I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 168
To improve the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
of the Interior to carry out forest management activities that reduce
the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. L
AMALFAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Re-
sources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To improve the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and
the Secretary of the Interior to carry out forest manage-
ment activities that reduce the risk of catastrophic
wildfires, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Targeted Operations to Remove Catastrophic Hazards 5
Act’’ or the ‘‘TORCH Act’’. 6
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(b) TABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1
this Act is as follows: 2
Sec. 1. Short title.
TITLE I—HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION ACTIVITIES
Sec. 101. Categorical exclusion for high priority hazard tree activities.
Sec. 102. Utilizing timber sales on National Forest System land for extreme
risk reduction.
Sec. 103. Utilizing grazing for wildfire risk reduction.
Sec. 104. Amendments to the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 to im-
prove wildfire mitigation.
Sec. 105. Amendment to fuel breaks in forests and other wildland vegetation.
TITLE II—GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY
Sec. 201. Modification of the treatment of certain revenue and payments under
good neighbor agreements.
TITLE III—ELECTRICAL UTILITY LINES RIGHTS-OF-WAYS AND
RELATED VEGETATION MANAGEMENT
Sec. 301. Vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and main-
tenance relating to electric transmission and distribution facil-
ity rights-of-way.
Sec. 302. Categorical exclusion for electric utility lines rights-of-way.
Sec. 303. Permits and agreements with electrical utilities.
TITLE IV—REFORM OF CERTAIN ADMINISTRATIVE
REQUIREMENTS
Sec. 401. Nonapplicability of certain additional consultation requirements of
the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Sec. 402. Amendment to categorical exclusion for collaborative restoration
projects.
TITLE I—HAZARDOUS FUEL 3
REDUCTION ACTIVITIES 4
SEC. 101. CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION FOR HIGH PRIORITY 5
HAZARD TREE ACTIVITIES. 6
(a) C
ATEGORICALEXCLUSION.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 8
the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 9
of Agriculture shall develop a categorical exclusion 10
(as defined in section 1508.4 of title 40, Code of 11
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Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation)) for 1
high priority hazard tree activities. 2
(2) A
DMINISTRATION.—In developing and ad-3
ministering the categorical exclusion under para-4
graph (1), the Secretary shall— 5
(A) comply with the National Environ-6
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 7
seq.); and 8
(B) apply the extraordinary circumstances 9
procedures under section 220.6 of title 36, Code 10
of Federal Regulations (or successor regula-11
tions), in determining whether to use the cat-12
egorical exclusion. 13
(b) P
ROJECTSIZELIMITATIONS.—A project to carry 14
out high priority hazard tree activities to which a categor-15
ical exclusion under subsection (a) is applied may not ex-16
ceed 3,000 acres. 17
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18
(1) H
IGH-PRIORITY HAZARD TREE .—The term 19
‘‘high-priority hazard tree’’ means a standing tree 20
that— 21
(A) presents a visible hazard to people or 22
Federal property due to conditions such as de-23
terioration of or damage to the root system, 24
trunk, stem, or limbs of the tree, or the direc-25
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tion or lean of the tree, as determined by the 1
Secretary; 2
(B) is determined by the Secretary to be 3
highly likely to fail and, if it failed, would be 4
highly likely to cause injury to people or dam-5
age to Federal property; and 6
(C) is within 300 feet of a National Forest 7
System road with a maintenance level of 3, 4, 8
or 5, a National Forest System trail, or a devel-9
oped recreation site on National Forest System 10
lands that is operated and maintained by the 11
Secretary. 12
(2) H
IGH-PRIORITY HAZARD TREE ACTIVI -13
TIES.—The term ‘‘high priority hazard tree activi-14
ties’’— 15
(A) means forest management activities 16
that mitigate the risks associated with high-pri-17
ority hazard trees, including pruning, felling, 18
and disposal of those trees; and 19
(B) does not include any activity— 20
(i) conducted in a wilderness area or 21
wilderness study area; 22
(ii) for the construction of a perma-23
nent road or permanent trail; 24
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(iii) conducted on Federal land on 1
which, by Act of Congress or Presidential 2
proclamation, the removal of vegetation is 3
restricted or prohibited; 4
(iv) that would be inconsistent with 5
the applicable land and resource manage-6
ment plan; or 7
(v) conducted in an inventoried 8
roadless area. 9
SEC. 102. UTILIZING TIMBER SALES ON NATIONAL FOREST 10
SYSTEM LAND FOR EXTREME RISK REDUC-11
TION. 12
Section 14 of the National Forest Management Act 13
of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a) is amended— 14
(1) in subsection (d) by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and 15
inserting ‘‘$50,000’’; and 16
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-17
section: 18
‘‘(j) In the event of extreme risks to a unit of Na-19
tional Forest System land, including catastrophic wildfire, 20
insect and disease outbreak, wind, hurricane, flood, 21
drought, or to avoid impacts from such extreme events, 22
the Secretary may, without an appraisal and under such 23
rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary, dispose 24
of by sale or otherwise, portions of trees, or forest prod-25
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ucts located on such unit of National Forest System 1
lands.’’. 2
SEC. 103. UTILIZING GRAZING FOR WILDFIRE RISK REDUC-3
TION. 4
The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 5
Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, in coordination with 6
holders of permits to graze livestock on Federal land, shall 7
develop a strategy to increase opportunities to utilize live-8
stock grazing as wildfire risk reduction strategy, includ-9
ing— 10
(1) completion of reviews (as required under the 11
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (U.S.C. 12
4321 et seq.)) to allow permitted grazing on vacant 13
grazing allotments during instances of drought, wild-14
fire or other natural disasters that disrupt grazing 15
on allotments already permitted; 16
(2) use of targeted grazing; 17
(3) increase use of temporary permits to pro-18
mote targeted fuels reduction and reduction of 19
invasive annual grasses; 20
(4) increased use of grazing as a postfire recov-21
ery and restoration strategy, where appropriate; and 22
(5) use all applicable authorities under the law. 23
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SEC. 104. AMENDMENTS TO THE HEALTHY FOREST RES-1
TORATION ACT OF 2003 TO IMPROVE WILD-2
FIRE MITIGATION. 3
(a) P
ROMOTINGCROSS-BOUNDARYWILDFIREMITI-4
GATION.—Section 103(e)(5) of the Healthy Forests Res-5
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6513(e)(5)) is amended 6
by striking ‘‘2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2030’’. 7
(b) W
ILDFIRERESILIENCEPROJECTSIZE.—Section 8
605(c)(1) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 9
(16 U.S.C. 6591d(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘3000 10
acres’’ and inserting ‘‘10,000 acres’’. 11
SEC. 105. AMENDMENT TO FUEL BREAKS IN FORESTS AND 12
OTHER WILDLAND VEGETATION. 13
Section 40806(d)(1) of the Infrastructure Investment 14
and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592b(d)(1)) is amended by 15
striking ‘‘3,000 acres’’ and inserting ‘‘10,000 acres’’. 16
TITLE II—GOOD NEIGHBOR 17
AUTHORITY 18
SEC. 201. MODIFICATION OF THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN 19
REVENUE AND PAYMENTS UNDER GOOD 20
NEIGHBOR AGREEMENTS. 21
(a) G
OODNEIGHBORAUTHORITY.—Section 8206 of 22
the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a) is amend-23
ed— 24
(1) in subsection (a)(6), by striking ‘‘or Indian 25
tribe’’; and 26
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(2) in subsection (b)— 1
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 2
Indian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; 3
(B) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking clause 4
(i) and inserting the following: 5
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Funds received 6
from the sale of timber by a Governor, an 7
Indian tribe, or a county under a good 8
neighbor agreement shall be retained and 9
used by the Governor, Indian tribe, or 10
county, as applicable— 11
‘‘(I) to carry out authorized res-12
toration services under the good 13
neighbor agreement; and 14
‘‘(II) if there are funds remain-15
ing after carrying out subclause (I), 16
to carry out authorized restoration 17
services under other good neighbor 18
agreements.’’; and 19
(C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, In-20
dian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 21
(D) by striking paragraph (4). 22
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.—Section 8206(a) 23
of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a(a)) is 24
amended— 25
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(1) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, Indian 1
tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 2
(2) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, Indian 3
tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’. 4
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 5
this Act apply to any project initiated pursuant to a good 6
neighbor agreement (as defined in section 8206(a) of the 7
Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a(a)))— 8
(1) before the date of enactment of this Act, if 9
the project was initiated after the date of enactment 10
of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Public 11
Law 115–334; 132 Stat. 4490); or 12
(2) on or after the date of enactment of this 13
Act. 14
TITLE III—ELECTRICAL UTILITY 15
LINES RIGHTS-OF-WAYS AND 16
RELATED VEGETATION MAN-17
AGEMENT 18
SEC. 301. VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, FACILITY INSPEC-19
TION, AND OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE 20
RELATING TO ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION AND 21
DISTRIBUTION FACILITY RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 22
(a) H
AZARDTREESWITHIN50 FEET OFELECTRIC 23
P
OWERLINE.—Section 512(a)(1)(B)(ii) of the Federal 24
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 25
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1772(a)(1)(B)(ii)) is amended by striking ‘‘10’’ and in-1
serting ‘‘50’’. 2
(b) C
ONSULTATIONWITHPRIVATELANDOWNERS.— 3
Section 512(c)(3)(E) of the Federal Land Policy and 4
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1772(c)(3)(E)) is 5
amended— 6
(1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7
(2) in clause (ii), by striking the period and in-8
serting ‘‘; and’’; and 9
(3) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(iii) consulting with private land-11
owners with respect to any hazard trees 12
identified for removal from land owned by 13
such private landowners.’’. 14
(c) R
EVIEW ANDAPPROVALPROCESS.—Clause (iv) 15
of section 512(c)(4)(A) of the Federal Land Policy and 16
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1772(c)(4)(A)) is 17
amended to read as follows: 18
‘‘(iv) ensures that— 19
‘‘(I) a plan submitted without a 20
modification under clause (iii) shall be 21
automatically approved 60 days after 22
review; and 23
‘‘(II) a plan submitted with a 24
modification under clause (iii) shall be 25
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automatically approved 67 days after 1
review.’’. 2
SEC. 302. CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION FOR ELECTRIC UTIL-3
ITY LINES RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 4
(a) C
ATEGORICALEXCLUSIONESTABLISHED.—For-5
est management activities described in subsection (c) are 6
a category of activities designated as being categorically 7
excluded from the preparation of an environmental assess-8
ment or an environmental impact statement under section 9
102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 10
U.S.C. 4332). 11
(b) F
ORESTMANAGEMENTACTIVITIESDESIGNATED 12
FORCATEGORICALEXCLUSION.—The forest management 13
activities designated as being categorically excluded under 14
subsection (b) are— 15
(1) the development and approval of a vegeta-16
tion management, facility inspection, and operation 17
and maintenance plan submitted under section 18
512(c)(1) of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-19
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1772(c)(1)) by the 20
Secretary concerned; and 21
(2) the implementation of routine activities con-22
ducted under the plan referred to in paragraph (1). 23
(c) A
VAILABILITY OFCATEGORICALEXCLUSION.— 24
On and after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 25
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Secretary concerned may use the categorical exclusion es-1
tablished under subsection (b) in accordance with this sec-2
tion. 3
(d) E
XTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES.—Use of the 4
categorical exclusion established under subsection (b) shall 5
not be subject to the extraordinary circumstances proce-6
dures in section 220.6, title 36, Code of Federal Regula-7
tions, or section 1508.4, title 40, Code of Federal Regula-8
tions. 9
(e) E
XCLUSION OFCERTAINAREAS.—The categor-10
ical exclusion established under subsection (b) shall not 11
apply to any forest management activity conducted— 12
(1) in a component of the National Wilderness 13
Preservation System; or 14
(2) on National Forest System lands on which, 15
by Act of Congress, the removal of vegetation is re-16
stricted or prohibited. 17
(f) P
ERMANENTROADS.— 18
(1) P
ROHIBITION ON ESTABLISHMENT .—A for-19
est management activity designated under subsection 20
(c) shall not include the establishment of a perma-21
nent road. 22
(2) E
XISTING ROADS.—The Secretary con-23
cerned may carry out necessary maintenance and re-24
pair on an existing permanent road for the purposes 25
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of conducting a forest management activity des-1
ignated under subsection (c). 2
(3) T
EMPORARY ROADS .—The Secretary con-3
cerned shall decommission any temporary road con-4
structed for a forest management activity designated 5
under subsection (c) not later than 3 years after the 6
date on which the action is completed. 7
(g) A
PPLICABLELAWS.—A forest management activ-8
ity designated under subsection (c) shall not be subject 9
to section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 10
U.S.C. 1536), section 106 of the National Historic Preser-11
vation Act, or any other applicable law. 12
(h) S
ECRETARYCONCERNEDDEFINED.—In this sec-13
tion, the term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 14
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 15
National Forest System lands; and 16
(2) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect 17
to public lands. 18
SEC. 303. PERMITS AND AGREEMENTS WITH ELECTRICAL 19
UTILITIES. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In any special use permit or ease-21
ment on National Forest System lands provided to an elec-22
tric utility company (as defined in section 1262 of the En-23
ergy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16451)) the Secretary 24
of Agriculture may provide permission to cut and remove 25
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trees or other vegetation from within the vicinity of dis-1
tribution lines or transmission lines, including hazardous 2
vegetation that increases fire risk, without requiring a sep-3
arate timber sale if that cutting and removal is consistent 4
with the applicable land management plan. 5
(b) U
SE OFPROCEEDS.—A special use permit or 6
easement that includes permission for the cutting and re-7
moval of trees or other vegetation described in subsection 8
(a), shall include a requirement that, if the applicable elec-9
trical utility sells any portion of the material removed 10
under the permit or easement, the electrical utility shall 11
provide to the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the 12
Forest Service, any proceeds received from the sale, less 13
any transportation costs incurred in the sale. 14
(c) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-15
tion shall be construed to require the sale of any material 16
removed under a special use permit or easement that in-17
cludes permission for the cutting and removal of trees or 18
other vegetation described in subsection (a). 19
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TITLE IV—REFORM OF CERTAIN 1
ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIRE-2
MENTS 3
SEC. 401. NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN ADDITIONAL 4
CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE EN-5
DANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973. 6
(a) F
ORESTSERVICEPLANS.—Section 6(d)(2) of the 7
Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 8
of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604(d)(2)) is amended to read as 9
follows: 10
‘‘(2) N
O ADDITIONAL CONSULTATION RE -11
QUIRED UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES .—Not-12
withstanding any other provision of law, the Sec-13
retary shall not be required to reinitiate consultation 14
under section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act 15
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2)) or section 402.16 of 16
title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor 17
regulation), on a land management plan approved, 18
amended, or revised under this section when— 19
‘‘(A) a new species is listed or critical habi-20
tat is designated under the Endangered Species 21
Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or 22
‘‘(B) new information reveals effects of the 23
land management plan that may affect a spe-24
cies listed or critical habitat designated under 25
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that Act in a manner or to an extent not pre-1
viously considered.’’. 2
(b) B
UREAU OFLANDMANAGEMENTPLANS.—Sec-3
tion 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 4
of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712) is amended by adding at the 5
end the following: 6
‘‘(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 7
Secretary shall not be required to reinitiate consultation 8
under section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 9
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2)) or section 402.16 of title 50, 10
Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation), 11
on a land use plan approved, amended, or revised under 12
this section when— 13
‘‘(1) a new species is listed or critical habitat 14
is designated under the Endangered Species Act of 15
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or 16
‘‘(2) new information reveals effects of the land 17
use plan that may affect a species listed or critical 18
habitat designated under that Act in a manner or to 19
an extent not previously considered.’’. 20
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SEC. 402. AMENDMENT TO CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION FOR 1
COLLABORATIVE RESTORATION PROJECTS. 2
Section 603(c)(1) of the Healthy Forests Restoration 3
Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591b(c)(1)) is amended by strik-4
ing ‘‘3000 acres’’ and inserting ‘‘10,000 acres’’. 5
Æ
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