Officials seek to thin NEPA

Federal and state officials are calling for relaxed environmental regulations to thin Western forests — a manicure they say would lead to fewer catastrophic wildfires. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Gov. Matt Mead’s policy advisor Jessica Crowder called for reform to forest management during a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works meeting Wednesday morning. The call comes amid a severe wildfire year in which more than 8 million acres have burned in the United States. “The impacts of unmanaged forests crosses land ownership boundaries,” Crowder told legislators in Washington, D.C., “and impacts air, water, recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat, livestock grazing, forest products and jobs.” Crowder advocated for allowing permanent roads to be built on national forests during fuels projects. She called the current prohibition on roads that dates to the 2014 Farm Bill “cumbersome.” She also called for reform to a bedrock environmental law that requires that public input be sought and that the effects of land managers’ decisions be carefully assessed: the National Environmental Policy Act. The law, she said, is costly and too often triggers litigation. “A change in the NEPA process,” Crowder said, “through either legislative action or informal agency actions such as manual updates, is necessary.” Barrasso spoke favorably of three bills that have ties to wildfire management. One, dubbed the Litigation Relief for Forest Management Projects Act, would eliminate land managers’ legal duty to consult with other agencies about threatened or endangered species. Another proposal would allow land managers to forgo NEPA analysis when fuels projects eliminate conifers or invasive vegetation from mule deer or sage grouse habitat. The third bill, the Forest Management Improvement Act, would make changes to NEPA to expedite forest thinning and burning...more