Healthy-forest bill makes it through House panel

A U.S. House committee advanced Rep. Scott Tipton’s bill to accelerate logging in national forests Wednesday, although Democrats on the panel said it will never become law. Tipton, R-Cortez, has pushed his healthy forests legislation for two years. It allows states and local governments to nominate areas for more logging, allowing for them to brush aside the Endangered Species Act, legal challenges and lengthy environmental reviews. The bill also sets mandates for the Forest Service to produce higher timber harvests and to share its revenues with rural school districts. Tipton said his bill will help prevent forest fires, bring back rural jobs and funnel more timber royalty money to schools. “We have fallen short of the benefits that can be provided to our classrooms, our communities and the ecosystem, and we should return to active forest management,” Tipton said. The House Committee on Natural Resources wrapped Tipton’s bill into another forest bill sponsored by committee chairman Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and passed it to the full House on a voice vote...more