We sure are living in interesting times. Who could have ever foreseen we would see a time when our elected representatives at all levels seemed to be united in presenting a grand farce to bemuse us unwashed masses. Actually, this development could be quite entertaining if the end results were not so potentially tragic.

The drama currently on-stage has to do with the heroic efforts of our politicians to wrest control of the O&C/CBWR timber lands from the bumbling hands of the BLM and turn them over to private interests in order to generate receipts in an effort to save our almost bankrupt counties.

If our Congressional delegation was serious about this effort, and wanted to act in a competent, logical, and rational manner, there is an established procedure for transparently looking into the feasibility of this type of proposal.

Almost 40 years ago now, Congress passed legislation directing how matters of this kind are to be handled. To quote directly from existing regulations, “the NEPA process for proposals for legislation significantly affecting the quality of the human environment shall be integrated with the legislative process of the Congress. A legislative environmental impact statement shall be considered part of the formal transmittal of a legislative proposal to Congress. (A legislative environmental impact statement is meant to be) an accurate statement which can serve as the basis for public and Congressional debate (emphasis supplied). The statement must be available in time for Congressional hearings and deliberations ” (40 CFR 1506.8).

There is a legislative hearing before the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands scheduled in Washington DC on September 22, 2011. If anyone has seen a legislative environmental impact statement regarding any of the many proposals floating about pertaining to changes in the management of the CBWR and the O&C, please let me know. I must have missed them.

Instead of seeing that we citizens receive the information that existing laws and regulations say we are entitled to, it appears our elected representatives in Washington are too busy blazing trails trying to get around the regulations their predecessors in Congress put in place 40 years ago, and which have been upheld by the courts through numerous litigations since then..

I’m afraid the drama being presented is well on its way towards becoming a farce.