"The ink on the Healthy Forests Restoration Act is barely dry. Now here comes another attempt by this Republican-controlled Congress to dismantle landmark environmental laws, granting the Forest Service authority it does not need to conduct already flourishing salvage timber sales," noted Rahall, the Ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee which has jurisdiction over H.R. 4200.

     Under existing law, 35% of the logging on National Forests comes from timber salvage. In fact, using existing authorities, the Forest Service is quickly completing one of the largest timber salvage projects in their history, 676 million board feet, on the National Forests in Mississippi impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

     During floor consideration, Democratic Members plan to offer the following amendments:

• an amendment to strike all waivers of existing conservation laws by removing the bill’s exemptions from requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act;

• an amendment to exclude roadless areas;

• an amendment dealing with recent peer-reviewed science on the impacts of salvage logging to forest fire risk and forest regeneration; and,