The environment should be a top priority for new Congress

SETH BORENSTEIN | McCLATCHY TRIBUNE The Tongass National Forest, in Alaska is the world’s largest temperate rain forest.

When Congress returns to work after the elections, the environment should be high on the list of unfinished business.

Much of the work unfortunately requires stopping proposals that would harm national forests and other natural resources. Lawmakers should turn down legislation that would:

•Allow the timber industry to fell healthy trees remaining after forest fires.

•Exempt large Forest Service logging projects from the requirements for public comment and environmental impact analysis.

•Allow oil and gas pipelines to run through national parks and monuments and wildlife refuges.

•Dismantle wildlife protections under the Endangered Species Act.

•Sell thousands of acres of national forests, including in the Mark Twain in Missouri, to finance rural schools.

Educational funding is important, but getting rid of national treasures isn’t the way to provide it.

Congress also should take steps to protect the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the world’s largest temperate rain forest, from logging. The forest — home to grizzlies, bald eagles and 800-year-old trees — is not protected by a federal rule that limits logging and road building in pristine areas of national forests.

That rule, instituted by former President Clinton, has been under attack by President Bush. A federal court recently reinstated it. Congress should make sure this protection remains in place, with the Tongass added.

Congress also should address gaps in Bush’s national energy policy, which Congress passed last year. It is a smorgasbord of goodies for special interests, including suppliers of fossil fuels, but it provides far too few tax credits for conservation.

Congress should fix and increase support for the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. That would help reduce reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

No matter the political party, polls show, voters care about protection of natural resources. Congress should respond favorably.