Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I rise to reintroduce the Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act with my colleague Senator CRAPO. This legislation would end the legal uncertainty facing the timber industry by enacting legislation to preserve the Environmental Protection Agency's 37-year old policy treating forest roads as non-point sources under the Clean Water Act.

For 37 years, the EPA has maintained that forest roads are non-point sources. Furthermore, in March of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling on forest roads, upholding EPA's authority to regulate forest roads as nonpoint sources under the Clean Water Act. Various studies show that if the EPA were to change their decades-long position and require Federal, State, county, tribal and private forest road owners to obtain a point source permit, the cost could reach billions of dollars and cost thousands of jobs. The Pacific Northwest needs more jobs in the woods. The way to do that is to get the timber cut up and to stop litigating questions that have already been answered.

In the 112th Congress, Senator Crapo and I introduced similar legislation on forest roads. The legislation we introduce today is different in only two respects. First, the bill includes new language to prevent forest roads from being otherwise regulated by the EPA. This language is needed because in its March 2013 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the EPA's authority to regulate forest roads as non-point sources, and therefore not require mandatory point source permits; however, it did not address the Ninth Circuit's previous ruling that forest roads are point sources. As a result, the EPA must respond to the Court's ruling that the EPA use its discretionary authority to determine whether or not to regulate forest roads as point sources. This will inevitably result in further litigation over permits for forest roads.

Second, the bill we introduce today includes the language adopted last year by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to clarify the list of forest activities the EPA will not regulate as point sources. The Committee favorable reported the bill with this addition.

Let me be clear. This legislation upholds an existing EPA regulation. Furthermore, this legislation does not weaken the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act remains in the same force as it has since it was enacted in 1972.

The introduction of this bill begins the legislative process. There will be an opportunity for hearings, testimony provided by witnesses and Federal agencies, and public dialogue on this bill. It is my hope that this legislation will provide the certainty that the timber industry needs to increase jobs in the woods, get the timber cut up, and put an end to litigating the question of whether or not EPA has the authority to regulate forest roads as non-point sources.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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