Even if Congress passes legislation to allow it to ignore two federal
court rulings to improve at-risk species surveys, the Clinton administration
would not use the authority, a Forest Service official testified on Thursday.
Northwest senators have included discretionary legal authority in the
FY2000 interior appropriations bill, which is expected to pass the Senate
next week.
Under President Clinton’s 1994 Northwest Forest Plan for protecting
old-growth forest areas, federal land …
