 |
|
| Voice of the Environment's mission is to educate the public regarding the transfer of public trust assets into private, mostly corporate, hands. |
||
| Ukiah office: 1330 Boonville Rd Ukiah, CA 95482 707-467-0329 |
||
| Marin office: 270 Beach Rd Belvedere, CA 94920 415-435-2007 |
||
| For two decades, Voice of the Environment has stood up for the people and our communities against the avarice of corporations and the misguided policies of the corporate-dominated state. |
|
No Headwaters Deal May Be the Best Option by DAN HAMBURG Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1998 The fate of the ancient redwoods of Headwaters Forest has now become just one of a number of "horse-trades" to be made as the state legislature and the governor grind out a budget. But for the future of the north coast, it is one of the most important. Many Democrats are lining up behind Senator Byron Sher and his bill (SB 533) that would add logging restrictions to the deal negotiated between Senator Dianne Feinstein and Texas financier Charles Hurwitz. Governor Pete Wilson and his Republican friends in the legislature are the main supporters of the Feinstein/Hurwitz deal. Both sides clearly want the deal to move forward. Sher thinks that now is the time to deal. He claims that Hurwitz will walk away from the table and fire up the chainsaws if environmentalists try to include additional environmental protections in the legislation. Wilson and his allies (both Democrat and Republican) are anxious to deal because for them, sliding bags of public money over to people like Hurwitz is their bread and butter. It helps that Hurwitz's timber PAC is one of the most generous in the state, including a $20,000 contribution to Wilson's reelection campaign in 1994. There are many good reasons not to provide $130 million of state funding in this year's budget for either the Feinstein/Hurwitz deal or the Sher deal. First, completion of either deal will lead to the destruction of more ancient redwoods and old-growth Douglas fir than if there were no deal. Under current law, particularly the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Hurwitz can only log small amounts of dead and downed wood in the areas of old-growth forests. The whole point of this deal, in addition to giving $380 million to Charles Hurwitz, is to allow Pacific Lumber to log in areas otherwise prohibited by law. The first substantive clause of the Feinstein/Hurwitz deal states: "Pacific Lumber desires to obtain a permit under section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)." Without this permit, which allows Hurwitz to harm or kill endangered species, Hurwitz's chainsaws are largely idled in areas of old growth, but not on the rest of Pacific Lumber's 200,000 acre holdings. Second, Hurwitz wants the money and is not going to walk away from the table. Although Hurwitz and Feinstein keep saying that if no deal happens this year, no deal will ever happen, that's simply not the case. The value of this deal to Hurwitz is so much greater than the value of the land under existing laws and regulations that he and his lobbyists will continue to work for a deal until he gets the money. Rumors are that Hurwitz's superlobbyist, Tommy Boggs, will earn a $30 million commission on the deal. Third, the state does not know what it's buying for $130 million. The federal government is conducting an appraisal of the land to be acquired, at a cost of over $500,000, but the appraisal will not be completed until the Fall. Your legislators are about to spend a very large sum of your money on real estate whose value has yet to be determined. Fourth, Hurwitz played a central role in the failure of a savings and loan that cost the taxpayer $1.6 billion. The case of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) against Hurwitz reopened in Houston last week. Pending the resolution of charges against Hurwitz by OTS and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Hurwitz may owe the taxpayers as much as $1 billion. Shouldn't we wait to find out how these claims are going to be settled before shoveling more public money to Hurwitz? Fifth, the legislature forgot to require scientific peer review by an independent scientific body, such as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), in its conditions for the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). Before spending such a huge chunk of taxpayer money, shouldn't we be sure that the plan to protect endangered species from extinction uses credible scientific standards? Otherwise, our beleaguered salmon fishery will be destroyed even as the last 3% of our ancient redwoods are felled. The way the budget process works in Sacramento, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton will play the key role in determining if the taxpayers will spend $130 million on an unknown piece of land. I urge you to call him at 415/346-4009, and tell him to make Mr. Hurwitz wait a little longer.
|
|
Voice of the Environment |