The 1990 legislative session did bring some good news:
A law was passed banning the export of raw logs from state and national forests in Oregon & Washington.
A one-year (not permanent!) moratorium on off-shore oil drilling in large areas of the continental shelf.
Use of pesticides will be more closely regulated on US farms. (But yet no controls on imported foods containing chemicals declared unsafe here!)
At least 1 million acres of the Tongass will be withdrawn from commercial logging, and no logging permitted within 100 feet of streams to protect salmon habitat.
The Arizona Desert Wilderness Act was passed. Just as important as the 2.4 million acres protected (1.1 on BLM land & 1.3 as national wildlife refuge land) is the strong Federal Reserved Water Right! The law insures strong federal water rights for 'downstream wilderness areas', and this establishes an important precedent for the proper protection of wilderness in other western states. Legislation in other states has been stalled for years over state versus federal water rights issues. ***