Alaska State Legislature
News From The Senate and House Majorities

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary (907) 465-4582
Jerry Ritter, House Majority Press Secretary (907) 465-3804
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org

Majority Moves to Protect Jobs and Families

Legislators Oppose New Wilderness in the Tongass

Immediate Release: January 21, 1998 Contact: Rep. Bill Williams at 907-465-3424

(JUNEAU) -- Majority Legislators this week urged the Clinton Administration to reject calls for roadless entry restrictions on national forest lands.

Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Gail Phillips, in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, called it "unacceptable" to impose an interim road policy without public process.

Representative Bill Williams (D-Saxman) Tuesday introduced House Joint Resolution 49, opposing the proposed two-year policy, saying it could halt development in roadless areas of national forests.

"Could you imagine if there were a presidential edict to do the opposite to our national forests?" Williams said. "If the Clinton Administration came out and said they were going to log all of the roadless areas, and did so without any public process, the environmental community would be screaming bloody murder. Frankly, so would I," Williams said.

The interim road policy, if implemented, would have the effect of halting all logging and development in national forests until it was either lifted or overturned by the courts. Either way, Majority Legislators say it would effectively kill most, if not all logging for the 1998 season.

"The National Forest Management Act of 1976 requires the public be allowed to participate in the development, review, and revision of land management plans for national forests," Williams said. "If the Clinton Administration is basing its actions on the idea that forest management plans are out-of-date, that certainly doesn't apply to the Tongass. They just issued the new plan last year after thirteen million dollars and ten years of work," Williams said.

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