Information about the vote from special interest groups and other information providers in our Report Cards:
League of Conservation Voters
Tongass Logging Roads.
At 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest of southeast Alaska is the world’s largest remaining old-growth temperate rainforest. Centuries-old trees provide critical habitat for wolves, grizzly bears, wild salmon, and bald eagles. Over the last 45 years, however, the timber industry has cleared more than one million acres of old-growth trees from the forest and carved out an estimated 5,000 miles of logging roads. Despite all this activity, the Forest Service has continually lost money on the Tongass logging program, forcing taxpayers to provide millions of dollars in subsidies. In 2005, for example, the Forest Service spent nearly $48.5 million to subsidize logging operations in the Tongass and received a mere $500,000 in payments.
Nevertheless, the Bush administration has worked to open more of the Tongass to logging. During
consideration of H.R. 5386, the Interior-Environment Appropriations bill, Representatives Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Rob Andrews (D-NJ) introduced an amendment to end taxpayer subsidies for new commercial logging roads in the Tongass. House Amendment 850 was approved.American Wilderness Coalition
Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007.
The amendment offered by Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Rob Andrews (D-NJ) prevents any money from being used in this FY 2007 Interior Appropriation bill to "plan, design, study or construct forest development roads in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska for the purpose of harvesting timber by private entities or individuals". In short, taxpayer money will no longer support the building of new private logging roads in the Tongass National Forest. The amendment was agreed to.Republicans for Environmental Protection
Prohibits the Forest Service from spending taxpayer dollars to build new logging roads for private interests.
An amendment to the FY 07 Interior Appropriations bill offered by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) prohibiting the Forest Service from spending taxpayer dollars to build new logging roads for private interests in the Tongass National Forest.