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Wednesday, July 24, 2002
Daschle: Logging for Me but Not for Thee
Environment-destroying "environmentalists" have caused ruinous wildfires throughout the West. Senate plurality leader Tom Daschle wants to stop the disaster - but only in his home state. For the rest of America, it's burn, baby, burn, as far as he's concerned.
Daschle quietly slipped into a spending bill language exempting South Dakota from environmental regulations and lawsuits, to prevent forest fires by allowing much-needed logging, the Washington Times reported today.
Other lawmakers discovered the Democrat's underhanded move, which "angered Western legislators whose states were forced to obey those same rules as they battled catastrophic wildfires," the Times reported.
"What's good for the Black Hills should be good for every forest in the United States," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.
Daschle admitted that the language to expedite logging was essential to reduce the fire risk.
'Reduce This Risk'
"As we have seen in the last several weeks, the fire danger in the Black Hills is high, and we need to get crews on the ground as soon as possible to reduce this risk and protect property and lives," he said in a statement Monday night after a House-Senate conference committee agreed on the language.
Self-described "environmentalists" have filed dozens of nuisance lawsuits, some going back to 1985, to block timber projects that would remove underbrush and other wildfire fuel from western South Dakota.
More than 50,000 fires have torched 3.7 million acres this summer, says the National Interagency Fire Center. Forest Service officials put much of the blame on "environmentalist" lawsuits that have stopped fire prevention.
"Every other project we've tried to do, the environmentalists have filed a lawsuit," said California forest ranger Dale Pengilly.
'Frivolous Challenges'
"After hearing all the hand-wringing from environmentalists downplaying the impact of appeals and litigation, it's nice to see that the highest-ranking Democrat in the nation agrees that these frivolous challenges have totally crippled forest managers," said Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo.
"It will be interesting indeed to find out if what's good for Mr. Daschle's goose is also good for the West's gander. We intend to find out."
Follow the Money
Daschle, a White House wannabe, failed to say why he did not want the exemption to apply to the rest of America. Could it be because of greed, because his party is heavily funded by the same so-called "green" groups that have caused the fire fiasco?
House and Senate Republicans want to extend the exemption to forests in their own states.
"He should expect that, and he should support it," Craig said.
Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., had these choice words for Daschle:
"It certainly can only be described as blatant hypocrisy on behalf of the Senate leader to claim on one hand to be the champion of the environment and then on the other hand to cut a special deal for his home state.
"What he is proving today is that true environmentalists are willing to have effective forest management. This is a classic case of somebody saying one thing for political posturing, and doing another for public policy."
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