Earthjustice Action Statement on Senate Agriculture Committee “Fix Our Forests Act” Markup

WASHINGTON, DC—This week, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee passed the Fix Our Forests Act. The bill, introduced by Senators John Curtis (R-Utah), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), would stifle citizen voices, remove science from land management decisions, and roll back the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Historic Preservation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on millions of acres of federal lands. 

After the markup, Earthjustice Action Senior Legislative Representative Blaine Miller-McFeeley issued the following statement: 

“Community engagement and science-backed decisions should form the foundation of forest management. If lawmakers are serious about protecting forests and communities from dangerous wildfires, this bill isn’t the solution. Coupled with President Trump’s efforts to roll back decades of forest protections, it amounts to nothing more than a boon to the logging and wood pellet industry. We should support wildfire resiliency efforts without helping the Trump Administration gut bedrock environmental protections.”