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The Week in Climate Hearings: Fear and Forests

The continuing resolution, Fix Our Forests, and PFAS

Author

Brad Johnson
September 23, 2024

See also the U.S. Climate Politics Almanac’s preview of NYC Climate Week; more events have been added since the morning’s email.

Yosemite forest. Credit: Antti T. Nissinen

Congress is tasked with keeping the government running, and as expected, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La., no relation), after dilatory presentations of GOP messaging bills, is offering a clean continuing resolution to fund the government through December 10th. House Republicans are also looking to push H.R. 8790, the Orwellian-named Fix Our Forests Act, onto a floor vote this week.

H.R. 8790, introduced by Natural Resources chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) on behalf of the forestry industry, intends to “fix” forests threatened by fossil-fueled wildfires by cutting them down. As the John Muir Project explains:

This legislation promotes misleading claims about wildfire management and aligns with the extremist agenda of Project 2025, which seeks to strip essential environmental protections.

NEPA Rollbacks: This bill weakens the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), limiting environmental reviews and public input—key goals of Project 2025.

Endangered Species Act (ESA): Provisions in H.R. 8790 undermine ESA protections for wildlife habitats, reflecting Project 2025's push for economic interests over environmental safeguards.

Federal Land Management: H.R. 8790 promotes increased logging on BLM and National Forest lands, aligning with Project 2025's priorities for extraction industries.

Anti-Climate Science Rhetoric: This bill misuses wildfire narratives to justify logging, despite the fact that most fires this year have occurred in grass, rangeland, and shrublands—not forests. This highlights that logging is not a solution to the real causes of wildfire activity, such as climate change and urban development.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) is looking to offer an alternative, forest-friendly bill based in the actual science of climate change and wildfires. Unfortunately, H.R. 8790 has support from a bloc of anti-environmental California Democrats: Reps. Scott Peters, Jimmy Panetta, Jim Costa, Tony Cardenas, Ami Bera, and John Garamendi.

Wednesday, September 25

On Wednesday morning at 10 am, the House Science Committee will mark up several bills, including H.R. 9723 to reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program and H.R. 9710, the Small Modular Reactor Demonstration Act.

Also at 10 am, Senate Commerce will interview the Presidential nominees Carl Bentzel to serve another term as a commissioner on the Federal Maritime Commission, Thomas Chapman to serve another term as a member on the National Transportation Safety Board, and former Mitt Romney advisor Lanhee Chen to join the Amtrak Board of Directors.

At 2:30 pm, Senate Indian Affairs votes on three bills, including S. 2908, the Indian Buffalo Management Act. The committee will also hear testimony on five water and mineral rights bills for Tribes in Montana, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Thursday, September 26

At 10 am, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) chairs an Environment subcommittee hearing examining the public health impacts of PFAS exposures with witnesses Laurel Schaider, a senior scientist at the Silent Spring Institute and Sue Fenton, Director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment at North Carolina State University

All day, House Natural Resources subcommittees are pushing the Project 2025 eco-fascist agenda in three separate hearings:

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