Clinton's No-Roads Decree
To Face Scrutiny By House

WASHINGTON —(AP)— House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young last Thursday asked the White House and Agriculture Department for records related to President Clinton's decision to place 40 million acres of federal forest land off-limits.

Young, R-Alaska, said in letters to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman that his committee is examining the ``underpinnings'' of the decision, which he believes was made without proper consultation of Congress.

``I'm very skeptical of the backroom, secret development of this process that will lock up even more of the West,'' Young said in a statement accompanying the two letters.

Young asked that Podesta and Glickman comply with the request by this Thursday and provide copies to Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the ranking member of the Resources Committee.

A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the White House will comply with ``legitimate oversight activities.''

(The key word here is "legitimate," and that will be determined by an administration that has its own definition of "is." In other words, they don't plan to comply. Of course, that's just a prediction; they could reverse seven years of precedent and do the right thing. Just as the folks in Los Angeles could awake tomorrow to see the sun rising over the Pacific. — Ed.)

The official said President Clinton has launched a public process to determine the level of protection for forests and that Congress members and the public will be invited to comment.

``Any step we take will be fully consistent with our authority under existing statutes,'' the official said.

The forest protection plan Clinton announced last month would require no congressional action. Instead it relies on regulations the Forest Service would issue after a year-long environmental review and public comments.

Currently, about 18 percent of the 192 million acres of federal forest is protected as wilderness. About 60 million acres are without roads, or signs of logging, mining and other development.

Clinton's plan was described as covering isolated forest areas of 5000 acres or more. Already, however, some administration spokesmen are touting plans to extend the scheme to patches as small as 1000 acres. As it stands, it would affect road-building and other development in 35 states, most of them in the West.

Congressional Republicans have criticized the plan as heavyhanded and warned that putting so much land off-limits will increase catastrophic forest fires.