Panel advances controversial measures to log dead timber, kill sea lions

The committee also approved bills that would limit the government's ability to acquire water rights and would authorize the issuance of permits to kill sea lions in the Columbia River to protect endangered salmon.

But it was California GOP Rep. Tom McClintock's bill, H.R. 3188, that drew some of the most heated discussion at yesterday's markup.

McClintock's bill would suspend all federal environmental laws and allow the Forest Service to quickly remove trees damaged or killed by the Rim fire in the Stanislaus National Forest in central California.

Proponents of the bill, which has 10 Republican co-sponsors and is backed by the timber industry, have touted it as jobs and economic development legislation that will allow for the expeditious removal of up to a billion board feet of charred timber left in the wake of the 257,000-acre Rim fire that swept through the forest and Yosemite National Park in September (E&E Daily, Oct. 4).

But acknowledging that logging inside a national park would draw intense opposition, with or without extensive environmental review, McClintock added an amendment removing Yosemite from the bill.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said the bill is an important step to restore the forestland burned by the Rim fire by removing what he called the regulatory "impediments" that "prohibit us from doing things the right way" and "with appropriate speed."

McClintock said the removal of the charred trees needs to happen quickly while the value of the timber is high and before the trees rot or become infested by bark and pine beetles that have devastated forestlands across the West. That means the salvage rights need to be awarded by the spring, he said, and the logging needs to begin shortly thereafter.

"The problem is time is of the essence, and I cannot emphasize that enough," he said. "The sale must occur in the spring if it is to occur at all. This is an emergency."

Democrats on the committee said yesterday that they understand the economic rewards of salvaging valuable timber and the benefits of removing thousands of dead trees that could serve as fuel for future wildfires. They also noted that revenue from the logging could help fund forest reseeding and restoration efforts.

But they also argued that it's not a good idea to exempt logging activities from federal laws, public input and judicial review, as McClintock's bill would do.

Removing any one of those three from the process "is bad policy" that "could harm the resources that Congress has vowed to protect," said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

It's also a waste of time, said Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, the committee's ranking Democrat. "We know the Senate is not going to waive all judicial review, and we know the Senate is not going to waive the entire National Environmental Policy Act, nor would that be necessary or desirable," he said.

Instead, DeFazio and Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), who labeled the bill "a work in progress," encouraged McClintock and other committee leaders to work together on a strategy that safely removes the charred trees.

"We all want to work together to solve the problem," Costa said. "I know the art of the compromise is what it's going to take to make it happen."

The measure passed 16-15 along party lines.

Protecting private water rights

Another hotly debated bill, H.R. 3189, proposed by Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.), would also limit federal oversight.

It would restrict the government's ability to acquire water rights from public land users as a condition of special-use permits (E&E Daily, Oct. 11).

The bill seeks to undermine a yet-to-be-released Forest Service directive that could require ski areas to turn over their water rights to the United States in order to renew or amend special-use permits that allow them to operate on national forests and other agency lands.

Tipton's bill is supported by the ski industry and ranchers and is co-sponsored by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.).

But Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) and others argued that the bill is unnecessary in light of statements this week from Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell that the agency will not pursue the transfer of ski area permit holders' water rights.

"We believe that these changes will provide assurances to the public and communities that depend on economic activities from ski areas that they will continue to provide recreation opportunities," Tidwell said in a statement submitted to the House committee.

"This problem is no longer a problem, and the legislation will be unnecessary," Napolitano said, adding that at the very least the committee "should wait to see what the Forest Service does."

But Tipton said that the Forest Service has been working on a new rule for a decade and that without approval of the bill, "the uncertainty for ski areas" remains.

The legislation, he said, will prevent the federal government from even considering "water grabs" in the future.

The bill passed 19-14, largely along party lines.

Salmon vs. sea lions

The committee also approved 22-16 along party lines a bill from Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), H.R. 1308, that would authorize the killing of California and Steller sea lions for the purpose of protecting endangered salmon in the Columbia River.

The bill would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow the Commerce secretary to issue one-year permits to officials in Washington state, Oregon and some American Indian tribes along the Columbia River to kill sea lions.

The sea lions gather in early spring at the Bonneville Dam, which Hastings likened to "a salmon buffet" where as many as 1,000 sea lions devour as much as 20,000 fish in the Columbia and its tributaries.

The "Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act" approved yesterday is identical to a bill approved last year by the full House.

But doubts remain. During a hearing this past summer, fisheries scientist Nick Gayeski argued that the bill was not scientifically credible, noting there is no convincing evidence that California sea lions are hampering ongoing recovery efforts of salmon and steelhead (E&E Daily, June 14).

Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) called the sea lions "a minimal threat" to salmon and said Hastings' bill ignores greater threats from pesticides and other predators such as small-mouth bass and walleye that kill as many as 2 million juvenile salmon a year.

But Hastings defended the bill, calling it "a common-sense path forward to protect our substantial investment in Northwest salmon recovery" by providing federal, state and tribal fish managers with the tools necessary to control sea lions.

"For years, Northwest ratepayers have paid hundreds of millions of dollars every year on measures to protect endangered salmon migrating through the Columbia River dams," he said, "only to see a growing number fall prey to aggressive sea lions that wait at the base of the Bonneville Dam and other locations to feast on these fish."

Other bills that passed yesterday included H.R. 2798 by Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), which would require permits and annual fees for small film crews operating on federal lands.

The committee also approved H.R. 3008 by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), which would convey about 5 acres inside the Los Padres National Forest in California to the White Lotus Foundation.

And the panel advanced H.R. 2824 to block the federal Office of Surface Mining from promulgating its forthcoming stream protection rule (E&ENews PM, Nov. 14).