Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB731 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 731
5	5	To exempt hazardous fuel reduction activities from certain environmental
6	6	requirements for a 10-year period.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY24, 2025
9	9	Mr. I
10	10	SSA(for himself, Mr. BACON, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the fol-
11	11	lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources,
12	12	and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period
13	13	to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
14	14	ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
15	15	concerned
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To exempt hazardous fuel reduction activities from certain
18	18	environmental requirements for a 10-year period.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Green Tape Elimi-4
23	23	nation Act of 2025’’. 5
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26	26	•HR 731 IH
27	27	SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION AC-1
28	28	TIVITIES FROM CERTAIN ENVIRONMENTAL 2
29	29	REQUIREMENTS. 3
30	30	(a) I
31	31	NGENERAL.—During the 10-year period begin-4
32	32	ning on the date of the enactment of this section, a haz-5
33	33	ardous fuel reduction activity carried out on Federal 6
34	34	land— 7
35	35	(1) shall not be considered a major Federal ac-8
36	36	tion for the purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the Na-9
37	37	tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 10
38	38	4332(2)(C)); and 11
39	39	(2) may be carried out without regard to the 12
40	40	provisions of law specified in subsection (b). 13
41	41	(b) P
42	42	ROVISIONS OFLAWSPECIFIED.—The provisions 14
43	43	of law specified in this subsection are all Federal laws, 15
44	44	regulations, and legal requirements of, deriving from, or 16
45	45	related to the subject of the following laws: 17
46	46	(1) The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 18
47	47	U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 19
48	48	(2) Division A of subtitle III of title 54, United 20
49	49	States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘National 21
50	50	Historic Preservation Act’’). 22
51	51	(3) The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 23
52	52	703 et seq.). 24
53	53	(4) The Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16 25
54	54	U.S.C. 715 et seq.). 26
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57	57	•HR 731 IH
58	58	(c) CLEANAIRACTAMENDMENT.—Section 319 of 1
59	59	the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7619) is amended by adding 2
60	60	at the end the following: 3
61	61	‘‘(c) C
62	62	ERTAINAIRQUALITYMONITORINGDATAEX-4
63	63	CLUDED.—In the event a hazardous fuel reduction activity 5
64	64	(as that term is defined in section 2(d) of the Green Tape 6
65	65	Elimination Act of 2025) is carried out that the Adminis-7
66	66	trator determines has a significant impact on air quality, 8
67	67	the Administrator shall exclude air quality monitoring 9
68	68	data that is directly due to such hazardous fuel reduction 10
69	69	activity from use in determinations by the Administrator 11
70	70	with respect to exceedances or violations of the national 12
71	71	ambient air quality standard for any air pollutant.’’. 13
72	72	(d) D
73	73	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
74	74	(1) H
75	75	AZARDOUS FUEL.—The term ‘‘hazardous 15
76	76	fuel’’ means any vegetative material that is suscep-16
77	77	tible to burning, including— 17
78	78	(A) trees; 18
79	79	(B) grasses; 19
80	80	(C) shrubs; 20
81	81	(D) sagebrush; 21
82	82	(E) chaparral; and 22
83	83	(F) any dead vegetative material on or 23
84	84	near the ground. 24
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87	87	•HR 731 IH
88	88	(2) HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION ACTIVITY .— 1
89	89	The term ‘‘hazardous fuel reduction activity’’ means 2
90	90	an activity the purpose of which is— 3
91	91	(A) the installation of— 4
92	92	(i) a natural or manmade change in 5
93	93	fuel characteristics that affects fire behav-6
94	94	ior such that a fire can be more readily 7
95	95	controlled (commonly known as a ‘‘fuel 8
96	96	break’’); or 9
97	97	(ii) a natural or constructed barrier 10
98	98	used to stop or check a fire or to provide 11
99	99	a control line from which to work to stop 12
100	100	or check a fire (commonly known as a 13
101	101	‘‘firebreak’’); or 14
102	102	(B) to reduce hazardous fuels, including— 15
103	103	(i) prescribed fire; 16
104	104	(ii) wildland fire use; and 17
105	105	(iii) the use of mechanical methods 18
106	106	such as crushing, tractor and hand piling, 19
107	107	thinning, pruning, cutting, or otherwise re-20
108	108	moving hazardous fuels. 21
109	109	Æ
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