II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 395
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to expedite wildfire
prevention projects to reduce the risk of wildfire on certain high-risk
Federal land, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Ms. L
UMMIS(for herself, Mr. BARRASSO, and Mr. SHEEHY) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on En-
vironment and Public Works
A BILL
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
to expedite wildfire prevention projects to reduce the
risk of wildfire on certain high-risk Federal land, 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
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Fuel Re-4
duction Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6
The purposes of this Act are— 7
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•S 395 IS
(1) to expedite wildfire prevention projects to 1
reduce the risk of wildfire on certain high-risk Fed-2
eral land adjacent to communities, private property, 3
and critical infrastructure; 4
(2) to improve forest and wildland health; and 5
(3) to promote the recovery of threatened or en-6
dangered species or other species under consider-7
ation to be listed under the Endangered Species Act 8
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), including the 9
sage-grouse species, the habitat of which is nega-10
tively impacted by wildland fire. 11
SEC. 3. EXPEDITED REVIEW OF PROJECTS ON FEDERAL 12
LAND. 13
Section 104 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 14
of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6514) is amended— 15
(1) by redesignating subsections (e) through (h) 16
as subsections (f) through (i), respectively; 17
(2) in subsection (c)(1)(C)(i), by striking ‘‘sub-18
section (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (g)’’; and 19
(3) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-20
lowing: 21
‘‘(e) C
ATEGORICAL EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN 22
P
ROJECTS.— 23
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An authorized hazardous 24
fuel reduction project shall be categorically excluded 25
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•S 395 IS
from the requirements of the National Environ-1
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 2
if the authorized hazardous fuel reduction project— 3
‘‘(A) involves the removal of— 4
‘‘(i) insect-infected trees; 5
‘‘(ii) dead or dying trees; 6
‘‘(iii) trees presenting a threat to pub-7
lic safety; or 8
‘‘(iv) other hazardous fuels threat-9
ening— 10
‘‘(I) utility or communications in-11
frastructure; 12
‘‘(II) municipal water supply sys-13
tems; 14
‘‘(III) campgrounds; 15
‘‘(IV) roadsides; 16
‘‘(V) schools; or 17
‘‘(VI) other infrastructure; 18
‘‘(B) is conducted on Federal land on 19
which the Secretary determines that conditions, 20
such as the risk of wildfire, an insect or disease 21
epidemic, or the presence of invasive species, 22
pose a risk to adjacent non-Federal land; or 23
‘‘(C) treats 10,000 acres or less of Federal 24
land that— 25
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•S 395 IS
‘‘(i) is at particular risk for wildfire; 1
‘‘(ii) contains threatened and endan-2
gered species habitat; or 3
‘‘(iii) provides conservation benefits 4
to— 5
‘‘(I) a species that is not listed as 6
an endangered species or a threatened 7
species under section 4 of the Endan-8
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 9
1533), but is under consideration to 10
be so listed; 11
‘‘(II) a State-listed species; or 12
‘‘(III) a special concern species. 13
‘‘(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall not 14
apply to Federal land— 15
‘‘(A) that is a component of the National 16
Wilderness Preservation System; 17
‘‘(B) on which the removal of vegetation is 18
specifically prohibited by Federal law; or 19
‘‘(C) that is within a National Monument 20
as of the date of enactment of the Emergency 21
Fuel Reduction Act of 2025.’’. 22
Æ
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