I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 731
To exempt hazardous fuel reduction activities from certain environmental
requirements for a 10-year period.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2025
Mr. I
SSA(for himself, Mr. BACON, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources,
and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To exempt hazardous fuel reduction activities from certain
environmental requirements for a 10-year period.
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
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Green Tape Elimi-4
nation Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H731.IH H731
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 731 IH
SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION AC-1
TIVITIES FROM CERTAIN ENVIRONMENTAL 2
REQUIREMENTS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—During the 10-year period begin-4
ning on the date of the enactment of this section, a haz-5
ardous fuel reduction activity carried out on Federal 6
land— 7
(1) shall not be considered a major Federal ac-8
tion for the purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the Na-9
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 10
4332(2)(C)); and 11
(2) may be carried out without regard to the 12
provisions of law specified in subsection (b). 13
(b) P
ROVISIONS OFLAWSPECIFIED.—The provisions 14
of law specified in this subsection are all Federal laws, 15
regulations, and legal requirements of, deriving from, or 16
related to the subject of the following laws: 17
(1) The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 18
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 19
(2) Division A of subtitle III of title 54, United 20
States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘National 21
Historic Preservation Act’’). 22
(3) The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 23
703 et seq.). 24
(4) The Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16 25
U.S.C. 715 et seq.). 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H731.IH H731
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 731 IH
(c) CLEANAIRACTAMENDMENT.—Section 319 of 1
the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7619) is amended by adding 2
at the end the following: 3
‘‘(c) C
ERTAINAIRQUALITYMONITORINGDATAEX-4
CLUDED.—In the event a hazardous fuel reduction activity 5
(as that term is defined in section 2(d) of the Green Tape 6
Elimination Act of 2025) is carried out that the Adminis-7
trator determines has a significant impact on air quality, 8
the Administrator shall exclude air quality monitoring 9
data that is directly due to such hazardous fuel reduction 10
activity from use in determinations by the Administrator 11
with respect to exceedances or violations of the national 12
ambient air quality standard for any air pollutant.’’. 13
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
(1) H
AZARDOUS FUEL.—The term ‘‘hazardous 15
fuel’’ means any vegetative material that is suscep-16
tible to burning, including— 17
(A) trees; 18
(B) grasses; 19
(C) shrubs; 20
(D) sagebrush; 21
(E) chaparral; and 22
(F) any dead vegetative material on or 23
near the ground. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H731.IH H731
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 731 IH
(2) HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION ACTIVITY .— 1
The term ‘‘hazardous fuel reduction activity’’ means 2
an activity the purpose of which is— 3
(A) the installation of— 4
(i) a natural or manmade change in 5
fuel characteristics that affects fire behav-6
ior such that a fire can be more readily 7
controlled (commonly known as a ‘‘fuel 8
break’’); or 9
(ii) a natural or constructed barrier 10
used to stop or check a fire or to provide 11
a control line from which to work to stop 12
or check a fire (commonly known as a 13
‘‘firebreak’’); or 14
(B) to reduce hazardous fuels, including— 15
(i) prescribed fire; 16
(ii) wildland fire use; and 17
(iii) the use of mechanical methods 18
such as crushing, tractor and hand piling, 19
thinning, pruning, cutting, or otherwise re-20
moving hazardous fuels. 21
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H731.IH H731
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB