Dean Slams Bush Administration's Latest Anti-Environmental Action

For Immediate Release
June 10, 2003

Howard Dean today blasted the Bush Administration for once again undermining wilderness protection, this time by opening the Tongass National Forest up to logging and road building.

“There they go again. The Bush regime has demonstrated a pattern of hostile behavior toward wilderness protection. They claim to be implementing the roadless rule, but when you take a closer look you see that they are doing so in a way that undercuts the rule’s effectiveness. It’s as if the President’s passion for clearing brush on his Crawford ranch has turned into an Administration-wide obsession with clear-cutting national forests,” Dean said. “Worse yet, they are again attempting to undermine environmental protections through a series of bogus ‘settlements’ that are meant to shut the public out of the decision-making process.”

Dean was referring to the fact that the Administration’s latest plan is part of a settlement between the Justice Department and Alaska. Similarly, in April, Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton entered into a legal settlement with Utah in which the Department agreed that the Bureau of Land Management no longer has the authority to create Wilderness Study Areas.

“As President, I will fully implement the roadless rule finalized under President Clinton. We should be expanding our protection of the wilderness areas we have remaining, not clear cutting them,” Dean added.

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