[NYTr] Bush's War on Environmental Laws

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Caitlin Hills, American Lands Alliance

October 5, 2007

Call to Action: NEPA Under Attack

The Bush administration, since taking office in 2000, has been working
to fundamentally weaken our country's core environmental law - the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). On August 16 the US Forest
Service published their latest attack on this bedrock law: a proposed
rule that could jeopardize the core of the NEPA process. This new rule
would: 

* reduce citizens' ability to fully participate in decisions
that would affect our national forests and grasslands;

* curtail review and analysis by the Forest Service of environmentally
damaging activities; and

* weaken requirements to fully evaluate past
activities on these public lands when making management decisions.  

For the Federal Register posting for this new rule:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/E7-15867.htm

Make your voice heard, send a letter to the Forest Service urging them
not to silence the public's voice in public land management decisions!

Copy and paste the following link into your web browser to send a
letter today:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/americanlandsalliance/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=14086&t=default.dwt

What's at Stake

Through NEPA, federal agencies must follow a 'look before you leap'
philosophy when making decisions. The fundamental aspects of NEPA -
public input and the consideration of alternatives to major federal
actions - provide full disclosure of the potential impacts of proposed
development projects on America's public lands and its citizens. 

Under current Forest Service NEPA procedures, an environmental impact
statement (EIS) is required to carry out or approve four
classifications of projects, such as logging in a roadless area, aerial
application of chemical pesticides, and other proposals for major
federal actions that may significantly affect the environment. An EIS
must describe the impact on the environment, define the unavoidable
adverse effects, discuss alternatives to the proposed action, and deal
with the long-term and irreversible effects that the action entails.
The newly proposed rule will eliminate that class of projects that
require an EIS, stating only that such major projects "normally"
require an EIS. Removing this important requirement places the public
and public lands at risk, as damaging projects may move forward without
the proper analysis of their impact. 

The proposed rule would allow the Forest Service to short-cut NEPA
procedures in the event of "emergencies" that do not threaten life,
property, or important resources reducing environmental analysis and
public participation for "economic emergencies." The rule would also
limit the level of NEPA analysis currently required for addressing
cumulative effects of past actions when conducting an analysis of a
proposed action, such as proposals to log and build roads in already
heavily logged and roaded watersheds that have water quality and
fishery concerns. The rule directs the agency to focus NEPA analysis on
the potential impacts of a future action, giving the agency discretion
to ignore impacts of past actions.  

The Forest Service also proposed to move the agency's NEPA implementing
procedures from the Forest Service Handbook to the Code of Federal
Regulations. Although this move has some positive benefits, it would
also enshrine as law the Administration's flawed NEPA policies. NEPA's
promise of project review and public involvement must be safeguarded,
not sacrificed in the name of expediency. Without NEPA, many of our
natural treasures and special places could be lost.