Those of us who support Bush because of the WoT, despite opposing him on gay marriage and stem cell research, now have to deal with a questionable environmental proposal concerning the national forests. The administration wants to open up a great deal of restricted land to logging interests.
Under the proposal, governors would have to petition the federal government to block road-building in remote areas of national forests. Allowing roads to be built would open the areas to logging.
The rule replaces one adopted by the Clinton administration and still under challenge in federal court. It covers about 58 million of the 191 million acres of national forest nationwide.
I’ve lived long enough in California to know this issue isn’t as simple as I used to think it was. Neither side is free of hypocrisy, to put it mildly (most of us, I’ve noticed, live in houses built of trees). Still, it’s disturbing. And in an election year the discussion of this proposal is as likely to be Solomonic as I am to be the next astronaut.
UPDATE: Some have asked if the knowledgeable posters here have changed my opinion on this issue. To some extent, yes, but I have for some time been a pragmatist on environmental laws. Some are good (the air is a lot cleaner in my neck of the woods); some are not. More research-less emotion.
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