Rosendale's Bill to Clean-Up Damaged Forest Lands Passes Unanimously Out of Committee

Last week, the House Committee on Agriculture unanimously passed Congressman Matt Rosendale’s bipartisan bill to fund the remediation and restoration of damaged public lands. The National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act was introduced earlier this year with Representatives Kim Schrier, M.D. (D-WA), Joe Neguse (D-CO), and Doug LaMalfa (R-CA). This bill would allow the Forest Service to collect and keep the interest earned on settlement funds in order to supplement restoration efforts.

“The National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act is a common-sense approach to allow the Forest Service to utilize accumulated interest on settlement agreements to protect and preserve damaged lands, without additional cost to taxpayers. Restoration projects take years, sometimes decades to complete. The inability to access interest earnings results in budget shortfalls and delays in restoration efforts. This needs to change, and I’m proud to see the Agriculture Committee pass this bill unanimously out of Committee. I’m very pleased to join with Congresswoman Schrier to lead this bipartisan effort,” Representative Rosendale said.

“This is a commonsense, bipartisan bill that would allow the Forest Service to collect and keep the interest earned on settlement funds, much like other Federal agencies can,” said Rep. Schrier, during her remarks. “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 over 80% of the land is owned by the Forest Service. My bill will ensure that we hold bad actors accountable for negligent behavior in a manner that sufficiently provides the Forest Service with sufficient resources to protect our treasured public lands.”

Right now, the Forest Service does not have the authority to retain interest on settlement funds like other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. The National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act would allow the Forest Service to retain interest on settlement funds and apply those additional resources to complete necessary restoration work. Without this additional funding, the value of settlement funds diminishes over time and the Forest Service can face long-term budget shortfalls for environmental clean-up.