Posted on 07/14/2004 8:46:03 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
VERDI, Nev. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) proposes cutting $100 million in annual government subsidies to the timber industry to pay for a new Forest Restoration Corps that would invest in the long-term health of national forests, his campaign said Tuesday.
Shifting spending from commercial logging operations on federal lands would create jobs while restoring forests, streams and rangelands that have been mismanaged or severely damaged by wildfires, campaign aides said.
The program — reminiscent of the Civilian Conservation Corps that President Franklin D. Roosevelt established during the Great Depression — is one of the highlights in a three-page plan unveiled Tuesday near the site of a wildfire that burned 1,200 acres on the western edge of Reno two weeks ago.
A Kerry administration would pledge to budget annually to cover all federal firefighting costs, make necessary additions to aerial firefighting fleets, and focus reduction of fuels in overstocked forests on those areas posing the most immediate threats to communities, according to the plan.
Kerry would support "balanced forest management proposals and seek out input from the public rather than this extreme, one-sided approach benefiting big timber companies like the Bush administration has taken," said Sean Smith, Nevada communications director for the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
The $100 million for the Forest Restoration Corps would come out of the agency's timber program, Smith said, but the plan did not specify the accounts.
The Bush administration targets only about one-half of the Forest Service's fuels reduction program on areas closest to communities while Kerry would spend a minimum of 70 percent of that money on those areas, Smith said.
The Bush-Cheney campaign dismissed the proposal as campaign politics aimed at building support among environmentalists while ignoring concerns of mainstream Westerners.
"It's simply another example of John Kerry saying anything to anyone who is willing to listen in hope of getting elected," campaign spokesman Danny Diaz said Tuesday from Virginia.
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On the Net:
Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com
And we need a new youth corp. And an increase in the minimum wage. And gay marriages. Yeah that's the ticket.
/American politics are so very boring and predictable
Great John, and what do you say to those workers who are employed by the loggging industry who will lose their jobs because of this?
Just curious.
They'll eat this up..
Tah Rayy Zaaa ..You've must have donated at least that much to the leftist "peace" orgs this year
Oh, and because it has been awhile and I need to humor myself...
John Kerry voted against forests before he voted for them.
These people haven't had a "new" idea since...uh, ....well, er... since......ummm...welll.. I'll get back to you on that one........
Kerry's 'new' insightful policy is to resurrect the WPA. Only makes sense considering this is the worst economy since the depression.
I will continue to inhale and exhale while you look that up.
They can become firefighters, to help combat the inevetable wildfires that result from logging constraints.RMFE.
The corps will probably be used to keep people out of the roadless areas.
Another big govt program that will grow year by year and never go away.
You know, I grew up in an urban area (NYC) and one of the strangest thigns for me to understand is that to help prevent wildfires and ultimately preserve forests is to cut down trees and clear underbrush, etc... It seems almost counter-intuitive, but when you think about it makes sense.
Unfortunately, the explanation of that simple fact takes longer then your typical soundbite and as a result all that gets out is that GW Bush wants to cut down more trees.
Aaargh, I don't know what bothers me more, media bias or a population that believes everything that is fed to them is true AND can be condensed into a 15 second video blurb.
Well, it also never sinks in bc the treehuggers will explain that the small high surface area material left behind is far more flammable (while ignoring the fact that it burns out within minutes...)
Just one snowflake in the blizzard of pie-in-the-sky promises which will continue to rage until the election.
Welcome to the DemonRATS, the party of FREE STUFF!
If it weren't for FREE STUFF, the liberals couldn't steal a vote from Abe Lincoln in the cradle of the Confederacy.
That's what I thought.
Thanks Moby, now move along.
I do believe I am the personal recipient of a post from a soon-to-be-zotted troll!
I am honored. Thank you!
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