12/4/07

THE ROADLESS ACT IS BACK!

Embattled roadless federal forests would be given protection– permanently– under a bill now in the House of Representatives.

On May 24, the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act was reintroduced in both the House and the Senate. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) introduced the bill in the House as H.R. 2516 and so far has signed on 148 bipartisan co-sponsors.

Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John Warner (R-VA) have introduced a companion bill in the Senate, S. 1478. It has 19 co-sponsors.

The Roadless Area Conservation Act would provide permanent protection for 58.5 million acres of pristine forest land in 39 states, including the 9.3-million-acre Tongass National Forest in Alaska. (The Tongass was excluded from roadless area protections in 2005.)

The original Roadless Area Conservation Rule was an administrative rule written during the Clinton administration. The rule, which went into effect in January 2001, was the most popular environmental regulation ever written, with over 1.6 million public comments on the original rule. The roadless rule protected 58.5 million roadless acres of national forest from roadbuilding, logging, drilling, mining, and other development.

A law enacted by Congress (rather than a rule promulgated by a federal agency) would ensure that roadless protections are not subject to the whims of a hostile executive branch. It would provide needed and long-lasting protection for the last unroaded forests in the country.

By keeping large portions of the national forests safe from roadbuilding and consequent development, the Roadless Act would help ensure clean water, wilderness recreation, and wildlife habitat protection, and keep wild forestlands intact so that future generations will be able to enjoy them.

TAKE ACTION

Call your representative through the Congressional Switchboard, 202/224-3121, and ask him or her to support H.R. 2516, the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007.

Find your representative at: http://www.house.gov/MemStateSearch.html

The following California senators and representatives have already agreed to co-sponsor the bill:

REPRESENTATIVES
Rep Berman, Howard L.
Rep Capps, Lois
Rep Davis, Susan A.
Rep Eshoo, Anna G.
Rep Farr, Sam
Rep Filner, Bob
Rep Harman, Jane
Rep Honda, Michael M.
Rep Lantos, Tom
Rep Lee, Barbara
Rep Lofgren, Zoe
Rep Matsui, Doris O.
Rep McNerney, Jerry
Rep Miller, George
Rep Napolitano, Grace F.
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille
Rep Sanchez, Linda T.
Rep Sanchez, Loretta
Rep Schiff, Adam B.
Rep Sherman, Brad
Rep Solis, Hilda L.
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete
Rep Tauscher, Ellen O.
Rep Waters, Maxine
Rep Waxman, Henry A.
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C.

SENATORS
Sen Boxer, Barbara
Sen Feinstein, Dianne