House Republicans on Monday brushed back Democrats’ efforts to add environmental protections to a bill promoting more thinning of national forests.
As the Republican-led Rules Committee sent the “Fix Our Forests Act,” H.R. 8790, to the full House for consideration this week, lawmakers ensured that GOP-backed amendments to allow more livestock grazing and road construction as part of forest management projects, for instance, would receive consideration.
Democratic proposals to add language on the dangers of climate change and to remove provisions easing environmental reviews of forest projects didn’t make the Rules Committee’s cut.
The bill, sponsored by Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), would allow for faster approvals of forest thinning and related work in areas the Forest Service deems at highest threat of wildfire, through categorical exclusions of the National Environmental Policy Act. It would encourage the use of forest thinnings for wood products like biochar, which enriches the soil and saves carbon.
