Latest Clinton Royal Land Grab
Targets 40 Million Forest Acres

WASHINGTON — In a move described by critics as the height of arrogance, President Bill Clinton on Wednesday was expected to announce a scheme that would permanently lock away 40 million acres of national forests — as much as two-thirds of all currently roadless forests in the country.

"We are not a monarchy," countered a furious Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee.

"He is treating this as if it were the king's land and he is denying the serfs the right to walk on it," Craig continued. "It is a medieval concept we got away from in the Revolutionary War."

Clinton's plan follows a pattern he established early in his administration of doing through audacious "executive orders" what could never be bulldozed through Congress — even his own liberal, pre-1994 Democratic Congress.

His boldest previous natural-resources lockup was the highly controversial Escalante Staircase National Monument in Utah. That multimillion acre land grab prevented development of a mine that would have produced extremely clean-burning coal, a form of coal found only in a few locations worldwide.

By stopping the mine, Clinton virtually assured a multibillion dollar bonanza for the owners of an existing mine in Southeast Asia. The beneficiaries of his largesse include the Lippo Group, whose principals helped bankroll Clinton's re-election with illegal foreign cash and later paid off convicted swindler Webster Hubbell, helping buy his silence in an investigation of wide-ranging Clinton administration corruption.

Details of the latest decree are still being worked out, but Clinton was expected to announce the scheme Wednesday in George Washington National Forest in Virginia.

The areas the administration has targeted are spread across the 192 million acres of federal forests nationwide, from the Southern Appalachians to the Chugach National Forest in Alaska.

The same environmental activist groups which helped Clinton plot his Escalante adventure and keep it secret even from Utah's own governor have been architects of the current scheme as well.

Their representatives are positively gushing with enthusiasm.

``This is one of the most significant land-preservation efforts undertaken since the beginning of the century,'' said Michael Francis of The Wilderness Society.

``This is extremely encouraging,'' chimed in Ken Rait of the Heritage Forests Campaign. ``This could be Bill Clinton's segue to the same pedestal occupied by Teddy Roosevelt as a historic conservation president.''

White House officials declined to comment on the matter.

A timber industry spokesman criticized the expected move, pointing out that it will increase the risk of forest fires and insect infestation in dozens of forests, and force continued use of logging imports that keep Americans out of work.

``We're not that surprised — they've been trying to get us out of the national forests for some time,'' said Michael Klein of the American Forest and Paper Association.

``We're also not that surprised that they had to do it in a legislative end run through these regulatory machinations.''

One activist expressed concern that the administration

will not have time to complete the lengthy environmental impact statement process before Clinton's term expires in January 2001. A new administration could scrap the

process.

But other activists said they are confident the process could be completed before the end of Clinton's term. It would, of course, have priority, unlike thousands of impact statements crucial to continued productive use of federal lands. The administration has been accused of deliberately dragging those processes out for years.

It's not known exactly how many acres of forests Clinton has targeted.

Early indications were that he planned to exempt from his proposal about nine million acres of roadless areas in the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest. But people familiar with the situation said a final decision has not been made on the Alaska forest.

Also unknown is whether about 10 million roadless acres on smaller forest parcels — those of 5000 acres or less — will be part of Clinton's plan.

In all, about 60 million of the 192 million acres of federal forests are considered wild or undeveloped. The rest, governed by the U.S. Forest Service, is host to a wide range of activities, including grazing, logging, camping, skiing, mining and off-road-vehicles.

Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, criticized Clinton's reported effort in a statement last Friday.

``Once again the Clinton administration is ignoring public involvement, the Congress, the legislative process and any attempt to compromise,'' Murkowski said. ``They are trying to accomplish with executive orders and other means what they cannot accomplish through the legislative process.''

Idaho's Sen. Craig was no less direct in his condemnation.

"I've never seen such arrogance displayed by any government," Craig said. "He's ignored the concept of public hearings and the process that is so important in the way we do business in our country."

Craig vowed to use his committee to conduct "extensive" public hearings on the matter, presumably in the areas that would be most affected by Clinton's lockup.

"Obviously, this is politically motivated," Craig said, "but it is much worse than that — it ignores the public process of government.

"When the public becomes aware of this, they will grow quite outraged," he predicted.