Jan. 5, 2001--
President Clinton approves the biggest land conservation effort in decades.
It means no logging or oil drilling in close to half of Utah's national forests.
The forest protection plan makes close to one-third of the nation's National Forest land permanantly off limits to future road building, logging and oil drilling.
The plan includes nearly 60 million acres in 38 states, most of it in the West.
In making the announcement today, President Clinton said, "Sometimes progress comes by expanding frontiers. But sometimes, it's measured by preserving frontiers for our children. Today, we preserve the final frontiers of America's forests for our children."
Opponents, including Utah Congressman Jim Hansen, are already vowing to stop the plan. In a letter to President-elect George W. Bush and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, Hansen called the ban on road building and the logging restrictions "one of the most egregious abuses by the Clinton administration."
Hansen also outlined other Clinton-era environmental actions that ought to be overturned _ from banning snowmobiles in parks to the president's string of monument designations.
Western states' lawmakers aren't the only ones who don't like the plan. Critics from logging, mining and drilling interests also are threatening political and legal fights.
Senator Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, says, "We've got a crisis here-- an energy crisis. So we have to make sure these
lands are available for exploration."
Supporters of the Clinton plan say it's the legacy and heritage of wild forest lands they want to protect.
