Washington, DC - On Friday, November 21, 2003, the House passed the
conference committee compromise struck by House Resources Committee Chairman
Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on H.R. 1904,
the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. The measure was overwhelmingly
approved by a vote of 286-140. The Senate is also expected to pass the
legislation today, paving the way for President Bush to sign the bill into
law.
Since 1997, the Resources Committee has passed the Healthy Forests
Restoration Act twice, held 73 official legislative meetings on the issue,
and 32,811,288 acres have burned.
"The overwhelming bi-partisan support for this legislation in both the House
and Senate makes the need for and quality of this legislation irrefutable,"
said Chairman Pombo. "This is the most significant reform of forest
management policy in nearly a century, and it could not come any sooner.
In recent years, we have seen millions of acres of forestland and wildlife
habitat decimated, water supplies and air quality polluted, and family homes
and human lives lost forever at the hands of catastrophic wildfire. This
bill will empower experts to actively maintain our national forests to
reduce the risk of these tragedies from occurring in the future. By
reducing dangerous fuel loads on the forest floor, we can reverse the trend
in our national forests from one of increasing risk and disease to one that
reflects healthier and well-managed forests for future generations to
enjoy."
This bill will:
(1) Revamp the Forest Service's conflict-ridden administrative appeals
process, requiring would-be appellants to participate early in the
development stages of a forest restoration project in order to reserve the
right to file an appeal. This provision is virtually identical to the
House-passed language.
(2) Create an historic paradigm shift in the way Courts consider legal
challenges to hazardous fuels reduction projects, mandating that the
Courts weigh the environmental consequences of management inaction when the
specter of catastrophic wildfire looms. It would also require that federal
judges reconsider any injunctions to projects every 60 days.
(3) Expedite analysis and review requirements for priority wildfire
mitigation projects, applying House-passed environmental analysis
requirements to projects focused on protecting communities, and Senate
passed analysis procedures to projects focused on protecting watersheds and
endangered wildlife. Senate-passed old growth language was also restructured
to eliminate significant litigation loopholes. Requirements related to the
retention of certain large trees were clarified ensuring that the bill's
wildfire mitigation purposes were not trumped by these new standards as
well.
(4) Ensure that the public has a full and thorough opportunity to
participate in the decision making process. It embraces the House-passed,
bipartisan Western Governor Association 10-Year Strategy's robust public
input and participation requirements, ensuring that interested persons will
have numerous opportunities to engage decision makers during all phases of a
project's development and implementation.
Click here for a list of all the Healthy Forests Initiative updates
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