
statues of Lenin
from Nicaragua to
40 NATIONAL REVIEW / SEPTEMBER 14, 1992
ILLUSTRATION BY KEN WESTPHAL
Angola to Ethiopia, until it brought
he regularly opposed aid to the Nica-
selves, and Gore did nothing to give
down the Soviet Union itself." Gore
raguan Contras and to the UNITA
them a shove.
forgets that he was missing in action
anti-Communists in Angola. The stat-
Although Gore claims expertise in
during the last battles of the cold war:
ues of Lenin didn't topple by them-
nuclear arms control, he supported the
The Gorey Details
N THE 1970s a particularly
produces CFCs, -on the way to
The brutal misogyny of technology
I
raunchy book, heading for the
speeches about why they should be
appears on p. 213. We have empha-
best-seller list in Britain, drew
banned. What can turn a man of so
sized those technologies "historically
the attention of the satirical maga-
little courage into a leader?
associated more with males than fe-
zine Private Eye. The editors of Pri-
Deep insight, perhaps? On p. 23
males
[and] ways to dominate na-
vate Eye, knowing that a campaign
(among others) you may find Al
ture receive more attention than
against such a book will simply
Gore, political theorist. Totalitarian
ways to work with nature." In fact,
arouse public interest in it, took a
regimes, he teaches, desire more ter-
"part of the solution for the envi-
different tack: they published a list
ritory because "Denied validation in
ronmental crisis may well lie in our
of the juiciest pages SO that the curi-
the countenance of its citizens, the
ability to achieve a better balance
ous could read them in the bookstore
totalitarian leadership feels no
between the sexes, leavening the
without contributing to the author's
choice but to try to expand, out of an
dominant male perspective with a
insatiable ambition to find-by im-
healthier respect for female ways of
coffers.
How nice that a Democratic staffer
posing itself on others-conclusive
experiencing the world."
has unwittingly done the same for Al
evidence of its inner value."
And that should lead as well to a
Gore's book, Earth in the Balance! A
And running throughout-the
new respect for our society's chil-
memo from a worried campaign aide
Great Crusade. On p. 39, for exam-
dren. "One of the most horrifying
published in the Wall Street Journal
ple, Gore courageously takes on the
examples of our degraded appreci-
warned of arguments against the
media. "In this case, when 98 per
ation of the individual is a new cate-
book and listed the pages most likely
cent of the scientists in a given field
gory among the homeless called
to come under attack.
share one view [on global warming]
throwaway children,
thrown
Begin your bookstore tour of Al
and 2 per cent disagree [see Ronald
out of their homes because they have
Gore's psyche with a whiff of self-in-
Bailey's article above for accurate
become too difficult to handle
terest on p. 8. We learn there that
statistics], both viewpoints are some-
And every so often we read about a
Gore worried about introducing envi-
times presented in a format in which
newborn baby literally thrown into a
ronmentalism into his 1988 cam-
each appears equally credible
trash compactor" (p. 161). Gore's
paign-worried not that he might be
Feel the spine-tingling devotion to
emotion is palpable. "Throwaway
scientifically inaccurate or morally
The Cause on p. 274: "Adopting a
children: nothing could better illus-
wrong, but that environmentalism
central organizing principle
trate my strong belief that the worst
might be a "peripheral" political
means embarking on an all-out effort
of all forms of pollution is wasted
issue. "I began to doubt my own po-
to use every policy and program,
lives." Gore is a co-sponsor of the
litical judgment, so I began to ask
every law and institution
to halt
Freedom of Choice Act.
the pollsters and professional politi-
the destruction of the environment."
Finally, there is policy, especially
cians what they thought I ought to
What is it that has caused the
taxes (although, there is no listing
talk about."
problems in the world? We're a dys-
in the index for "taxes"). A CO₂ tax
Then flip to p. 340 to agonize with
functional family! It seems (p. 230 ff)
and a virgin materials tax pop up
Gore in his battle with a fatal flaw.
every culture is an extended family
on p. 349. And a higher tax on fossil
The senator had voted for sugar price
and "our civilization must be consid-
fuels is one of the "logical first steps"
supports, he says, "without appreci-
ered in some basic way dysfunc-
discussed on p. 173. Or just flip to
ating the full consequences of [his]
tional.
we consume the earth and
practically any page in the chapter
vote." Loyalties to the Southern farm
its resources as a way to distract our-
"A Global Marshall Plan," estimated
bloc kept him from listening to those
selves from the pain
But
we
at $100 billion of spending-with
who "tried for years to persuade me
don't have the only dysfunctional so-
taxation to match. P. 320 is a gold
to drop my support for sugar subsi-
ciety-Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy,
mine. Gore wants: "Tax incentives
dies." But Gore concludes, "I
have
the Stalinist Soviet Union, and Mao-
for the new technologies and disin-
decided as I write this book that I
ist China also qualify (p. 232).
centives for the old. Research and
can no longer vote in favor of sugar-
Have you got an appetite for de-
development funding for new tech-
cane subsidies." How noble
struction? Turn to p. 177. Now
nologies and prospective "bans on
And be sure not to miss the confes-
warnings of a different sort signal an
the old ones
The promise of large
sion of hypocrisy on p. 15. There
environmental holocaust without
profits in a market certain to emerge
Gore reveals humbly that he uses his
precedent
Today the evidence of
as older technologies are phased
automobile air conditioner, which
an ecological Kristallnacht is as clear
out."
as the sound of glass shattering in
Now have you had enough of the
Miss Allen is NR's editorial assistant.
Berlin."
Gorey details?
-DANIELLE ALLEN
42 NATIONAL REVIEW / SEPTEMBER 14, 1992
Nuclear Freeze campaign, which
whole aim of practical politics is to
modeled on the Nuclear Regulatory
called for a moratorium on the testing
keep the populace alarmed (and hence
Commission to regulate the biotech
and eventual deployment of nuclear
clamorous to be led to safety) by men-
industry. This onerous regulatory
weapons in Western Europe to counter
acing it with an endless series of
scheme was avoided only when molec-
the Soviet buildup. He consistently
hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
ular biologists proved that micro-or-
voted against President Reagan's
Biotechnology became Gore's first hob-
ganisms constantly promote the ex-
Strategic Defense Initiative, against
goblin. Biotechnology allows scientists
change of genes between organisms-
the development of an anti-satellite
to move genes from one organism to
a kind of natural bioengineering. Had
capability to counter Soviet A-SAT ef-
another in order to make new life-sav-
Gore's early regulatory proposals been
forts, and for cuts in the defense
ing medicines, hardier crops, and more
enacted the infant biotech industry
budget.
nutritious foods. National Institutes of
might well have been murdered in its
Gore's record on abortion is mixed.
Health Director Bernadine Healy be-
crib.
When he was in the House he consis-
lieves that the industry will become
Gore's next environmental cause
tently voted against federal funding of
more important to the U.S. economy
was hazardous wastes, which he
abortions, and in 1984 he even voted
than the automobile industry was. In
called "the most significant environ-
for an amendment defining a "person"
the late 1970s, as a member of the
mental health problem of the decade."
under the Age Discrimination Act to
House Science Committee, Gore joined
Gore's concern was prompted by the
include "unborn children from the mo-
Senator Ted Kennedy in proposing
commotion over the Love Canal. Love
ment of conception." After he became
a National Biohazards Commission
Canal was a neighborhood built on
a senator, though, his position shifted;
he wound up voting several times to
permit the funding of abortions with
government revenues in the District of
Thomas Aquinas
Columbia.
Finally, despite running as the can-
College
didate of "change," Gore last year
voted against a motion that would
have required Congress to abide by
the same labor and civil-rights laws as
it imposes on the private sector. And
Of the 5
even an ecological saint sins. He voted
Catholic Colleges and Universities in
for building the Clinch River Breeder
Reactor and the Tellico Dam, both of
the United States with the highest
The Thomas
which were anathema to environmen-
average SAT scores,
talists. These pork-barrel projects
Aquinas College
were located in Tennessee.
curriculum is
2 have been selected
a sweeping tour
Senator Doom
of the greatest
by the National Review College
and most
Guide as among America's 50 top
N THE BASIS of the forego-
O
ing, one would conclude that
influential
Liberal Arts Schools.
Gore is a pretty conventional
works of
Of these 2
Democratic liberal, and so he is on
Western
most issues. But when it comes to the
ivilization,
one was chosen by Barron's 300
environment, Senator Albert Gore is
surely one
Best Buys in College Education.
an out-and-out radical. At the heart of
his world view is an apocalyptic vision
of the most
That 1 school
of an Earth teetering on the brink of
rigorous of
destruction.
any chool in
is Thomas Aquinas College,
Gore has outlined his views in his
the nation.
the best choice for
best-selling book Earth in the Balance:
Ecology and the Human Spirit (see
National Reriew
Catholic liberal education.
p. 42), which his running-mate has
College Guide
called "magnificent." Clinton declared
that Gore "has asked me to join in his
For more information on Thomas Aquinas
commitment to preserve not only the
College, whose curriculum integrates faith
environment of America, but to pre-
and reason in a way unique in American
serve the environment of our globe for
higher education, please call or write Thomas
future generations. And together we
Susanka, Director of Admissions, Thomas
will finally give the United States a
Aquinas College, Box 105, 10000 N. Ojai
real environmental Presidency." If so,
Road, Santa Paula, CA 93060; (800) 634-9797.
Americans have much to fear.
H. L. Mencken once wrote, "The
SEPTEMBER 14, 1992 / NATIONAL REVIEW 43
sion in two lines in another story. And
Gore was on to the next crisis.
TAKE
COVER!
BONK!
Gore also firmly believes that the
OZONE
IS
EASY,AL-
world is running out of non-renewable
DETERIORATING!
ITSONLY
THE BALLOON
resources and food. The fact is that
DROP.
never before have mineral resources
THE
FALLING!
been SO plentiful and so cheap. Since
1970. the average price of all metals
AAAAAH!
and minerals has fallen by 40 per
cent. even according to the leftish
SAVE
World Resources Institute. Proven re-
EARTH
PLANET
serves of oil, gas, and nearly every
mineral increase each year. Food is
also more plentiful and cheaper than
ever before-the real prices of corn,
wheat, and rice have fallen by more
than half since 1950, even as the
world's population doubled. As to top-
H.Taure
soil erosion, at current rates of erosion
and with no technological progress, it
would be a century before American
and around the site of a old chemical-
that the world is running out of food
farmers' productivity would be re-
waste dump. Panicked by reports of
and non-renewable resources; that
duced as much as 2 per cent.
chemical contamination, the Federal
topsoil erosion is destroying America's
Government evacuated 3,500 resi-
farms; that an "ozone hole" threatens
No Time to Think
dents in the early 1980s. Since then
all life on earth; that carbon dioxide in
the New York State Department of
the earth's atmosphere will inevitably
ENTRAL to Gore's catastro-
Health has found absolutely no evi-
lead to increases in surface tempera-
C
phist world view is global
dence that the health of any resident
tures. For Gore, all of these problems
warming-"the most serious
was harmed by hazardous chemicals.
are manifestations of one great global
crisis we have ever faced." The theory
In fact, the government is now selling
ecological crisis-a crisis so grave that
behind global warming is that carbon-
some of the houses to new residents.
we must now "change the very founda-
dioxide gas released by the burning of
But before the facts were known,
tion of our civilization." In his accep-
coal and oil will trap heat from the
Love Canal had prompted Al Gore
tance speech at the Democratic Con-
sun, causing the earth's atmosphere to
to sponsor the Superfund law, which
vention, Gore declared that "the task
warm up by an average of 9° F. by the
may well cost the country hundreds of
of saving the Earth's environment
end of the next century. And this crisis
billions of dollars without measurably
must and will become the central or-
is allegedly SO serious that we don't
improving anyone's health or safety.
ganizing principle of the post-cold-war
have time to think about it: we must
This law requires the EPA to identify
world."
act now. But as Lucian demonstrates
hazardous-waste sites and then to
Consider the "ozone hole." In Febru-
(p. 45) Gore's figures are at least three
oversee their cleanup at nearly any
ary, NASA hyped reports that such a
times too alarmist.
cost. Under Superfund, any company
hole might open over the Northern
Gore has lent credibility to infamous
or municipality that might have
hemisphere in the spring, allowing in
doomsters such as Jeremy Rifkin.
dumped some garbage-even negligi-
damaging levels of ultraviolet rays.
Paul Ehrlich, the Worldwatch Insti-
ble amounts-in a site is potentially
NASA's ozone scare was showcased on
tute's Lester Brown, and climatologist
liable for the whole cost of the cleanup
the front cover of Time, and Gore
Stephen Schneider by showcasing
of the site. A deluge of litigation has
thundered on the Senate floor: "We
their testimony in congressional hear-
resulted as financially strapped com-
have to tell our children that they
ings. He ignores the views of, e.g.,
panies and cities try to blame each
must redefine their relationship to the
economist Julian Simon, food and ag-
other for the problems at any given
sky, and they must begin to think of
riculture expert Dennis Avery, and
Superfund site; a recent Rand Corpo-
the sky as a threatening part of their
MIT climatologist Richard Lindzen. In
ration study showed that about 80 per
environment." Gore demanded that
fact, Gore wants to shut off debate
cent of the money spent on Superfund
the chemicals implicated in ozone de-
over whether we actually face an eco-
has gone to pay lawyers' fees. While
struction be phased out earlier than
logical apocalypse. He flatly asserted
the EPA has identified some 1,200
scheduled; his resolution passed the
in Time magazine's "Planet of the
"hazardous waste" sites scattered
Senate 96 to 0. Stung by the vote,
Year" issue (Jan. 2, 1989): "That we
across the country, only 109 have been
President Bush rushed the ban of the
face an ecological crisis without any
cleaned up, at a cost of more than $15
refrigerants known as chlorofluorocar-
precedent in historical terms is no
billion. Nevertheless, Gore doggedly.
bons (CFCs) forward from the year
longer a matter of any dispute worthy
insists, "I think that the basic design
2000 to the end of 1995. Then in May,
of recognition." He claims that global-
of [Superfund] was sound."
NASA admitted that no ozone hole
warming skeptics are "hurting our
In the 1980s, Gore found new and
had in fact opened over the Northern
ability to respond," and declares that
even scarier hobgoblins. He believes
hemisphere. Time buried the admis-
press attention to the skeptics "under-
44 NATIONAL REVIEW / SEPTEMBER 14, 1992
mines the effort to build a solid base of
per cent who believe global warming
that would radically transform the
public support for the difficult actions
has begun. Even a recent Greenpeace
world's economy. He would establish a
we must take soon."
poll found that 47 per cent of climatol-
United Nations "Stewardship Council"
Gore also implies that 98 per cent of
ogists don't believe we face the risk of
modeled on the UN Security Council
atmospheric scientists believe we face
a runaway greenhouse effect, while 36
to oversee international ecological
an impending climate catastrophe.
per cent said a runaway greenhouse
agreements. Since carbon dioxide
However, a recent Gallup poll found
effect was "possible" and only 13 per
emitted by burning fossil fuels is the
that of those scientists actively in-
cent thought it was "probable." Not ex-
main culprit in global warming, Gore
volved in global climate research, 53
actly a solid scientific consensus for
calls for a carbon tax in the United
per cent do not believe that global
catastrophe.
States. He also favors internation-
warming has occurred and 30 per cent
To confront global warming, Gore
al "carbon emission credits," which
say they don't know, leaving only 17
proposes a "Global Marshall Plan"
would limit the amount of carbon diox-
rithmetician
VEN within the bounds of en-
side of a magnitude that on the cold
more than quadruple-and another
E
vironmental science, there
side produced the ice ages?"
trend of the last generation, declin-
are a few numbers that are
In fact, the "fact" of a 600 ppm CO₂
ing CO₂ production per dollar of GNP
neither uncertain nor controversial:
concentration in 2032-a crisis that
(a result of technological progress),
numbers arrived at by reproducible
many would live to see and the pros-
would have to stop. Gore's "science"
and accurate measurement. One
pect of which should horrify us all
ignores all past and present progress
such is the carbon-dioxide content of
into voting for Gore-is not only "not
in energy efficiency, nuclear safe-
the atmosphere and how the ana-
in dispute"; it is utterly unsupporta-
ty, and renewable-energy research.
lyzed value has actually grown from
ble. To get from 355 to 600 ppm in
Given his evangelism for fiber optics
year to year. In Earth in the Balance,
forty years, CO2 would have to grow
and NASA's Mission to Earth, it is
Al Gore presents this information,
at an average rate of over 6 ppm per
hard to understand his neo-Victorian
then ignores it.
year over that period. The present
vision of a twenty-first century
On page 95, he presents a graph,
rate, based on data (gathered at the
whose fastest-growing industry is
based on air trapped in ancient ice,
Mauna Loa Observatory) shown ear-
mining coal to raise steam to produce
which demonstrates that atmos-
lier in the book, is about 1.8 ppm per
electricity to make steel for cars that
pheric CO2 concentration has varied
year today, up from just under 1 ppm
(gasoline being long gone) presuma-
directly with global temperature for
a generation ago. For an average
bly burn whale oil in their diesels.
the past 160,000 years. So far, so
growth rate of 6 ppm, beginning with
Even that dystopic scenario will
good, though the graph cannot tell us
today's 1.8, the rate in 2032 would
not come to pass in the world accord-
whether changes in CO2 levels cause
have to shoot past 10 ppm. Such ex-
ing to Gore-all life on earth will be
temperature changes, or the reverse.
ponential growth simply cannot be
extinct first. His most magisterial
But as Gore presents the graph, he
credibly projected from the Mauna
display of scientific illiteracy is re-
adds a future projection to the histor-
Loa data, the most accurate we have.
served for his graph of the accelerat-
ical facts: he has the line indicating
A projection bounded by realistic pro-
ing rate of species extinction on page
CO₂ concentration suddenly go verti-
jections of fuel use points toward at
24. (His source is the sui generis en-
cal in 2032, shooting up to the top of
least a century before CO2 could
vironmentalist Tom Lovejoy.) Inter-
the page. The caption explains: "In
reach 600 ppm; we have more like
estingly, the senator, a Harvard po-
this century, human activities are
five generations of grace to curb CO2
litical-science graduate, cannot even
adding so much CO2 to the atmos-
emissions. Indeed, in the latest
read his own graph properly: his text
phere that the level of concentration
worst-case scenario from the Stock-
notes that species "are now vanish-
is expected to reach 600 ppm [parts
holm Environment Institute (a group
ing around the world one thousand
per million] in less than 40 years. At
that includes Paul Ehrlich and other
times faster than at any time in the
the beginning of 1992, the level was
enviro-hysterics), CO2 emissions only
past 65 million years," though his
already 355 ppm. The facts por-
double by 2032.
graph shows species loss of one per
trayed here are not in dispute; their
The growth in atmospheric CO₂
year through 1800 and 10,000 in
implications are. If temperature and
concentration is dependent on the
1992. More importantly, we can ex-
CO₂ have moved in tandem for as far
growth of populations, industries,
trapolate his hyperbolic curve. Since
back as we can measure, does that
and endeavors which are themselves
his vertical axis is logarithmic, it is
mean that the dramatic changes in
dependent on the use of fossil and
plain that Gore's world will lose
CO2 now under way (represented by
biomass fuels. (The effects of defor-
some million species a year by 2020
the line moving up the right-hand
estation are minuscule compared to
or so, and earth's five million or so
side of the graph) will lead to rapid
the fossil-fuel effect.) For his predic-
species will all be gone well before
changes in temperature on the warm
tion to come true, world fossil-fuel
2032. It's a great day for Keynes and
consumption would need to increase
Fukuyama: in the short run, we are
Lucian is a policy analyst at a politically
five- to six-fold over the next four
all extinct, and so is history.
correct university.
decades. World GNP would need to
-LUCIAN
SEPTEMBER 14, 1992 / NATIONAL REVIEW 45
ide each country would be permitted
quired to license their technology to
ship, the representatives of the Third
to emit. Implementing these proposals
developing countries without compen-
World in the room would audibly
would not be cheap. A U.S. Depart-
sation and to pay extortionate sums to
groan or mutter angrily under their
ment of Energy study concluded that
Third World nations for access to their
breaths. Earnest Al just didn't get it-
achieving the relatively modest goal of
wild plants and animals as sources for
they don't want U.S. leadership, they
capping CO2 emissions at 20 per cent
genes to be used to bioengineer new
want U.S. dollars.
of 1990 levels would require a $500-
medicines and crops.
Al Gore once told Vanity Fair, "I
per-ton carbon tax. Such measures
During a press conference shortly
honestly and sincerely believe that I
would cost $95 billion per year and re-
after President Bush's speech at the
know exactly what needs to be done.
duce U.S. economic growth rates by
Earth Summit, Gore earnestly and re-
And I am impatient to do it." Let's
1.4 per cent.
peatedly said that the world need-
hope the voters won't give this sincere
Gore says that "modified free mar-
ed and was awaiting U.S. leader-
radical a chance to do it. And let's
kets" are the wave of the future and
ship. Every time Gore mentioned the
hope they remember whose judgment
argues that "free men and women who
world's yearning for American leader-
put him on the ticket.
take individual responsibility for a
particular part of the earth are, by
and large, its most effective protectors,
Serbia's War
defenders, and stewards." However,
his ritual praise of free markets and
private property rings hollow. Under
the rubric "Strategic Environment Ini-
OUT OF THE RUBBLE
tiative. Gore presses for a full-blown
industrial policy to encourage the de-
velopment of "environmentally friend-
As Serb morale falls, quick Western action could
ly" technologies. To accomplish this,
Gore proposes "the establishment of
bring an end to the slaughter. Why don't we help?
rigorous and sophisticated technology
assessment procedures, paying close
attention to all the costs and bene-
MAX PRIMORAC
fits-both monetary and ecological-"
of new technologies. Gore would also
interfere with free international trade
OSTAR-Stari Most, the
tillery batteries, howitzers, and rocket
by creating an agency to "assess a
M
picturesque old bridge built
launchers, and with support from the
technology's ecological effect-" before
by the Turkish Ottomans
federal air force, they rained volleys of
allowing it to be exported, and by in-
centuries ago, is all that now stands in
fire on the unprotected town for two
cluding ecological criteria in the Gen-
this medieval Hercegovin city a hun-
uninterrupted months, reducing the
eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
dred miles southwest of Sarajevo. Last
provincial capital to rubble. Few struc-
(GATT,
April, this polyglot republic of Serbs,
tures have escaped damage. The old
In June, Gore burnished his foreign-
Muslims, and Croats declared its inde-
section of town, once neatly tucked
policy credentials by leading the offi-
pendence from a federal Yugoslavia al-
along the banks of the rushing Ne-
cial U.S. Senate delegation to the
ready truncated by the departures of
retva River, is gutted. The Turkish-
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,
Slovenia and Croatia. The penalty has
style copperworks shops and cafés
where he had to look on while (as he
been high, as Serbia, the largest re-
serving high-octane Turkish coffee to
asserted in his acceptance speech)
public and a bastion of new-world-
fez-bedecked Muslims are gone. The
President Bush "embarrassed our na-
order bolshevism, unleashed the fury
muezzin's calls for prayer and the
tion when the whole world was asking
of the Yugoslav Army against un-
bells of Catholic chapels are silent. A
for American leadership in confront-
armed civilians in an effort to create
city of 150,000 has died.
ing the environmental crisis." Gore
an atavistic "Greater Serbia."
World attention has focused primar-
bashed the Bush Administration for
In a suburb of Mostar, a mass grave
ily on Sarajevo and its 350,000 be-
"gutting" the Global Climate Change
was unearthed after Serbian ground
sieged people. But the pattern is fol-
Treaty by not committing to a specific
forces were repelled. "I cannot believe
lowed throughout the republic, where
timetable for cutting carbon-dioxide
that the world is just watching what is
Serbs are deliberately terrorizing non-
emissions. (It's bad enough that by
happening to us," says Robert Pehar,
Serbian populations and inflicting
signing the treaty, the U.S. officially
in charge of documenting the atroci-
more damage than was done in World
accepted the notion that "global warm-
ties. "How much more of this is needed
War II. Serbia's policy of "ethnic
ing" is a real problem.) Despite his ex-
before the world will finally act?"
cleansing" aims at wholesale popula-
pressed devotion to protecting intellec-
From safe distances, the Yugoslav
tion transfers out of areas it claims-
tual property rights, Gore wanted the
Army had taken up mountain posi-
stretching across Bosnia-Hercegovina
U.S. to sign the seriously flawed Bio-
tions around Mostar. Armed with ar-
and most of the touristically lucrative
diversity Treaty, which would have
Croatian coastline. This Nazi-like
crippled our budding biotechnology in-
Mr. Primorac, who is based in Washington,
campaign includes death camps, sum-
dustry by compromising patent protec-
D.C., writes frequently on international
mary executions, and the creation of
tion. Companies could have been re-
events.
millions of refugees.
46 NATIONAL REVIEW / SEPTEMBER 14, 1992
Al Gore, shill for the sky-is-falling set
WASHINGTON
comical figure they cut when announcing
But we know who certainly will prosper.
- Someone re-
new "central organizing principles" for
Ronald Bailey in National Review reports
trieved Kip-
civilization?
a Rand study that shows that 80% of the
ling's poem
When Gore asserts, as he did yet again
money spent by an environmental program
"Recessional"
on television last Sunday, that "the world
Gore sponsored - the Superfund, for
(the one about
scientific community" is in "consensus"
cleaning up contaminated sites. - has gone
"dominion over
about global warming. he is being as cava-
in fees to one of the Democratic Party's
GEORGE
palm and pine"
lier about the truth as the Bush campaign
most powerful, and financially grateful,
WILL
and "lesser
has been about Clinton's tax increases.
constituencies: lawyers.
breeds without
Gore knows that his former mentor at
Gore's particular ideas (lots of new tax-
the Law") from the wastebasket where
Harvard, Roger Revelle, who died last
es; treating the automobile as a "mortal
Kipling had tossed it.
year, concluded: "The scientific base for
threat" to civilization, and much more)
Whether that someone did literature a
greenhouse warming is too uncertain to
have no constituency.
favor is debatable. Clearly Al Gore's book
justify drastic action at this time. There is
But what is dismaying is the way he
"Earth in the Balance" is wastebasket-wor-
little risk in delaying policy responses."
trades in ideas, uncritically embracing ex-
thy.
Gore knows, or should know before pon-
tremisms that seem to justify vast expan-
The senator says our civilization is a
tificating, that a recent Gallup Poll of sei-
sions of his righteousness and of the power
"dysfunctional family." He favors
entists concerned with global climate re-
of the government he seeks to lead.
"wrenching transformation of society," al-
search shows that 53% do not believe
His unsmiling sense of lonely evange-
tering "the very foundation of our civiliza-
warming has occurred, and another 30%
lism in a sinning world lacks the sense of
tion." Some leaders have effected such
are uncertain.
proportion that is produced by a sense of
changes. Moses, Jesus, Muhammed. But
Gore, who has spent most of his life in
history - and of humor.
the U.S. government?
Washington's governing circle, overflows
AI Gore, an unsmiling evangelist
The planet is more resilient, the evi-
His environmentalism is a caricature of
with the certitude characteristic of that
or regulation will make us healthier or
dence about its stresses more mixed and
contemporary liberalism, a compound of
circle.
smarter or better behaved, and therefore
the facts of environmental progress more
unfocused compassion (for the whole plan-
He knows the future and knows exactly
will make us more productive, SO econom-
heartening than he admits.
and green guilt about "consumption-
what it requires, which turns out to be an
le growth will increase and SO will reve-
His book, a jumble of dubious 1990s sci-
ism" (a sin Somalia and many other places
unprecedented expansion of government
nues, and thus everything will "pay for it-
ence and worse 1960s philosophy ("alien-
would like to be more guilty of).
- spending, regulating, evaluating tech-
self."
ation" and all that) is a powerful reason
His call to "make the rescue of the envi-
nologies and transferring wealth abroad.
Gore's new wrinkle on this is environ-
not to elect its author to high office in the
ronment the central organizing principle
He has mastered the Washington art of
mentalism-as-business-opportunity We
executive branch, where impressionable
for civilization" is embarrassing. Who
arguing that his agenda won't really cost
shall prosper by making environmentally
people will be bombarded by bad ideas in
wants politicians who are unaware of the
anything. You know: This or that program
"necessary" products. Perhaps.
search of big budgets.