Can't See the Boston Globe Forest For the Trees

If a newspaper is unread does it make a sound?

"US unveils new rules for forests; Environmental activists praise policy guide" by Juliet Eilperin  |  Washington Post, January 27, 2012

WASHINGTON - Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, told reporters in a conference call that the rules require that planning decisions be “driven by sound science.’’  

This from a government that claims jet fuel fires felled three skyscrapers into their own footprints at free-fall speed, and continually drives home the global-warming scam.

The debate over how best to manage forests, especially in regions such as the Pacific Northwest, has pitted timber companies against environmentalists and some scientists for decades. Yesterday, administration officials emphasized that they had sought input from an array of constituencies to develop a plan that could minimize these public disputes....

House Natural Resources Committee chairman Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican, said the concerns that he and other lawmakers expressed about the planning rule’s impact on jobs “apparently fell on deaf ears. These new Obama regulations introduce excessive layers of bureaucracy that will cost jobs, hinder proper forest management, increase litigation, and add burdensome costs for Americans.’’

Officials at the American Forest & Paper Association, which represents pulp, paper, packaging and wood products companies along with forest landowners, said they were “still reviewing’’ the blueprint. But the group had concerns “regarding the costly procedural requirements in the proposed rule,’’ vice president and general counsel Jan Poling said.

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