Governors refuse to return money to U.S. Forest Service

Gov. Matt Mead is refusing to return or repay more than $200,000 sought by the U.S.Forest Service because of federal sequester budget cuts. In an April 19 letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas L. Tidwell, Mead said $197,225 in Secure Rural Schools money was paid to 19 Wyoming counties on Jan. 16, well before the March 1 automatic budget cuts deadline. The counties spent the money on public schools, roads, conservation, emergency service and wildfire protection, Mead wrote. “I have yet to see a legal justification for the U.S. Forest Service to require the state or counties to pay back funds to which they were rightfully entitled and which have been lawfully distributed,” the letter said. Mead added that he would not refund an additional $21,807 that was paid to the state from a second federal fund. Alaska’s governor, Sean Parnell, also is refusing to pay or return money to the Forest Service, in his case more than $800,000. In his letter to Tidwell, Parnell, like Mead, questioned the agency’s authority to demand a refund or to reduce funding to offset the cost. Forest Service Chief Tidwell sent letters to 41 states, asking for the return of $17.9 million in timber payments used to pay for schools, roads, search and rescue operations in rural counties and conservation projects...more