Clinton Signs Bill To Expedite Salvage Logging Environmental Groups Decry ‘Flip-Flop;’ Gorton Says Jobs Will Be Created

President Clinton, under fire from environmentalists, said the salvage timber measure he signed into law Thursday is “not exactly what I wanted” but repeated his belief the logging can be sped up without harming fish or wildlife.

The logging provision waives environmental protection laws to expedite removal of dead and dying timber in national forests and lessen the threat of catastrophic fires, especially in the West.

Clinton earlier vetoed a bill containing the logging proposal, saying it was bad for the environment. But he maintains the U.S. Forest Service will be able to retrieve the wood without taking advantage of the legal exemptions.

“On balance, I am very pleased with this bill,” Clinton said in signing the comprehensive bill, which slashes $16.3 billion from this year’s federal budget.

“The timber provisions are not exactly what I wanted, but they are better than they were, and I believe we can and should carry out the timber salvage plans and that we can do it consistent with our forest plan and with existing environmental laws,” he said during the signing ceremony at the White House.

Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., a lead author of the logging language, and environmentalists who led the charge against it both maintain there are few differences between the legislation Clinton vetoed and the bill he signed Thursday.

“This will mean much-needed jobs for communities in my state that have been leveled under federal timber policy,” Gorton said Thursday.

Environmental groups say the bill still includes broad loopholes allowing the harvest of live, healthy trees as well as those dying due to insects and disease.

Environmentalists are planning a rally across from the White House today, including a “21 chain saw salute” to Clinton.

“There is simply no other way to describe the president’s behavior other than a flip-flop that betrayed the trust of Americans counting on him to protect the national forests from special interests,” Sierra Club President Robert Cox said.

“Just when the president should be standing firm in defense of the public’s land, he caves in,” said Jon Roush, president of the Wilderness Society.

But Jim Geisinger, president of the Northwest Forestry Association in Portland, said timber workers “appreciate what the president has done.”

“The jury is still out on how rapidly the agencies will respond. The key thing will be the extent to which they will exercise the flexibility and latitude provided by the salvage amendment. If they stick strictly to their standard way of operating, I don’t think we could expect a lot of volume very quickly.”

The Forest Service originally projected it would harvest 1.5 billion board feet of salvage timber nationwide next year. That’s in addition to the 2.2 billion in live “green” timber sales it plans for the next fiscal year. Backers of the new exemptions want the agency to double the salvage level.