HR2, the Farm Bill is reauthorized approximately every five years. It is moving rapidly through the House of Representatives and has many troubling provisions including adding stringent work requirements to the SNAP (food stamp) program, gutting the highly successful Conservation Stewardship Program which encourages farmers to protect soil and water resources, and places logging ahead of all other uses of public lands.
As far as logging, this bill allows numerous categorical exclusions (CEs) from environmental review and public comment for nearly every land management activity the Forest Service conducts, including road building and logging on up to 6,000 acres-nearly 10 square miles.
The bill undermines the Roadless Rule by creating a loophole that would allow logging and costly roadbuilding on millions of acres of protected roadless forest.
The bill weakens Endangered Species Act protections by eliminating expert opinion about whether actions would harm endangered species and critical habitat. This approach has been declared unlawful by the courts.
Read More from the Wilderness Society HERE.
Status update - Introduced 4/12/2018, considered by the House Committee on Agriculture 4/18/2018 who issued a report on 5/3/2018. Currently there is a 66% chance of H.R. 2 becoming law according to GovTrack.us.
Status - Introduced 4/12/2018, considered by the House Committee on Agriculture 4/18/2018 and may be up for a vote in the House before the end of April. Currently there is a 54% chance of H.R. 2 becoming law according to GovTrack.us.
ACTION NEEDED
CALL/WRITE TOM MCCLINTOCK TO OPPOSE THE HARMFUL FORESTRY PROVISIONS OF THIS BILL. 916-786-5560 OR 202-225-2511
EMAIL: https://mcclintock.house.gov/contact/email-me
