September 23, 2024
Dear Representative Lofgren,
We respectfully request that you vote NO on HR 8790, the so-called "Fix Our Forests Act," when it comes to the House vote. As you likely know, the bill is expected to be introduced for a vote on Tuesday, September 24th. Sierra Club opposes the bill in its current form, and we request that you oppose the bill in its entirety.
This bill restricts opportunities for public comment and judicial review related to managing and logging forests. People may disagree about forest management methods, but even if they disagree, public comment and judicial review are important aspects of our democratic process. We make better decisions when they are reviewed, and when additional scientific perspective is included.
The current public review process does not prevent the government from moving forward in an actual emergency. This bill proposes bypassing public comment and severely limiting judicial review even in a large number of situations that are truly not emergencies. Furthermore, as Katie Porter mentioned in the Natural Resources Committee discussion of this bill, the current public comment timelines do not create significant delays, and relatively few environmental projects actually go to the courts.
The bill also institutionalizes the bypass of current environmental legislations. If it is passed, additional logging could move forward, damaging forests, biodiversity, habitat and our water supply.
Please see this letter from Sierra Club and more than 80 other environmental organizations opposing HR 8790.
Sincerely,
James Eggers, Director
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter