These changes, part of the administration’s misleadingly labeled “Healthy Forest Initiative,” allow timber projects to eschew environmental assessments and impact statements -- normally required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The new standards also exempt Forest Service decisions from administrative appeals and limit judicial appeals, prohibiting temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions.
The administration has claimed that public appeals have delayed fire prevention efforts, yet a recent report by the Government Accounting Office found that 75 percent of forest projects in the past two years moved forward unchallenged.
“This clears the way for the timber industry and its friends in government to loot public forests and pocket the proceeds, free from public input or environmental review," said Amy Mall, a forest and land specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Make no mistake -- this is not about healthy forests. It's about healthy profits for campaign contributors and healthy budgets for bureaucrats."