Environmentalists think it does the bidding of the logging, mining, and ranching industries.
Budget hawks say it wastes hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and its policies are continually under pressure by lawmakers. The latest round came last Thursday when a coalition of environmental groups and businesses filed suit in federal court in Vermont. They want to halt logging on all federal land until the Forest Service compares the economic benefits of a standing forest versus a pile of logs or wood chips. But these days, the agency is under unusual pressure. As chairmen of the House Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Young and Murkowski have considerable clout.