As the new home of OSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Oregon can be contacted regarding this news release.
Statement of Jeremy
Wright, Environmental Advocate
Today, the Unhappy Campers
gathered here are sending a loud and clear message to the Bush administration:
Stop the national forests giveaway! As Oregonians who use our National Forests
to hike, ski, kayak and fish we understand how important it is to preserve the
last remaining roadless areas. As backcountry hikers, we know what it is like
to hike through a clear-cut and as anglers we know that a river filled with
runoff from that clear-cut will yield no fish.
So that is why we are hear
today to demand that the Bush administration stop it's proposed repeal of the
Roadless Rule.
More than one million additional
Americans have stated their opposition to the Bush administration's proposal
to repeal the Roadless Rule in the past several months. This administration
has chosen to repeal the Roadless Rule despite the fact it is the most popular
conservation initiative in our nation's history, having already been supported
by a record-breaking 2.5 million public comments.
It's abundantly clear that
Oregonians across this state overwhelmingly support protecting our last wild
forests. The public has responded with strong opposition to the Bush administration's
national forests giveaway. We hope this outpouring convinces the administration
to abandon its ill-advised proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule and replace
it with a meaningless process that allows governors to petition for protection
of roadless areas in their states—or for more logging, mining and drilling.
Unfortunately, the Bush
administration's proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule is consistent with most
of the rest of their environmental record over the last three and a half years.
They've sided with Big Oil on energy policy, the utility industry on clean air,
and the developers on clean water, always at the expense of public health, consumer
pocketbooks, and environmental protection. Now they're siding with the timber
industry, at the expense of taxpayers, America's wild forests, and all who want
to enjoy those forests.
It's time for the Bush administration
to stop catering to the timber, mining, and oil and gas companies who want to
log our last wild forests and start heeding the wishes of the American people.
The administration should immediately withdraw its proposal and instead keep
the Roadless Rule intact here in Oregon and across the nation.
