Protect nation’s forests
Dear Editor: U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara (D-20th) has an important opportunity right now to defend one of America’s most significant conservation achievements in recent memory.
The Roadless Area Conservation Plan, a historic rule to protect 58.5 million acres of pristine national forest land from road-building and logging, is under attack by the Bush administration, which is allowing the timber and mining industries to gut these important national forest protections.
Despite 30 years of research and discussion, a two-year rulemaking period, more than 600 public hearings, and a record 2.2 million public comments in support of the policy, the Bush administration has ignored the overwhelming public mandate to implement this plan and issued one harmful policy directive after another in an effort to gut protection for our last wild places.
Our national forests are national treasures and deserve national protection rather than the piecemeal, industry-friendly alternatives promoted in recent months.
That’s why a bipartisan group of members of Congress, impatient with the Bush administration’s undermining of national forest protections, recently introduced the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would permanently protect our last wild national forests by codifying the original roadless rule.
PennEnvironment urges Mascara to follow the wishes of the more than 2.2 million Americans, including 99 percent of Pennsylvania respondents, who have commented in support of protecting our last wild forests.
We urge him to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 4865 – The National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act – to protect our nation’s wild forests for current and future generations.
John Griffith
PennEnvironment
Philadelphia
A taxing mistake
Dear Editor:
I’m writing concerning the mailing out of the 2001 notices of past due county and township taxes. I went to the post office Monday, July 15, and found two registered letters waiting for me from the Fayette County Tax Claim Bureau which were dated June 24. My wife and I knew we had paid these taxes but we had to reach for our receipts to show that they were indeed paid.
I tried calling the tax bureau for an hour, but the line was always busy. I gave up trying to call and drove into town and parked in a city lot. I went to the tax bureau and after waiting in line, the girl working in the office took my notices, looked them up on the computer and told me they were paid in full.
I asked her why they mailed them out to taxpayers whose taxes were paid. She said that they were told by their boss to mail them out to everyone, whether they were paid or unpaid. A lady who was in line in front of me was told the same thing.
The tax office girl said that it was a waste of time and money. I replied that it was a waste of my time and money (the taxpayer).
My neighbor told me a different story. She was told over the phone, after repeatedly hitting redial, it was a computer error and they were mailed out to everyone. A postal worker told me that the cost of sending these notices out was $4.42 per notice. We purchased a small lot adjacent to our property, so the cost just for my notices was $8.84.
It makes you wonder how the county can afford to do this. Is this the manner in which our tax dollars are being spent. It is no wonder we can build a prison annex and not include automatic locks and fences.
Earl Springer
Mount Braddock