Since the passage of H.R. 471, "Fix our Forests Act", was advanced from the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate was the next step in the Congressional progression for the bill's advancement.
Four senators met with opposing sides of this legislation to improve likelihood of passage. The end result is S. 1462. Even though there were attempts to improve this bill, this is still a horrible piece of legislation.
This bill, S.1462 in the Senate, needs to remove sections 106,121, and 122, sections that make this bill unthinkable to swallow. This bill as written will destroy valuable habitat, biodiversity, increase noxious weeds, increase road density, fragment already fragmented wildlife habitat and exacerbate wildfires by drying out the forests with more wind, more sun, less canopy cover, and more runoff, etc., etc.
This legislation would still open millions of acres of federal land to logging without scientific or public review. This bill simply pushes the American citizen out in the cold as far as having a say in their government and how our forests are being managed.
To learn more about this act, read THE HILL article found here. The article is a little dated and was written in the previous legislative session, the 118th Congress, but the gist of the bill is still the same.
Since Sheehy is a cosponsor of S. 1462, we will most likely not get his approval to change course now. On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to let him know that Montanans do not support his mock-up legislation. We need other Senators not to vote for this legislation.
We need to write to the following Senators:
Senator Michael Bennet - D - Colorado
Senator Adam Schiff - D - California
Senator Mark Kelly - D - Arizona
Senator Ruben Gallego - D - Arizona
From EarthJustice: Earthjustice Senior Legislative Representative Blaine Miller-McFeeley says this about the intent of HR 471 and subsequent bills.
“We certainly want to protect communities from wildfires, but this bill is not the answer. Instead of providing impacted communities with the proven tools and techniques they need to keep themselves safe, this bill is nothing more than a trojan horse for gutting bedrock environmental laws dressed up under the more palatable guise of wildfire management. True forest management requires engaging communities and utilizing proven best practices, not opening our lands to more reckless logging operations. We urge the Senate to reject this bill.”
