Clinton bans logging, roads in forest areas

"These lands represent some of the last, best unprotected wildlands anywhere in America," Clinton said.

Clinton made the announcement at the National Arboretum in Washington on a snowy day, barely two weeks before he gives up power to President-elect George W. Bush, who many environmentalists doubt will put vast acreage off-limits.

Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said the Bush administration would review "each and every one" of the new rules and regulations Clinton has instituted in his waning period in office. He would not elaborate.

The road and logging ban includes 58.5 million acres (23.4 million hectares), including significant portions of Idaho’s Bitterroot National Forest, as well as 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) in both California and Oregon.

The logging and wood industry protested the designation, which followed a 15-month review period, and Alaska Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski said it will be subject to an immediate court challenge by a number of western governors.

He said numerous legal violations were committed during the review process, such as improper notice of public sessions, that make a successful court challenge likely.

The White House insisted an open, public process was followed.

Murkowski also said he would move to determine whether a congressional resolution to overturn Clinton’s order was in order. He said he would hold congressional hearings.

"The process has been totally flawed," he said.

Murkowski, who heads the Senate Energy Committee, hascalled for opening up more federal lands to oil and gas drilling. Bush has vowed to look for ways to increase production of energy resources as well.

The United States imports more than half its petroleumneeds, and prices for fuel oil, natural gas and electricity have soared in recent weeks.

Paul Houghland, executive manager for the National HardwoodAssociation, which represents more than 1,700 producers and users of lumber, said the Clinton administration ignored complaints from communities that the logging ban will devastate their economies.

"What Clinton decrees by designating these roadless areas,is that those local communities no longer have any voice in the lands that surround their communities. He’s bypassed Congress and just taken it upon himself to satisfy the intent of the radical environmentalists," Houghland said.

Clinton clearly had his legacy in mind when he announcedthe rule. A White House document said that with this action, Clinton has "protected more land in the continental United States than any administration since Theodore Roosevelt."

"A HELL OF A LEGACY"

"Mr. President, this is a hell of a legacy for America,"crowed Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

Said Clinton, "We have saved and restored some of our mostglorious natural wonders, from Florida’s Everglades to Hawaii’s coral reefs, from the redwoods of California to the red rock canyons of Utah."

Clinton aides insisted the ban was not being announced nowin order to get it done before Bush takes over.

"We would have done this one way or the other, whether thepresident was President (Al) Gore or President Bush," said White House spokesman Jake Siewert.

Clinton is also expected to rule sometime in the next twoweeks on whether to set aside more lands to create five new National monuments by executive decree.

The White House insisted the review process was fair with600 public meetings and 1.6 million comments sent in.

But Houghland said the government was flooded withsupportive letters in response to appeals from the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, which were pleased by Clinton’s move.

"Today we congratulate the president for leaving a legacyof wild forests for all Americans who love to hunt, hike, fish and camp," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.