National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHRIER. 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. JOHNSON of South Dakota.

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