vSweeping shift in forest policy: Bush plan would skip environmental reviews
vWASHINGTON — In a sweeping
forest-policy revision, the Bush administration announced plans yesterday to fundamentally
alter how it manages federal lands by skipping extensive environmental
reviews in the name of wildfire prevention.
vThe proposal is part of a strategy to
streamline environmental laws and help the land-management bureaucracy tick along more
smoothly. It would allow the administration, in many cases, to skip
traditional environmental analysis for projects that reduce wildfire risks
or rehabilitate forests after wildfires occur.
vBut environmentalists saw the changes
as an attempt to remove the public's voice from decision-making while the
administration tries to boost logging on federal lands. And some in Congress viewed the
proposals as an attempt to sidestep lawmakers.
vThe debate heated up last fall, after
more than 7 million acres burned nationwide and President Bush announced his "Healthy
Forests Initiative." The plan called for a range of changes, from limiting
bureaucratic processes and appeals to expediting work that reduces wildfire
dangers.