Flipocrite Alert!

From Your
Flipocrite-In-Chief

White House Puts Off Logging Decision

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Wednesday it will put off until after the election a final decision on a plan to allow road building and logging on 58 million acres of remote forests where both are now prohibited.

Public comments on the proposed rule change, announced in July, will be accepted through Nov. 15.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who directs U.S. forest policy, said the delay was a "fairly straightforward" response to requests from a variety of groups for more time.

"It's unrelated to the elections," Rey said.

Environmentalists said the administration appeared to be rethinking the plan — at least temporarily — in the face of widespread opposition.

"I think the administration recognizes the folly of opening up 58 million acres of protected forests during an electoral campaign," said Jay Ward, political director of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, an environmental group.

The administration said in July it was reversing a 2001 executive order by President Clinton that prohibited road construction on nearly one-third of federal forestland. The ban on roads has meant no logging, mining or oil and gas development. LINK

Even school children would oppose this development: BushCo hopes no one notices that his 58 million acre plan includes The Appalachian Trail.

About one of every 13 miles of the Appalachian Trail between Maine and Georgia passes through national forests where a Bush administration plan could allow clear cutting of wooded areas, an environmental group said Tuesday.

The Campaign to Protect America's Lands said it found that 163 of the popular trail's 2,174 miles fall within the 58 million acres where the Bush administration proposed lifting a ban on logging, road-building and other development. LINK

If George W.'s flying monkeys and the Supreme W. Court steal another presidential election, expect your Flipocrite-In-Chief to rev up the chainsaws!