Note: The only forest terrorists we need to worry about are the corporate terrorists like ArborGen, International Paper and other industrial timber companies who have been wreaking havoc on forest ecosystems for decades. And, of course, the immense threat of climate change, and false solutions like REDD and California’s new domestic forest carbon trading scheme
-The GJEP Team
By Joe Hanel, April 26, 2013. Source: The Durango Herald
DENVER – As if 4 million acres of dead, standing timber and an ongoing drought weren’t enough to worry about as Colorado enters the wildfire season, a few Republican senators say it’s past time to prepare for terrorist attacks in the forests.
They’re making the argument to convince colleagues to pay for the state’s own fleet of aerial firefighting tankers. If terrorists ignited several fires at once, the small federal fleet would be overwhelmed, the state senators say.
Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction – the sponsor of the air tanker bill – said he is worried that large fires in the Colorado River Basin could clog reservoirs and cause a water supply “catastrophe” across the whole American Southwest.
“That is why that is a priority or could be a priority for those who wish us ill will, and those who would like to change the United States and the Western United States,” King said at a hearing for his bill.
Terrorist attacks in the forests have already happened, King’s allies said.
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Christy Rodgers
Global Justice Ecology Project
hallieb
Jeff Conant
