Fact:
The United States, pressured by its powerful timber industry, has prevented
real progress in any
international agreements to protect forests. To sharpen its competitive
edge in the global
economy, the U.S. timber industry continues to seek access to cheaper
trees at lower costs: the
precise measure delivered by the "salvage logging" rider. All
federal environmental laws were
suspended. Had the U.S. Senate ratified the 1992 Earth Summit
Convention on Biological
Diversity, the "salvage" rider would have been in violation of the
agreement's provisions for
habitat protection.