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I'm posting the following e-mail that was forwarded to me. With the exception of cleaning up excess ">" forwarding characters, I'm leaving it verbatim as I received it.
Do with it what you shall.
----- Original Message -----
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 01:14:38 EDT
This is a call for unrestricted salvage logging, and the establishment of conifer plantations wherever burnt areas have the capacity to support them - all with no environmental review!
PLEASE CIRCULATE!
Begin forwarded message:
Herger Calls for Expedited Rehabilitation of Fire Affected Lands
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Congressman Herger and 18 members of the
California Congressional delegation today sent a letter to the
Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Schaefer, and the Chairman of the
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), James L. Connaughton,
supporting utilization of the emergency provisions of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations in the wake of
California wildfires. Over 1 million acres have burned in
California during the 2008 fire season, and some of that acreage
will require substantial rehabilitation, restoration and
reforestation work to protect the public and the environment.
An emergency provision exists in the NEPA implementing regulations
whereby, if requested, CEQ can declare an emergency and allow
federal activities such as fuels reduction and post-fire
rehabilitation work to be done under expedited NEPA procedures to
avoid bureaucratic delays. The letter, sponsored by Congressman
Herger, supports taking steps to salvage and restore the fire-
affected territory expeditiously to limit the threat to public
safety and lands in the future. The letter follows below:
The Honorable Ed
Schafer
Chairman James L. Connaughton
Secretary of
Agriculture
Council on Environmental Quality
1400 Independence Ave.,
SW 722 Jackson
Place, NW
Washington, DC
20250
Washington, DC 20503
Dear Mr. Secretary and Chairman Connaughton,
As you know, California is experiencing one of our State's most
devastating fire seasons. As of the date of this letter, over a
million acres of our state have burned, over a hundred residences
have been destroyed or damaged, and thousands of our State's
citizens were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses. In
many ways it has been an unprecedented fire season, and it is far
from over. We appreciate everything the Administration has done
to provide the necessary federal support and resources to assist
our State in fighting these fires, protecting our citizens and
communities, and helping those who have been impacted recover.
Our immediate focus and priority must continue to be on protecting
life and property from active wildfires. At the same time, we
believe we must also look ahead to the potential risk to life,
property and public health that will persist even after the worst
of the fires are brought under control. Specifically,
rehabilitation, restoration and reforestation work will need to be
done in order to protect the public and private property from the
threats that are likely to follow from such a large-scale wildfire
disaster. Specifically, given the scale and intensity of some of
these fires, our State's citizens could face risks of runoff into
public waterways, mudslides, as well as an elevated fire risk
created by the excessive amounts of burned and downed trees that
have been left in the wake of these fires. These threats will
need to be addressed quickly and cost-effectively.
We are very concerned, however, that the restoration,
rehabilitation and fuel removal work that must be done in an
expeditious fashion to address them will be delayed - if not
halted entirely - by NEPA's stringent review and analysis
requirements and the endless cycle of appeals and litigation.
Regrettably, and sometimes with tragic results, we have seen the
well-intentioned yet burdensome, expensive and time consuming NEPA
process stymie commonsense forest management projects necessary to
improve forest health and reduce the risk to the public and the
environment from catastrophic wildfires.
As you know, recognizing the need to avoid these bureaucratic
obstacles and delays in an emergency situation, NEPA's
implementing regulations provide CEQ with very clear authority to
adopt "alternative arrangements" to strict NEPA review and
analysis. Specifically, 40 C.F.R. 1506.11, entitled
"Emergencies," provides in relevant part,
Where emergency circumstances make it necessary to take an action
with significant environmental impacts without observing the
provisions of these regulations, the Federal agency taking the
action should consult with the Council about alternative
arrangements.
Mr. Secretary and Chairman Connaughton, given the threat to public
health and safety that will persist in the wake of these wildfires
and the limited window of time in which we have to act, we urge
you to invoke this authority and adopt "alternative arrangements"
to strict NEPA compliance that will ensure that the Forest
Service, working coordinately with State and local government,
will have the regulatory flexibility necessary to complete fire
recovery and restoration activities without delay. We believe the
federal government must do everything possible to ensure that
bureaucratic process requirements do not get in the way of
federal, state and local efforts to address threats to public
health and safety in the wake of the devastating fires that have
severely impacted our State.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this important and
urgent request.
Sincerely,
Signatories:
Rep. Wally Herger
Rep. John T. Doolittle
Rep. Mary Bono Mack
Rep. Kevin McCarthy
Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
Rep. Elton Gallegly
Rep. George Radanovich
Rep. David Dreier
Rep. Devin Nunes
Rep. Darrell Issa
Rep. John Campbell
Rep. Dan Lungren
Rep. Ed Royce
Rep. Jerry Lewis
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Gary Miller
Rep. Brian Bilbray
###
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