SB 2016-072: Forest Revitalization and Preservation Act (Passed)

[Associate Justice PiT]

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     Sponsor: Siren

     I hereby open the floor for debate.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I support this bill and we should use this as an opportunity to review our federal policy on logging, mining, and drilling on public lands.  I believe we should do all we can to preserve our public lands and prohibit them from seizure and exploitation by the oil and gas industry, in addition to promoting conservation and forest revitalization.

Since the feds control most of the land in the rural West rather than the states in the US, I would assume the same applies to Atlasia with respect to the federal and regional governments.

[Anna Komnene]

Thanks to Senators for considering this issue.  I've got this green avatar, but I've never introduced an environmental bill until now.  That is weird!  I feel like a lot of times nitty gritty issues like this get lost in larger debates.  People talk about deforestation in the Amazon, people talk about climate change, and alternative energy, but there's a lot that can be done right here in Atlasia to help maintain a clean and flourishing environment.

IMO, protecting the environment can and should be a blue collar issue.  Forests aren't just a national treasure because they're pretty or spiritual in the vein of John Muir's exploration.  They are critical to the livelihood of thousands of people, from fisherman to the timber industry to the developing alternative energy industry (specifically biomass).  More than that, the environment is our home.  If we aren't careful to maintain and protect it, we could wind up losing vast sectors of our rural economy.  If there's one thing I've learned about politics and history is that if we don't want our environment to disappear, we have be active and do something to stop that from happening.

I'm very very open to expanding the bill to address logging, mining, and drilling like Senator Scott mentioned that addresses the needs of bother environmental protection and rural economies.  Now that I think about it, it would be a great opportunity to include incentives for biomass too, which is one of my favorite alternative energy sources apart from solar.

A lot of the parts of the R&D section I included after having a talk with Snowguy about issues facing forested communities.  The parts emphasizing biodiversity addresses a problem in the way some reforestation practices are handled that doesn't always take into account the history of environments in certain areas enough.  It's very important for local wildlife to have continuity and not introduce forests in areas that are historically grasslands, for example and to avoid introducing invasive species.  And I added section 3 to hopefully encourage regions to take up this topic too.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I kind of like this. I definitely lean more towards libertarian than environmentalist of any sort, but this is a very non-intrusive plan to achieve some worthy goals.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I'm proposing an amendment that's taken from an older bill I sponsored last time I was a senator here, which is presumably dead post-reset.  It is a federal ban on an extreme form of mining known as mountaintop removal or surface mining.  It's very harmful to biodiversity and pollutes the air of the people who live nearby these mining sites.  It is an automated process, meaning that little to no jobs will be impacted by this regulation, but it will slow down the rate of deforestation and allow vegetation and wildlife, as well as hunters and fishers, to sprout back in these areas.

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[Associate Justice PiT]

     Senators have 36 hours to object.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     With no objections, the amendment is adopted.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Any more comments? If not I can open a final vote in 24 hours.

[Leinad]

     I kind of like this. I definitely lean more towards libertarian than environmentalist of any sort, but this is a very non-intrusive plan to achieve some worthy goals.

I'd agree with this. As a resident of North Georgia I am a fan of forests.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     The final vote is now open for 72 hours. Please vote aye, nay, or abstain.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Aye.

[Lambsbread]

Aye

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Aye

[Anna Komnene]

Aye

[Associate Justice PiT]

     This bill has enough votes to pass. Senators have 24 hours to change their votes.

[LLR]

Aye

[Associate Justice PiT]

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