Environmentalists Abet Wildfires

Environmentalists' Abet Wildfires

Nuisance lawsuits filed by self-styled 'environmentalists' have sabotaged half of the U.S. Forest Service's attempts to cut the underbrush that fuels the West's catastrophic wildfires. So reports the liberal Denver Post today, based on an internal Forest Service report it obtained. 'For those who have spent the last several weeks downplaying the impact of appeals and litigation on forest management, this report is a bucket of cold water in the face,' said Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., chairman of the House subcommittee on forests. 'The American people can expect a decades-long cycle of destructive wildfires if this crusade against forest management continues.' The Post reported: 'McInnis and others say environmental groups' repeated challenges to logging and thinning projects have left the forests clogged with underbrush that fuels fires. 'Environmentalists say they support thinning and controlled burns to protect homes and communities against wildfire. But they oppose thinning far from cities, which they consider to be commercial logging in disguise.' 'Green' With Envy Translation: The environment-destroying 'environmentalist' extremists would rather risk destroying millions of acres, and the lives of thousands of people, than let anyone produce jobs and make profits from the precious trees they worship. According to the Post: 'In the Rocky Mountain region that includes Colorado, only 11 percent of the thinning projects have been appealed. But in states such as Montana, 100 percent of the cutting projects were challenged. Out of 326 thinning projects nationwide for 2001 and the first half of 2002, the report found that 155 - 48 percent - were appealed. Six percent went to court.'

To reply by mail, nuke the 'bago.

Is the article on-line. If so, could you post a link to the article in question? I searched www.denverpost.com using a variety of keyword combinations (taken directly from the excerpts above) and was unable to find the article.

attribution (IOW plagiarized) from the right-wing 'news' web-site www.newsmax.com.

The news dates from July 10, and repeats the USFS claim that environmentalists have obstructed a large number of thinning projects. The claim may well have considerable merit, butut the USFS has yet to produce a list of the appealed thinning projects.

Here's a (properly attributed) excerpt from an article (dated 08/01/02) at http://www.sfnewmexican.com/site/news.cfm? newsid=4919889&BRD =2144&PAG=461&dept_id=367954&rfi=6 (scroll down to read the entire article, and beware of URL wrap).

###### 'Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is chastising the U.S. Forest Service because it has been unable to produce a list of forest-thinning projects it said were being appealed by environmental groups.

Udall and other House members had asked for a copy of the list of projects during a July 11 subcommittee hearing.' #######