Feds Make Forest Planning, Protection Less Deliberative

[nosmokes]

makes you wonder just how much damage these mofos can do in the time alloted. i'd rather not find out. we already have our hands full for years to come repairing what's already been done by this good-hearted group of compassionate conservatives...(that don't know the definition of either word) -nosmokes
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original-new standard

Feds Make Forest Planning, Protection Less Deliberative

by Michelle Chen

Dec. 18 – The government rewrote the rules for managing forests last week, largely erasing obligations to consider potential environmental harm when planning the future of public wild lands.

The US Forest Service insists the new rule will make the land-management process more efficient and flexible. Environmentalists see the move as another blow in a series of White House-led reforms aimed at squelching public participation in the stewardship of national forests.

"This is yet another step to reduce accountability and to pave the way for more logging and more drilling by their friends and big oil and the timber industry," said Marty Hayden, legislative director for the environmental law firm Earthjustice.

The rule effectively shields long-term federal forest plans from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) – the primary law that holds agencies accountable for their effect on the environment. When drafting overall plans for forest lands, the government will no longer be bound by NEPA's extensive procedures for assessing overall environmental impacts and considering alternatives.

"NEPA is about the government taking a hard look at the potential harmful impacts of its decisions on our environment," Hayden told The NewStandard. "It's about ensuring the public has a role in that process and… forcing the agencies to look at other alternatives to accomplish the same goal."
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complete article here

[Mendocino]

1. Nepa policies have been demonstrated to save the taxpayers,

millions, or protected the environment for a relatively low cost. But is that where they are wrong, somebody could be making big pork dollars, and that is why the repugs despise them.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. So now the FOREST SERVICE is not concerned about the ENVIRONMENT ?

What's next, the EPA? Oh, wait, too late.