CSE Applauds House Passage of Healthy Forests

Today, Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) applauded the House for passing H.R. 1904, the “Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. CSE had urged Representatives to vote “Yes” on the bill and notified them that the vote would count as a Key Vote.

Key Votes are used to determine Representatives eligibility for CSE’s Jefferson Award, which is given to legislators that espouse the CSE principles of limited government, lower taxes, and more freedom. In addition each Representative’s vote is reported to CSE members in their state.

In a Key Vote notice to House members, CSE President and CEO Paul Beckner wrote:

“H.R. 1904 will help prevent catastrophic fires and environmental degradation that threaten the American people, their property, and our environment. The bill will create new limited harvesting practices to improve forest health, which is an important step toward reducing the catastrophic losses associated with wildfires as well as the threat posed by blighted trees. The Healthy Forests Act also calls for reforms to environmental laws to reduce the red tape and litigation that has restricted forest management in the past.”

Upon passage of the bill, Beckner said:

“Unfortunately, some in the environmental community can’t see the forest for the trees. They’re so concerned about protecting the sanctity of every last tree that they’re losing the forest.

“Every summer, America’s forests are ravaged by ever hotter and more destructive fires. By over managing forests with zero tolerance for logging or small fires, the federal government and some environmentalists have over time created a massively destructive tinderbox.

“A return to limited harvesting is the key to the long term health of our national forests. H.R. 1904 will help prevent catastrophic fires that threaten the American people, our property, and our environment.

“Special interest politics have created a huge bureaucracy that manages our national resources by environmental politics instead of sound scientific policies. This plan is an important step toward a forest management policy guided by science instead of politics.

“The House and the President are a breath of fresh air on this issue, and CSE urges the Senate to follow suit.”