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Show Eastern Legislators Travel Four Western States To Better Understand Western Issues "If a picture is worth a thousand words, then maybe a real life experience is worth a thousand pictures," House Speaker Speak-er Newt Gingrich said at an Idaho press conference during the first Legislative Roundup held recently. recent-ly. By this account and others along the way, his trip to the West was an overwhelming success. suc-cess. Speaker Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick Armey, and Majority Whip Tom DeLay joined Congressman Con-gressman John Peterson of Pennsylvania, Congresswoman Sue Kelly of New York, Congressman Con-gressman Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, Lou-isiana, Congressman Charles Bass of New Hampshire, Congressman Con-gressman Ralph Regula of Ohio, and Congressman George Radan-ovich Radan-ovich of California for the four-state, four-state, three-day, working tour of western public lands issues. The Western Congressional hosts for the trip included Congressman Con-gressman Helen Chenoweth of Idaho, Congressman Mike Crapo of Idaho, Cqngresswoman Barbara Cubin of Wyoming, Congressman Rick Hill of Montana, and Utah's Congressmen Jim Hansen and Chris Cannon. The theme of the Western Coalition's trip was "Finding Solutions That Work." The coalition coa-lition focused congressional attention atten-tion on its new environmentalism and advocated for a seat at the decision-making table through the concept of shared jurisdiction. Its new environmentalism, based upon solutions instead of conflict, hope instead of fear, education instead of litigation, science instead of emotion, and employing employ-ing human resources rather than destroying them, received favorable favor-able attention from visiting members mem-bers of Congress. The Legislative Roundup began be-gan in Salt Lake City with a tour of the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Can-yon mine site. Congressional participants par-ticipants learned about global wanning and the new EPA ambient ambi-ent air quality proposals. From there, the group toured the Boise National Forest in Idaho Ida-ho where they learned about forest for-est health and management issues. iss-ues. They saw the difference in management practices between public and private forests especially espe-cially in the area of forest fire control. Further, presenters in Idaho spoke to the group about Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funds, community stability, county coun-ty receipts, and below-cost timber sales. From Idaho, the tour went to Wyoming to learn about mining, oil and gas, and ranching. The Congressional visitors witnessed successful mining reclamation efforts and none could distinguish between reclaimed land and untouched land. Wyoming presentations pre-sentations included mining law reform issues, oil and gas operations oper-ations on federal land, public lands grazing, wildlife management manage-ment including predator control, environmental compatibility, and energy security issues. The long journey through the Wyoming countryside and flights over several western states led New York Congresswoman Sue Kelly to express an appreciation for the vastness of the western lands and what it means for the people who work them. The last leg of the trip focused on park management in Yellowstone Yellow-stone National Park with a goal of presenting the group with an appreciation of the beauty of the park and the complexities of managing man-aging western park lands. Majority Leader Armey summed up his impressions of the entire trip with the following (See Washington Legislators Travel Trav-el Western States On Page 3A) Washington Legislators Travel Four Western States From Front Page statement: "The people of the West will do what's best for the West. They will make better, quicker decisions about the lands around them because they love the land they call their home and want to pass it on to their children and grandchildren." The Western States Coalition trip would not have been a success,", said the coalition's Executive Director and Co-founder Co-founder Met Johnson," without close cooperation between all members of the executive board, staff and the membership of the coalition. "The success of this trip represents a giant step forward for our organization. We have earned a real seat at the decisionmaking decision-making table for our issues and our people," he said. "We look forward to announcing our second annual event sometime in the near future." - Among the comments coming out of the First Annual Legislative Legisla-tive Roundup were: "Until you're in the West, you can't appreciate how different it is from the cities in the East. We have an obligation to rethink how we deal with western issues and the impacts our decisions have on the people who live here. Federal micro-management can be destructive de-structive and we need a better east-west dialogue." -House Speaker Newt Gingrich, press conference, Idaho. "When we're back in Washington and we're on the Floor in a debate and we're talking at a personal level, these kinds of conversations have a huge impact. The image the national environmental extremist groups convey does not match what I have observed." --House Speaker Newt Gingrich, press I conference. "I have a clearer understand- ing of the time and distance the people of the West endure every day as they work the western lands. I have learned so much from this opportunity to view these issues first hand." -Congresswoman Sue Kelly of New York, Western State Coalition press release. I hope the trip puts a human I face on the complex land use I debate western citizens face every day." --Western States Coalition Executive Director Met Johnson. It is a chance to bring people together and a chance for us to see the enormity and the vastness of the West. You cannot do that without having a trip like this. You have to be able to see the enormity, the vastness of the West to understand it. You cannot understand it sitting in the halls of Washington or reading books or watching a video tape." -- House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, press conference, Idaho. |