Rep. Salinas Leads 52 Colleagues in Urging Secretary Rollins and Chief Schultz to Extend Roadless Rule Public Comment Period

Washington, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06), alongside Representative Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), led 49 of their colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz expressing concern that the current public comment period for their proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule does not allow for meaningful public participation and urging them to extend the public comment period by 30 days.

Since its inception, the Roadless Rule has protected 58.5 million acres of forestland by preventing road construction and ensured consistent, dependable protections for these critical landscapes. Earlier this year, Reps. Salinas and Ansari, alongside Sens. Cantwell and Gallego, introduced legislationto enshrine the Roadless Rule into law. Additionally, in July, Reps. Salinas and Ansari led 37 of their colleagues in sending a letterto Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins urging her to reverse the decision to fully rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule and to reinstate full roadless protections.

Click hereor see below for the full letter:

Dear Secretary Rollins and Chief Schultz,

We write with concern that, in affording just 21 days for public comment, the U.S. Forest Service is not providing an adequate opportunity for meaningful public participation on its Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (NOI) for the proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule. We respectfully request that you extend the comment period by at least thirty days. We also encourage you to conduct more robust stakeholder engagement, including by holding public hearings in all states with Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) and consulting proactively with Tribal governments.

The Roadless Rule is a landmark public-lands rule that has ensured the responsible management of nearly 60 million acres of National Forest System land and the irreplaceable resources they provide since its inception. Its repeal represents a major shift in the longstanding management of lands in virtually all federal forests across the country - forests that our constituents care deeply about. This includes protections of over half of the 17 million-acre mature and old-growth Tongass National Forest in Alaska - America's largest forest and last remaining temperate rainforest - which offers critical opportunities for Tribal subsistence, tourism, outdoor recreation, and carbon sequestration. Twenty-one days is simply not enough to provide the opportunity for meaningful participation that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires.

This is an issue with broad public interest from conservationists, recreationists, Tribal communities, and more. When the Roadless Rule was first adopted, more than 1.6 million comments were submitted in favor of the rule. Everyday Americans have a real stake in this issue, and twenty-one days is simply not enough time for individuals to take time out of their busy lives to research, prepare, and submit meaningful comments on such a complex and significant issue. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) held more than 400 public meetings across the country during the 2001 Roadless Rule rulemaking process and has a responsibility to similarly ensure adequate opportunity for the public to weigh in on the proposed repeal.

Additionally, it is the responsibility of the U.S. Government to hold robust and meaningful Tribal consultation with any impacted Tribal governments. Considering the breadth of the Roadless Rule's purview, numerous Tribes will be impacted, and to our knowledge there has been virtually no Tribal consultation on this significant and sudden policy shift.This is contrary to the Forest Service's protocol, which requires a minimum tribal consultation period of 120 days for national-level decisions.

Participation by Tribes, local governments and by the public, "in cooperation" with the federal government, is central to the democratic process, and execution of the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"). As the U.S. Supreme Court has explained, NEPA guarantees that "relevant information will be made available to the larger audience that may also play a role in both the decision-making process and the implementation of that decision." Allowing the public to participate early on addresses NEPA's "manifest concern with preventing uninformed action," because it is through the "broad dissemination of information" that "the public" can "react to the effects of a proposed action at a meaningful time."

Considering the complex nature of this proposal and the widespread local and national interests likely to be affected, we strongly urge you to provide a minimum of 45 days for the public to comment and participate in public hearings, and 120 days for Tribal consultation.

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