Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: 1998 Green Scissors claims victories and sees problems

Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998 | 10:46 a.m.

THREE YEARS HAVE PASSED since this column first used the Green Scissors Report produced by a coalition led by the National Taxpayers Union and Friends of the Earth. Several other organizations determined to save tax dollars and our environment also participated in the study and resulting report.

Now a 1998 Green Scissors Report has been delivered and, in the executive summary, tells us: "The Green Scissors Campaign, launched in 1995, has a proven track record of success, helping to terminate or cut at least 15 programs and save more than $20 billion. Members of Congress have formed bipartisan coalitions to promote Green Scissors recommendations, and the administration has been increasingly supportive. But as Green Scissors '98 shows, there is much more to be done."

Saving $20 billion is quite an accomplishment if it also saved the green of our environment. We are unable to verify exactly how this saving was accomplished program by program because it isn't made clear in the 1998 report. I've requested a clarification of this claim of credit so it can be relayed to SUN readers.

The 1998 report does point out several costly and environmentally damaging federal programs, as did the 1995 report. Both reports give some excellent suggestions on how to correct several problems. Logging on national forests, and grazing and mining on federal lands again come under fire as they did in 1995.

There's little doubt that some progress has been made in the protection of our forests, but much more must be accomplished.

The 1995 Green Scissors Report, when looking at it from a taxpayer and economic standpoint, quoted economist Randal O'Toole, who had written: "The national forests represent a major economic contradiction. ... To produce (an annual return of $380 million), the Forest Service receives over $1.5 billion per year in congressional appropriations for national forest management. In terms of assets, the agency would rank in the top five in Fortune magazine's list of the nation's 500 largest corporations. In terms of operating revenues, however, the agency would be only No. 390. In terms of net income, the Forest Service would be classified as bankrupt."

The 1998 report says: "The U.S. Forest Service 'commodity' timber sales provide timber to companies that cut and mill lumber or other wood products. National forests provide 4 percent of the volume cut in the United States. Commodity timber sales on public lands lose money because the sale receipts paid to the government by the companies buying the timber do not cover all of the costs associated with preparing and administering the sales. The program resulted in a $204 million net loss to taxpayers in FY96 and has damaged many old growth forests and wildlife habitats."

Nevada's Sen. Richard Bryan offered an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have made the loggers pay their own way. It failed by a 51-49 margin, and there is still no limit on the amount of trees the Forest Service can give away in exchange for the loggers building roads. The 1998 report refers to this as "The Great Tree Robbery" which costs taxpayers $50 million a year and destroys the forests and the water, game, fish and soil they protect.

The new report tells us that "(e)very day taxpayer dollars are used to pollute our rivers, threaten our health, squander our natural assets and create radioactive waste. In response to this waste of money and resources, organizations representing more than 8.5 million environmentalists, taxpayers and deficit hawks have come together to say 'enough is enough.' The coalition's report, Green Scissors '98, recommends cutting 71 programs to protect the environment and save more than $49 billion."

Again coming under fire is the low cost of federal grazing fees charged cattle and sheep companies. But even bigger is the claimed cost of the mining on federal land. "Hardrock mining on public lands is a highly subsidized and damaging activity. Each year, approximately $2 to $3 billion worth of minerals are taken from public lands, but pay no royalties. By contrast, mining operations on privately owned lands almost always pay a royalty to the landowner. The archaic 1872 Mining Law that governs mining is an enormous waste of taxpayer resources. It distorts the market and facilitates mining's massive environmental destruction of rivers and public lands."

The report also foresees large amounts of taxpayer dollars eventually being expended at Yucca Mountain as the Nuclear Waste Fund erodes. As for the environment, "Yucca Mountain is seismically active. Nuclear waste is dangerously radioactive for well over 10,000 years. The Yucca Mountain site is the least stable of any site considered thus far and is cut by 33 known earthquake faults which jolted the area with a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. New evidence that water travels through Yucca Mountain much faster than expected -- 50 years rather than 10,000 years -- suggests that the site may not isolate nuclear waste from the environment, the goal of a repository."

The 1998 Green Scissors Report is packed with interesting information that affects all of us who live and pay taxes in the U.S.A.