SUNUNU

SENATOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/24/08

SUNUNU STATEMENT ON SIERRA CLUB ENDORSEMENT OF JEANNE SHAHEEN

WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senator John Sununu (R-NH) issued the following statement in response to the Sierra Club’s endorsement of Jeanne Shaheen:

“How fitting that endorsement being trumpeted by Jeanne Shaheen is from a Washington Interest Group that is trying to undermine New Hampshire’s 10-year forest plan for protecting, supporting, and managing the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF).

“Our White Mountain plan was developed by the citizens of New Hampshire who care about the Granite State’s tradition of conservation, recreation, and sustainable forestry. The Forest Management Plan was an unprecedented, cooperative effort. Today, Jeanne Shaheen has turned her back on her own state, endorsing the tactics of a DC lobbyist group that is working to tear apart what was built through consensus and cooperation here in New Hampshire.

“When I wrote the New England Wilderness Act, I didn’t ask anyone from Washington how to do it. I worked closely with conservation groups here in New Hampshire, including the Forest Society, the Friends of Sandwich Range, and the Friends of Wild River. They have New Hampshire’s best environmental interest at heart, and I will always represent New Hampshire’s interests first in the United States Senate.”

Background:

In 2007, the Sierra Club, Forest Watch, and The Wilderness Society filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service’s 2005 White Mountain National Forest Management Plan in federal district court. The suit, in particular, challenges the decision to allow limited timber harvesting in two areas in the WMNF, which would impact less than 1,200 acres.

Several New Hampshire-based environmental groups including the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, and the State of New Hampshire are all in favor of the Forest Service’s proposed timber projects and have filed legal briefs in Federal District Court in support of the agency. In a Senate floor statement on February 28, 2008, New Hampshire Senior Senator Judd Gregg spoke of his strong opposition to the lawsuit.

Senator Sununu wrote, and Senator Gregg co-sponsored, the “New England Wilderness Act of 2006,” which was signed into law in December of 2006. The legislation permanently protects 35,000 acres of land in the White Mountain National Forest.

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