Huffman Statement on Proposed Roadless Rule Rollback

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after the Trump administration proposed to finalize the rescission of the 2001 Roadless Rule, which would strip protections from nearly 45 million acres of national forests and leave these lands vulnerable to reckless development:

“The Roadless Rule protects nearly 45 million acres of the last untouched forests we have left, forests that filter drinking water for millions of families and support hunting, fishing, and small businesses in hundreds of rural communities. The Trump administration is at it again, selling out our public lands to corporate polluters, ignoring the overwhelming objections of the American people.

“And they're doing this in the middle of one of the worst fire seasons on record. This administration fired thousands of Forest Service employees, including people trained to fight fires, slashed the agency’s budget, and let fire prevention work collapse. Now they want to build thousands of miles of new roads through our national forests, when we know most wildfires start within a half mile of a road, all so they can make it easier to clear cut old growth forests that have stood for centuries. It’s reckless.

“These forests belong to the American people, and they have said, over and over, that they want them protected. We will fight this in Congress.”

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