I realize that the details on this are a little sketchy right now, but if this is at all true my optimism regarding Obama is officially gone. He is just another Washington politician succumbing to the pressure of big industry lobbyists.
If you have any environmental concern, why would you even consider allowing logging in a rain forest? You would not! Clearly this is not a priority for his administration. As the artticle lays out, the logging industry, with the promise of jobs to the local economy, has been pushing this hard in Alaska.
Huffington Article
Creating temporary jobs that destroy an ancient forest, just to provide some short-term economic relief to a local population is lazy and irresponsible. There is no compelling reason for this decision, and there are plenty of alternatives to logging this particular forest. I understand the administration is dealing with many issues, but this should not have been a tough call. And if they thought it was, then they should have tabled it until they could give it the attention it deserved.
These are the types of decisions that are causing him and his administration to lose the support of progressives. The action itself is something you expected from a Republican administration, not from a progressive democrat that professes to care about the environment.
Really, is this an example of the type of green job that he has been bragging about in his efforts to redirect our economy? If it is, he needs to explain his definition of green jobs a little better, because I think it differs significantly from mine. I can't imagine any credible way that logging a rain forest can be associated with the concept of green jobs.