Senate Committee Passes Grazing Improvement Act

The Public Lands Council (PLC) and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) hailed the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for passage of S. 258, the Grazing Improvement Act of 2013. The legislation, sponsored by Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) comes as a means to codify existing appropriations language - adding stability and efficiency to the federal grazing permit renewal process. The bill passed by the Committee will extend the term for grazing permits from a minimum of 10 up to 20 years, providing for added permit security. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have consistently - for more than a decade - carried a backlog of grazing permit renewals due to overwhelming and unnecessary National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) assessments. This bill provides sole discretion to the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to complete the environmental analysis under NEPA while allowing for an analysis to take place at the programmatic level. "The act is vital for ensuring the fate of our producer's permits - livelihoods are depending on the efficiency of the system - which undoubtedly needs restructuring," said Scott George, NCBA president and Wyoming rancher. "Not only will the bill codify the language of the decades old appropriations rider, it will also allow categorical exclusions from NEPA for permits continuing current practices and for crossing and trailing of livestock. Additionally, it will allow for NEPA on a broad scale, reducing paper pushing within the federal agencies."...more