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Portland, OR--Today, Congressman David Wu released the following statement in support of Oregonians who are coming together to oppose President Bush's recent proposal to repeal the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
"Thank you for being here today to celebrate our roadless forests. I am deeply disturbed by the Bush Administration's recent proposal to repeal the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule. In addition to ignoring the millions of public comments sent to the Forest Service in support of the roadless rule, this Administration is passing the buck to state governors to veto roadless protection. Such disregard for the will of the people, as well as the long-term health of our forests, is intolerable.
"The Roadless Area Conservation Rule would protect 58.5 million acres of roadless forests. The process by which it reached approval involved public hearings all across the country and millions of comments. Overwhelmingly, Americans spoke out in support of the last wild areas in this country.
"The Roadless Rule is a balanced policy that protects the last third of our national forests from most logging and road construction while allowing new roads in order to fight fires and ensure public safety and allowing brush clearing to protect forest health. The rule makes sounds financial sense by allowing the Forest Service to address the estimated $10 billion backlog in needed road maintenance instead of using taxpayer dollars to subsidize building new roads.
"The discussion about protecting roadless areas began nearly five years and three million public comments ago. The time to implement the original Roadless Rule is now. The people have decided, but President Bush is not listening."
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