The Bush administration is about to drop a requirement to conduct environmental studies before logging or burning trees to prevent forest fires. And it wants to end consultations over whether such actions would affect endangered species.
Environmentalist organizations said the new rule is a carte blanche for loggers.
Under the new policy, the Forest Service and Interior Department would not need an environmental study before cutting or burning excess trees on as many as 190 million acres of federal land considered to be at-risk for a catastrophic wildfire -- an area nearly the size of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana combined.
"These new tools will reduce the layers of unnecessary red tape and procedural delay that prevent agency experts from acting quickly to protect communities and our natural resources from devastating wildfires," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Friday.
The projects would not be subject to administrative appeals; the administration also is limiting who can appeal projects carried out under normal circumstances.
Trees could be cut from as many as 1,000 acres without environmental studies; controlled burns could be used to burn out excess trees on as many as 4,500 acres. The exemptions could not be used in wilderness areas, areas being considered for wilderness designation or national parks.
The regulations will take effect after they are published in the Federal Register next week.
"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 specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The administration also wants to end required endangered species consultations with the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service before conducting fire prevention treatments.
Under existing regulations, the wildlife agencies must be consulted if the projects could affect endangered species or habitat critical to their survival. Those consultations would no longer be needed if the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management biologists determine endangered species will probably not be harmed.
"They're trying to change the meaningful check and balance of the wildlife agency into a rubber stamp for the Forest Service," said Marty Hayden, vice president of the environmental group Earthjustice.
The proposed changes to the endangered species consultation will be subject to public comment before a final rule is issued.