Greens See Red
     

The Sierra Club board last week issued an unprecedented rebuke of
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, calling it unconscionable that she and
another Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, have sponsored legislation that
would limit environmental review and boost logging on federal lands to
reduce the threat of wildfires.

The leaders of the nation's largest environmental group have repeatedly
endorsed Mrs. Feinstein in past elections, the San Francisco Chronicle
reports.

The San Francisco group's executive director, Carl Pope, warned that
the disagreement over the wildfire issue signaled a widening gap between the
Sierra Club and the state's Democratic senior senator, who bills herself as
a strong defender of the environment.

"This is a very big issue to us," Mr. Pope told Chronicle reporter
Zachary Coile. "Depending on what happens down the road, this has the
potential to be a very serious break [with Mrs. Feinstein]. And I think she
understands that."

Mrs. Feinstein fired back Monday evening with an angry statement,
saying: "I regret that the Sierra Club board of directors has chosen to
malign and misrepresent the efforts by Sen. Wyden and myself to try to
protect our forests from catastrophic fire. Their statement does not befit
the Sierra Club that I know."