House Farm Bill to gut environmental protections for national forests
Olympic National Forest, WA
Mason Cummings, TWS
Draft contains threats to sensible forest management and attacks on key conservation laws
Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Conaway (R-TX) released a draft of the Farm Bill.
The Wilderness Society released the following statement from National Forest Defense Campaign Manager Megan Birzell:
“Throwing concerns for environmental safeguards out the window, Republicans have larded this partisan bill with threats to sensible forest management and attacks on conservation laws like the Endangered Species Act, the Roadless Rule and the National Environmental Policy Act.
“The ink has barely dried on the omnibus spending bill which contained an historic compromise to enact a fire funding fix. Now, barely a month later, this farm bill backtracks on that agreement and shows that when it comes to undermining our environmental laws, nothing is ever enough.
“This bill is a non-starter and Chairman Conaway should go back to the drawing board and craft a bill that doesn’t jeopardize the health of our forests, gut protections, and undermine sensible laws.”
CONTACT:
- Chelsi Moy, Communications Manager, The Wilderness Society, 406-556-7134, chelsi_moy@tws.org
The Wilderness Society, founded in 1935, is the leading conservation organization working to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. With more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect 109 million acres of wilderness and to ensure sound management of our shared national lands. www.wilderness.org
