Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Spent on Environmentally Harmful Projects

by Mac Blewer

WOC, in cooperation with Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, recently released the "Green Scissors 2000" report, which recommends cutting nearly $50 billion in economically wasteful and environmentally damaging federal subsidies. The 77 federal programs recommended for the cutting block include subsidies for oil and gas companies and the nuclear, timber and transportation industries.

"We call these programs ‘polluter pork,’ where big companies get big subsidies to destroy the environment in a big way," said WOC executive director Dan Heilig. "It’s outrageous that our hard-earned tax dollars are subsidizing corporate polluters and funding agencies that spend our money so frivolously. The buck should stop here and now."

Among the report’s targets are the Forest Highway Program, which currently has a $10 billion maintenance backlog, and Federal Highway Administration transportation subsidies that enable that agency to spend billions of dollars on unnecessary road "improvement projects." The Loop Road has the dubious distinction of being identified in the report as one of the nation’s most wasteful proposed federal projects.

Last fall, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a draft environmental impact statement on "improving" the Loop Road that generated a firestorm of public opposition. Although the agency’s final document should have been released months ago, we are now in a bizarre holding pattern: the FHWA is waiting for the Fremont County Commission to decide on the matter before the agency spends further time and resources drafting a final environmental impact statement, while county commissioners are waiting for the feds to issue its document before voting on whether or not the county should pick up the tab for Loop Road maintenance costs.

But no matter what the FHWA recommends in its final environmental impact statement, it is clear that the future of the Loop Road will be largely determined at the local level. The county commission’s decision will be the deciding factor in this seemingly never-ending battle. If the county refuses to pick up the maintenance tab for the project, the Loop Road improvement project will die.

Even if you have already written to Fremont County Commissioners about the Loop Road, please write again, asking them to reject this wasteful and unnecessary project, which is opposed by the vast majority of road users and other county taxpayers. This has been a long and grueling fight, but the end is in sight. Citizens can make an enormous difference in the outcome!

What You Can Do

Fremont County Commissioners’ Office
45 North 2nd St.
Lander, WY 82520
Or leave a message at (307) 332-1130.

For a copy of the Green Scissors report, call Friends of the Earth at (202) 783-7400 or see their website: http://www.foe.org