Senator Murkowski Applauds Defeat of Anti-Tongass Amendment
SENATOR MURKOWSKI APPLAUDS DEFEAT OF ANTI-TONGASS AMENDMENT
This afternoon, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that the Senate "did the right thing" in defeating an "unfair attack" on Alaska's Tongass National Forest. By a vote of 39 to 59, the Senate defeated an amendment sponsored by Senators John Sununu (R-NH) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) to the FY06 Interior Appropriations Act that would have prohibited the use of federal funds to build new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest.
In the second day of debate, Murkowski spoke on the Senate floor and argued against the amendment, calling it unjust because it only targeted the Tongass.
"When you look at this amendment, it is very specific," Murkowski said. "It is not the elimination of subsidies or assistance throughout our national forest systems. It is specific to one national forest, and that is the Tongass, located in Alaska.
"There are 111 national forests spread across the country. Of those, 105 spend more on their timber programs than they collect in receipts. It costs $6.05 per acre to manage the Tongass, which is very comparable, if not more efficient than most other national forests in the country. So, this is not just focusing on the Tongass because it's way out of whack in terms of the costs that are expended on the Tongass. Fully 75 percent of the costs associated with the timber program in the Tongass are the result of appeals and litigation. It's estimated that without these costs, without these litigations costs, the Tongass timber program could produce on average about a 13 percent profit.
"The economic argument for this amendment just doesn't hold up, and you can't separate the economic argument from the frivolous lawsuits. The reason the costs are so high in the Tongass is because of the lawsuits.
"The same people, the same organizations that are supporting this amendment which would shut down any road activity are the same people that are filing the lawsuits. The reality is that the Tongass National Forest is singled out because it is on the hit list of environmental groups who have always opposed all logging in the Tongass National Forest."
http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=239871