Protect Our
Woods
Working to preserve our rural heritage and quality of life in
southern Indiana since 1985
Working to preserve our rural heritage and quality of life in
southern Indiana since 1985
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Protect Our
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Working to preserve our rural heritage and quality of life in southern Indiana since 1985 |
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ALERT! April 2, 2006: OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESSMAN MIKE SODRELKaryn Moskowitz, Vice President, Protect Our WoodsMarch 29, 2006 Dear Congressman Sodrel: Thank you for your recent response to my letter concerning my opposition to the sale of over 300,000 acres of our national forests. It seems from your letter that you support the sale of national forests to private concerns. Your justification is that "the need to protect the environment must be balanced with adequate attention to the needs of the economy and private property owners." We agree that environmental protection is important, as well as the needs of the economy and private property owners. However, what we fail to see is how the sale of national forests will contribute to the economy in the long-term, and what the sale will provide to private property owners. First, if we are talking money, then let's set the record straight. The counties in the state of Indiana presently receive $124,000 a year P.L. 106-393, or the misleadingly titled "Secure Rural School Act." Is this insignificant sum worth the sale of public land? Perhaps the citizens of Indiana can pass around the hat to make up the difference? Are you also aware that nearly 50 percent of the funding from this bill will go to schools in Oregon? Supposedly the fire sale of public land would right the entire rural school funding for five years, but in the fifth year of funding the dollar amount slated would represent a decrease of 90 percent from today's levels; the overall figures for the entire five-year program, cuts funding 55 percent. Perhaps you and the President thought we wouldn't notice that this Act, then, is all really an act? Another misconception in your letter is that somehow environmental regulations hinder economic growth and sacrifice American jobs. Again, let's set the record straight. According to the federal government's own figures, the economic contributions from national forests from recreation, carbon sequestration, water, wildlife and fish equal 97 percent compared to 3 percent from extractive industries. Therefore, preservation of our national forests would lead to economic growth, including job creation. This should alleviate your concerns that national forest preservation is somehow linked to economic stagnation. In fact, the opposite is true. Increasing land values, and even superior job performance have been linked to the preservation of our national forests, which in turn benefits private property owners. A recent survey of federal government employees has also shed light on the misconception that environmental regulations such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) hinders economic growth and sacrifices American jobs. NEPA allows the American people to participate in the management of taxpayer-owned national forests. It is a law that has received bipartisan support since its inception by the Republican Nixon Administration, and ensures that the democratic process is left intact. It has been shown that NEPA neither slows down the process of federal land management, nor does it add to its expense. Despite all of this evidence, and despite the fact that NEPA has never been changed in 35 years, NEPA is slowly being gutted by other members of Congress, including Richard Pombo, under your watch. National Forests make up a very small portion of land in the State of Indiana-less than 3 percent. However, they provide the bulk of our recreation, water purification, and other important amenities. Selling this land for a quick profit is not a fiscally-conservative option, and the idea should be discarded. I am surprised and disappointed that you are participating in what I view as "knee jerk" support of a bill that is misleading on the surface, and ignores all conventional economic arguments. Please join your colleagues, Idaho Senator Larry Craig (Republican and chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests), Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and the four previous chiefs of the Forest Service in opposing this short-sighted, misleading plan to sell off our national forests. Yours, Karyn Moskowitz Protect Our Woods PO Box 352 Paoli, Indiana 47454 |