Earthjustice Action Urges Senate to Reject Senator Mike Lee’s Attack on Roadless Forests
Amendment to nullify the Roadless Area Conservation Rule passes out of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Contact: Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice Action, pwheeler@earthjustice.org
Washington, D.C. — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today passed S.140, which included an amendment from Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) to nullify the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, or Roadless Rule. The bill passed 11-9 along party lines, with every Democrat on the committee rejecting the proposed attack. Senator Lee — who has repeatedly attacked national public lands — successfully tacked on the amendment to nullify the Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of America’s last undisturbed wildlands, providing safe habitat for wildlife and ensuring unpolluted drinking water for millions. The attack from members of Congress comes ahead of the Trump administration’s expected rollback of the rule this year.
Senator Lee’s amendment was added to S.140, the Wildfire Prevention Act, despite the fact that the Roadless Area Conservation Rule already allows for the management of wildfires. While the Roadless Rule does not allow roads for industrial development, it does allow roads to fight wildfires in emergency situations. A study from the U.S. Forest Service itself shows that gutting the Roadless Rule would not reduce the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the U.S.
The bill now heads to the full Senate where it will require 60 votes for passage. Earthjustice Action urges members of the Senate to reject this attack on the Roadless Area Conservation Rule and instead cosponsor the Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would codify the rule and provide permanent protection for roadless areas in federal forests and grasslands across the United States.
“The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is facing attacks from both anti-public lands members of Congress and the Trump administration because it has been highly effective at protecting America’s last wild places,” said Addie Haughey, Earthjustice Action Legislative Director of Lands, Wildlife, and Oceans. “Attacking this rule is not about wildfire prevention — it already allows for wildfire prevention efforts — this is about gutting our remaining pristine public lands and opening them up for industry to exploit. Members of the Senate should reject this partisan attack and instead pass the Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would codify the Roadless Rule and permanently protect roadless areas in national forests.”
Before the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was enacted in 2001, over 1 million people spoke up in support of the conservation measure. Last fall, over 625,000 Americans weighed in when the U.S. Forest Service requested public input on rescinding the rule, with 99% of commenters urging the agency to keep the rule in place.