National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4489) to amend the Act of June 20, 1958, to require that certain amounts collected by the United States with respect to lands under the administration of the Forest Service be invested into interest bearing obligations, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 4489.

This bill is an excellent example, again, of the strong bipartisan work that can be accomplished through the Agriculture Committee. First, I want to applaud and thank the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Schrier) and the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa) for working together to get this legislation to the floor for consideration today by the full House.

Mr. Speaker, we know that there are significant needs for investment in restoration and recovery work on our great national forests. Our bill this morning allows the Forest Service to keep interest on settlement funds and apply these additional resources to restoration work on Forest Service land that has been damaged by mining activities and wildfires. All of us know of the devastation that these wildfires have caused to our forests.

This is one of several major responses that we here in Congress are responding to, to keep our forestry strong and to provide this much- needed financial help to keep interest on settlement funds and apply those additional resources to the restoration work and the Forest Service lands that were damaged by these terrible fires.

It will also allow for more restoration work to be done in some of the areas where it is most needed, particularly the West Coast in California. It will allow this restoration work, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Schrier), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Again, I thank Mr. Johnson for the time he has put into this bill. The people of this country are very grateful, and we hope they realize how we here in Congress are really responding to the challenges facing our forestry, particularly with these wildfires.

A while back I recognized some of my staff, but we have had an addition that I would like to recognize because he really worked feverishly on this bill all the way up until this morning, I understand, and that is Mr. Paul Babbitt. I would ask Paul to stand. Mr. Speaker, I thank him for his work.

So much has already been said about this, but I am so proud of the efforts of our full House committee because once we really began to get into the ravages of these wildfires out West about a year back, we made a commitment that we were going to make sure that we did everything we can to save and prosper our great forestry industry, and we have done it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this great bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank Mr. LaMalfa for his kind words and for cosponsoring this bill with me.

My bill, the National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act will help the Forest Service fund the cleanup of damaged public lands.

This bipartisan legislation, which passed unanimously out of the Committee on Agriculture would allow the Forest Service to collect and keep interest earned on settlement funds, much like other Federal agencies do, in order to supplement their already strained restoration efforts.

The Forest Service is responsible for overseeing the remediation and restoration of lands damaged by mining activities and human-caused wildfires. And when the negligent actions of companies or individuals result in damages to Forest Service property, officials enter a settlement agreement with the responsible parties to hold them accountable. The Forest Service then uses the settlement funds to restore the affected lands.

At the moment, the Forest Service does not have the authority to retain interest on those settlement funds like other Federal agencies, like the Department of the Interior and the EPA do. The National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act would simply allow the Forest Service to retain interest on settlement funds and apply those additional resources to restoration work that is abundantly needed. Without this additional funding, the value of settlement funds diminishes over time, and the Forest Service can face long-term budget shortfalls for environmental cleanup. If this bill had been in effect between fiscal years 2015 and 2019, the Forest Service would have received more than $7.5 million to supplement their environmental restoration work.

So as we confront another potentially devastating wildfire season, it is so important to ensure that the Forest Service can use accrued interest to protect and remediate our forests.

The Forest Service provides many important environmental services in Washington State, including mitigating wildfires and improving forest health. This is especially critical in places like Chelan County in my district where 82 percent of the land is owned by the Forest Service.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were over 50,000 human-caused wildfires last year burning nearly six million acres nationwide. And over half of the wildfires on Forest Service lands are started by humans.

My bill will ensure that when we hold bad actors accountable for negligent behavior, the Forest Service can fully use the fines and the interest to rehabilitate the land.

I was so proud to introduce this bill with my colleagues Representatives LaMalfa, Rosendale, and Neguse. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill to protect our Federal public lands.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), the lead Republican on H.R. 4489.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Rosendale), another leader in this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I think it has been said very well. Mr. Rosendale just reminded us that this only mirrors the authority that other agencies have to be able to gather up the interest from those interest-bearing accounts.

Ms. Schrier did a good job of reminding us that had this been in place in recent years, it would have been $7 million more that could have been invested in forest management and in forest health. And I just want to echo all of those findings.

This is absolutely a commonsense, bipartisan bill, and I am looking forward to its passage.

But I can't let the passage of this bill, which would be a big success, go by without calling attention to how much more needs to be done with regard to forest health.

I remain disappointed, as so many do, of the fact that this Congress, this administration has not prioritized highly enough forest management.

Mr. Speaker, here is what I know from the Black Hills of South Dakota: A managed forest is a healthy forest. And I want to say that one more time because there will be no truer statement spoken on the House floor on this day: A managed forest is a healthy forest.

Today, millions of acres in this country are at risk of severe wildfire with potentially catastrophic impacts to our communities. Six of the worst fire seasons on record have occurred just over a period in the last few years.

Our agencies, Federal partners, communities, and our States need more tools to proactively manage and mitigate this threat. Again, a managed forest is a healthy forest.

And so, yes, by all means, let's celebrate this bill. It is an important technical fix that will improve in a narrow way the funding needs of the Forest Service. But let us keep in mind, to an even greater extent, in the days that follow that the resiliency of our forests remains a critically important national priority, and one that deserves greater attention from this body.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation, I encourage the Members to vote ``aye,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Dakota for yielding to me. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who helped bring this bill to the floor today.

I am proud to rise in support of this bipartisan bill with Congresswoman Schrier, H.R. 4489, the National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act, which would allow the Forest Service to use accumulated interest on settlement agreements to restore our national forestlands.

Montana is blessed with an abundance of public lands with well over 20 million acres available to all for recreation, hunting, fishing, camping, and more. It is part of who we are as Montanans and an important aspect of our Montana way of life.

These public lands are a patchwork of land managed by the State as well as the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service. If these Federal lands are damaged, an agency will reach a settlement agreement with the responsible party to support restoration and cleanup efforts.

And while the Department of the Interior, which houses the National Park Service, and the BLM has the authority to retain interest from these settlement funds, the Forest Service does not.

This commonsense bill would rectify that by allowing the Forest Service to use the interests on settlement funds to restore damaged public lands, which improves forest health and supports conservation. It merely will mirror the policy that is already utilized by these other agencies.

When the Forest Service enters into a settlement agreement, the funds are deposited into the Treasury account that is used to remediate the damaged land. However, these accounts do not allow the Forest Service to take advantage of the interest generated in them, leading to the value of funds available for forest restoration to diminish over time creating the potential for years-long delays and budget shortfalls from remediation efforts.

The National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act would ensure the Forest Service has adequate funding for restoration work by unlocking this additional funding without additional expenses to taxpayers.

I, again, urge my colleagues to support Congresswoman Schrier and my bill and I thank all those involved in this commonsense, bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank our chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Mr. Scott, and I have appreciated working with Ms. Schrier from Washington and helping her lead this bill and letting me help do so. I am glad to be able to support this bill here today.

Of course, this bill is just common sense. It will allow the Forest Service to use the interests they gather on settlement accounts to continue the important restoration work we have in our forests, especially after so many horrific fires.

Currently, the U.S. Forest Service must transfer the interest they collect to the General Treasury accounts. Now, this feels a little bit like if my kids are out gathering aluminum cans and plastic bottles and I keep the money when we take it down to be recycled.

The Federal Government should be allowing the money generated by these settlement accounts to build up and go for the much-needed work instead of skimming that money off the top.

Now, other agencies like the Department of the Interior are allowed to retain the interest that accrues on their accounts and allows them to spend that additional money on needed restoration in their projects.

The 2021 fire season, as we know--which is getting to be every year-- was devastating for the West and left millions of acres that will need to be restored, including one in my district known as the Dixie fire, which was right at a million acres. A million acres, one fire.

Without this legislation amending the Forest Service's ability to retain this interest, the value of the settlement accounts diminishes over time.

There already isn't enough money to replant and restore to get our forests growing again after devastating fires, so why are we skimming this interest off the top and thinking we are doing something by putting it back in the Treasury? Why wouldn't we want the focus to be on restoring and replanting our forests after so many devastating fires year after year.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Schrier for stepping forward and sponsoring this bill, and I look forward to hearing her comments on this. Somehow, I got ahead of her in order here. I also look forward to working with Ms. Schrier.