Senators Bash Environmental Assessments

Western Republican senators told the Clinton administration’s top land managers Wednesday that they spend too much money on scientists, and too much time on environmental assessments.

“How many federal biologists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” asked Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“It doesn’t matter how many federal agency biologists try to screw in the light bulb as long as they cannot first agree on which way to turn it,” he said.

“That’s just about the degree of frustration we have,” he said.

Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas, Assistant Interior Secretary George Frampton and National Marine Fisheries Service Director Rolland Schmitten were among the officials who appeared Wednesday before the subcommittee on forests and public land management.

“Assessment for assessment sake has gone on for too long,” said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the subcommittee as well as the Senate Agriculture subcommittee on forestry.

Schmitten said the scientific evaluations are necessary to find management plans that will prevent future listings of fish and wildlife under the Endangered Species Act.

“Let’s get ahead of the problem. Let’s not be ambulance chasers of four sockeye salmon on the Snake River,” he said in reference to that endangered species.

Thomas said the Forest Service had made great strides in the past two years to work more cooperatively with scientists in a variety of federal agencies to better coordinate consultation on fish and wildlife affected by logging.

“I can assure you things are much better than they have been,” Thomas told the senators Wednesday.

Frampton agreed. He said the criticism “may have had some merit five years ago or two years ago. It has somewhat less merit today.”

“I can’t tell you we’re happy with the way things are now … but we are making progress,” he said.