Fix Our Forests Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in respectful opposition to H.R. 471 and to also express my concern and my condolences to all who are suffering in California from the devastating wildfires. Like California, communities in New Mexico that were similarly devastated by a wildfire last summer are still picking up the pieces today.

It is very clear that our climate is in crisis, and I rise in opposition to this bill because of the dangerous precedent that this legislation sets for climate and environmental policy as we face a new administration.

There is so much that I like about this bill, but I am extremely concerned about provisions in the bill that undermine NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, judicial remedies that are available to communities and to the environmental community, and that it tries to micromanage instead of putting in place comprehensive solutions to address the climate crisis and forestry practices.

Mr. Chairman, I greatly respect the chair for his forestry expertise. As I said, there is much in this bill that I like, but I am highly concerned especially about the undermining of NEPA and these other environmental bedrock provisions, especially in the wake of 2 days after Donald Trump has taken office and signed a slew of executive orders undermining the fundamental environmental climate and clean energy legislation that we put in place over the last several years.

In these executive orders, he took us out of the Paris climate agreement, opened public lands and offshore for drilling, stopped progress on clean energy projects, revoked spending for the Inflation Reduction Act and the infrastructure bill, and is clearly trying to undermine the bedrock environmental provisions of NEPA with an executive order that would stop the modernization of that bill.

It is in this context that passing new legislation that would give the opportunity for the administration to exploit loopholes in NEPA, as well as the Endangered Species Act and judicial processes, is untenable.

It is not true that our country is facing an energy emergency, as was declared by the President. It is, in fact, facing a climate crisis. The hottest year in human history was 2024. The wildfires in California and New Mexico were not started by bureaucracy. They were the result of the climate crisis.

We must be clear that if we are going to address the catastrophic and increasing wildfires that are happening across the West, we have to stay the course in our commitment to addressing the climate crisis. We can't stand here and pretend that this bill is actually the result of the deadly wildfires in California. In fact, it is a bill that has been presented in several Congresses, and many of the provisions in it have nothing to do with these wildfires whatsoever.

I ask my friends across the aisle to please join us in actually putting forward comprehensive solutions that will address the climate crisis, that will increase pay and benefits for firefighters, and that will address the resilience needs of our communities and help them rebuild.

Mr. Chair, I respectfully ask my colleagues to vote against this bill because we must address the climate crisis, and we must protect our bedrock environmental laws.

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