Last night, the House of Representatives passed a forestry bill introduced by Rep. Bruce Westerman that would push timber production on federal lands and undermine citizens’ ability to enforce environmental laws.

The following is a statement from Earthjustice Senior Legislative Counsel Tracy Coppola:

“This horrible bill is a triple-whammy: it’s chock-full of gifts to the timber industry; it undermines the public’s ability to hold government accountable; and it starves agencies of the resources they need to prevent and respond to fire.  It’s unfathomable that, despite all the rhetoric about wanting to make our forests “resilient”, that any member could push a measure that could actually increase the risks of catastrophic wildfires in the future. We’ll keep working with our allies in Congress to do everything we can to prevent this awful bill from ever becoming law.”