Obama Sees the Legality of the Forest System Instead of the Inherent Value of the Trees

GREEN IS GOOD
by Meg White

Despite green campaign promises, President Obama can't see the trees for the forest. The popular criticism of being blinded by the details of the trees applies less to the commander-in-chief who must, in order to keep himself sane, pay attention to the big picture. But if the president doesn't see the trees falling, will the forest make a sound?

Listening to National Public Radio's Morning Edition before heading to the office this morning, I heard Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) being interviewed about how frustrated his constituents are with the lack of progressive gains by the Obama White House in its first few months. Nadler mentioned disappointment over healthcare, economic policies, executive privilege, state secrets and investigating the Bush Administration's illegal actions.

When asked about popular disapproval on environmental policies, Nadler balked, calling attention to the environmental legislation recently passed by the House.

"I think on climate change, certainly that's not fair. On climate change, the president pushed a very good bill," Nadler said. "You know, you have to get 218 votes. And we passed as strong a bill as we could assemble a coalition for."

While I disagree with his sentiment, it is fair for Nadler to bring up the difficulty of achieving consensus (though, is that not the popular excuse for avoiding the changes to healthcare, etc. that he's pushing for?).

What then, about cabinet-level decisions, which do not require congressional action? This week we saw two stories that exposed the Obama Administration's schizophrenic approach to America's woodlands, and the president will have a tough time blaming either one on on conservative lawmakers. Considering all the courtroom wrangling involved, perhaps he's planning on blaming it on the lawyers.

Our first wooded story managed to get a little attention from those who weren't tuned in to round-the-clock Sotomayor coverage. Tongass National Forest, a 17 million-acre temperate rainforest in southeast Alaska was approved for clear-cutting after a moratorium of sorts was placed on logging there.

The fact that Tongass is the largest temperate rainforest in the country and is an important reserve for biodiversity in the region is one thing, but the political betrayal on this story was palatable as well. After mandating that all timber agreements in Tongass be reviewed by his office back in May, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack applied a big old "Approved" stamp to a 381-acre clear cut in the roadless wilderness.

President Bush had exempted large swaths of the National Parks System, including Tongass, from the Clinton Administration's Roadless Area Conservation Rule by claiming in 2008 that the land management plans for the areas invalidated the rule. The National Resources Defense Council (NDRC) calls the exemption "illegal," which may have some merit due to the fact that the exemption has been tossed around in court virtually ever since its "temporary" establishment in 2003.

Regardless of calls from NRDC to reverse it, the Obama Administration seems to see the exemption as precedent instead of an illegal violation. While Obama came out against Bush's interpretation of the roadless rule on the campaign trail, these latest actions indicate his administration prefers reviewing each sale for legality on a case-by-case basis.

Though this next story represents good news on the old-growth forest front, it seems based on situational issues and legal technicalities, rather than good will toward the environment. The Obama Administration invalidated a logging plan for an Oregon forest Thursday, halting new contracts -- at least for now.

But the federal forests of western Oregon were not spared because we have a treehugger in the Oval Office. The area's logging plan was hatched in the last days of the Bush White House, when the previous administration was pushing through as many new rules as it could, many of which were of dubious legal quality.

Such was the case with the Western Oregon Plan Revisions. The Bureau of Land Management plan -- commonly known as WOPR (pronounced "whopper") -- directed use for 2.6 million acres of federal land. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the plan "legally indefensible" on Thursday.

The Bush Administration had neglected to consult with wildlife agencies over the effect of essentially doubling the logging activity in the area. Furthermore, the Obama Administration is asking that courts throw out related changes to the recovery plan for the northern spotted owl, an endangered species in the area.

Yet Salazar showed no real desire to curtail logging, but rather to do it in a way that does not skirt the law:
According to The Oregonian (emphasis mine):

With the logging plan now thrown out, Salazar said his agency was working to quickly identify logging projects that could move forward to create jobs and send lumber to mills.

Those would likely focus on smaller trees, which are less controversial. But any potential logging sale faces the threat of a lawsuit from conservation groups.

"We are going to concentrate on those areas that we think can get through the process," Secretary Salazar said.

In short, the real difference between Tongass and western Oregon timber is mere legal standing, likely to be surmounted for all intents and purposes. These two cases make it clear that the Obama Administration is seeing the legality of the forest system instead of the inherent value of the trees.

GREEN IS GOOD