EARTHJUSTICE UPDATE ON FIGHT TO KEEP THE ROADLESS RULE FOR FEDERAL LANDS & Tell Congress to reject efforts to clear-cut our forests 11OKT25

 500,000 PEOPLE submitted comments to the US Forest Service in opposition to plans to rescind the Roadless Rule for public lands, attempts that have been ongoing since the first NOT MY pres drumpf / trump administration. Thank you to all who participated in the call to action. The fight is not over, this update is from EarthJustice, please participate in this latest action, and even if you click the link and participate it will also be helpful if you e mail your representative and senators telling them to oppose this legislation. I did both, my e mails are at the end of this post. And please donate to EarthJustice if you can.....

When Trump announced that he would be taking away this landmark conservation rule, environmental advocates — including Earthjustice actiontakers like you — spoke out. Over 500,000 people across the country submitted public comments to the United States Forest Service on protecting the Roadless Rule — a landmark conservation policy that protects over 45 millions of acres from roadbuilding and clearcutting. Ninety-nine percent of those public comments opposed rescinding the rule. This rule is one of the most critical policies that helps defend our forests. These letters sent a clear message to the Service: we need the Roadless Rule to protect our forests. Participating in public comment periods is essential to the rulemaking process and can serve as a legal basis for taking the administration to court. Right now, the United States Forest Service is reviewing everything that came into the docket and will be making a final proposal on rescinding the Roadless Rule next spring. Over 67,000 Earthjustice supporters sent in letters to the Service, telling them that the Service must leave the Roadless Rule intact. As the Trump administration tries to sell out our forests for corporate gain, we’ll fight together to protect them. Let’s keep up the pressure and tell Congress to reject efforts to clear-cut our forests. TAKE ACTION What's At Stake Our forests are under a legislative attack, and we need your help. Earlier this year, the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) was introduced in both the House and Senate.  What seems like a bill that will protect communities from wildfires, in reality, is a Trojan horse attack that could open the door to increased logging, tie the hands of individuals attempting to hold federal agencies accountable in the courts, and  roll back critical environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.   Contact your member of Congress today and tell them to oppose the Fix Our Forests Act.     Even though FOFA is supposed to be a way to protect communities from wildfires, this bill would not provide impacted communities with the proven tools and techniques they need to keep themselves safe. Instead, the bill would exempt tens of thousands of acres of public lands from environmental laws that protect our drinking water and threatened and endangered species, while curtailing community engagement in land management decisions.          This is just the latest in recent attempts to roll back protections for forests — FOFA will simply make it easier to do what the Trump administration is trying to do: treat our federal forests as crops. On the regulatory side, the Trump administration announced plans to rescind the Roadless Rule, a bedrock conservation policy that had protected over 58 million acres from clear-cutting and development. On the legislative side, Trump’s big bad budget bill mandates increased logging for public lands, which would only cause irreparable harm to our climate and increase the likelihood of devastating fires.                                       Earthjustice has gone to court protecting our forests for years. We defended the Roadless Rule when it was on previous administrations’ chopping block. We challenged illegal timber sales in the Tongass National Forest, and we won’t stop now.   At a time when our forests are facing threats from climate change, further weakening environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act is not the answer.  Join us in fighting back against these efforts to weaken environmental laws and clear-cut our federal forests. Tell your members of Congress to oppose the Fix our Forests Act.    . Sincerely, Blaine Miller-McFeeley Senior Legislative Representative

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MY E MAIL TO REP SUBRAMANYAM D-VA 10TH, SEN WARNER D-VA AND SEN KAINE D-VA

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose  the Fix Our Forests Act, a bill originally introduced by Reps. Bruce Westerman and Scott Peters that would undermine protections for our forests and endangered species. Senators Alex Padilla, John Hickenlooper, John Curtis, and Tim Sheehy recently introduced a Senate-version of the bill that has virtually all of the same core problems as the House bill. At a time when recent legislative and administrative changes (including rolling back the Roadless Rule and mandating more logging through the big ugly bill) have dramatically altered how our national forests will be managed, elevating commercial timber production to the detriment of other forest resources and dramatically reducing government transparency and citizen engagement, we shouldn’t be piling on and giving the Trump administration more keys to treat our forests as a piggy bank for his industry friends. Our forests are facing threats from climate change, including worsening wildfires,  and this bill could lead to increased unfettered logging which will NOT protect communities from wildfire but will weaken environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.  Gutting these laws will give President Trump more tools to implement his timber agenda that will hurt our forests and local communities.  Commercial timber production doesn’t save lives; it undermines wildfire mitigation. 

The bill’s sweeping provisions are similar in policies and goals to the Trump Executive Order on Timber which removes standards, science, and accountability in service of the short-term interests of extractive industries., The bill will will likely exacerbate wildfires, putting more homes and communities at risk. The bill contains essentially no standards or provisions to maintain, or even consider, the long-term health and resilience for millions of acres of public lands. It would leave these areas open to unlimited logging without providing resources  for bipartisan solutions that are proven to protect communities, implement smart wildfire strategies, or any activities necessary to increase community resilience.  This bill would also further jeopardize endangered species that are already struggling for survival.  

In addition to causing significant environmental harm, this bill would stifle the voices of the public, limiting our ability to stand up for our rights in court while making it easier for extractive industries to proceed with harmful activities—even when a court has found a plan legally inadequate under our environmental protection laws.   

This is yet another example of industry and its congressional allies using popular ideas like 'forest management' as a Trojan horse for weakening environmental laws and forest protections in order to benefit their profits, not the public.  The fact that these political grifters, agency grifters and corporate grifters  have to lie, manipulate and deceive to sell their plans and policies to the people prove none of them and what they are selling is good for nation and so must be defeated.

I  expect you to oppose these bills and to work with the entire Virginia delegation as well as your colleagues in the House and Senate to make sure these bills do not become law.