August, 26 2019, 12:00am EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Susan Jane Brown, Western Environmental Law Center, brown@westernlaw.org, 503-914-1323
Randi Spivak, Center for Biological Diversity, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org, 310-779-4894
Sam Evans, Southern Environmental Law Center, sevans@selcnc.org, 828-258-2023
Olivia Glasscock, Earthjustice, oglasscock@earthjustice.org, 907.500.7134
Conservation Groups Blast Draft Forest Service Rule to Gut Bedrock Environmental Law
Proposal Would Eliminate Review, Public Input for Most National Forest Projects
WASHINGTON
Conservation and public interest groups today submitted formal opposition to a proposed Trump administration rule that would fundamentally change long-held environmental practices and allow for the sweeping destruction of national forests across the country.
In comments to the U.S. Forest Service, 177 groups said the proposed changes to the agency's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures would gut this important decision-making tool by waiving requirements that the agency disclose environmental harm and involve the public. Among other things, the proposed rule would allow the agency to approve large-scale commercial logging and roadbuilding on up to 7,300 acres (11 square miles) of national forest land at a time without public input or comment.
The Forest Service's sweeping draft rule broadens so-called "categorical exclusions" to exempt an alarming range of projects from public review, including logging, roadbuilding, oil and gas drilling, mining and power lines. Currently, categorical exclusions are reserved for routine projects that don't harm the environment, such as hiking trail restoration or maintenance on a park building.
The Forest Service's draft rule also proposes a sharp reduction in public input - under the agency's proposed rule, the public would lose the right to comment on more than 93% of decisions affecting national forests and grasslands. Although the Forest Service has stated that the changes are needed to speed up project delivery, the groups' comments point out that projects with public input and transparent scientific analysis are actually more efficient on a per-acre basis than projects developed behind closed doors.
Before finalizing its proposal, the Forest Service must consider the objections raised in these and the tens of thousands of other comments submitted in opposition. If the Forest Service does not abandon the proposal or fundamentally change course, the proposal's fate will ultimately be decided by the courts.
The groups submitting comments today issued the following statements:
"The Forest Service's proposed rule is deeply flawed, not only because it violates federal environmental laws, but also because it seeks to take the public out of public lands management," said Susan Jane Brown, Attorney and Public Lands Director at Western Environmental Law Center. "Rather than building agreement around transparent science-based land management and restoration, the rule would shroud agency decision-making in arbitrary agency discretion. Instead of increasing efficiency, the proposed rule is guaranteed to result in controversy and litigation. The Forest Service should abandon this rulemaking effort."
"The Trump Administration is rushing to hand favors to big oil, gas, logging, and mining interests once again with the Forest Service's latest proposal to attack bedrock environmental law," said Olivia Glasscock, Attorney at Earthjustice. "This proposal would shut the public out of over 90% of decisions affecting national forests and grasslands. The Forest Service should abandon it and instead concentrate on protecting our best tools in the fight against climate change - our forests."
"This rule would streamline the destruction of America's national forests," said Alison Flint, Director of Litigation and Agency Policy at The Wilderness Society. "Under the guise of 'modernizing' forest policy, the rule would shut out the public while speeding up logging, road building and other assaults on wild lands that the public owns. In our comments to the Forest Service, we cite decades of data and science showing that roads are a leading cause of pollution to the forest rivers and streams that provide drinking water for millions of Americans as well as critical habitat for native fish and other wildlife."
"This proposal would shut out the public - including nearby communities - from helping decide what makes sense for our publicly-owned forests," said Matthew Davis, Legislative Director of the League of Conservation Voters. "This is yet another Trump administration attack on our public lands and our democratic process for the benefit of corporate polluters. The Trump administration's Forest Service should abandon this irresponsible proposal and make sure the public's voice is heard in decision-making."
"Public involvement is fundamental to democracy, but this proposed rule seeks to silence local communities and move decision-making about our forests behind closed doors," said Joro Walker, General Counsel for Western Resource Advocates. "We urge the Forest Service to abandon this misguided rulemaking process, which will deprive on-the-ground agency staff of a critical planning tool and put the West's unique natural places, critical wildlife habitats, and scarce water resources at risk. It will also do nothing to alleviate the real cause of backlog at the agency, which is a lack of funding, rather than the public input and environmental review process."
"Yet again the Trump administration wants to roll back vital safeguards and curtail public input. This rule will make it easier to log, drill and mine our forests-- actions that will be doubly bad for our climate by both increasing pollution and limiting our ability to reduce it. Our forests must be managed as part of the climate solution," said Kirin Kennedy, Sierra Club Deputy Legislative Director for Lands and Wildlife.
"This rule would keep the public completely in the dark while the Trump administration bulldozes our national forests," said Randi Spivak, Public Lands Director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "The Forest Service is saying 'trust us' with public lands, but they've given us every reason not to trust them. This agency has a duty to protect public lands and we intend to make sure that they do, even if it means taking them to court."
"Audubon and the public depend on NEPA to ensure that decisions affecting birds like marbled murrelets in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska and greater sage-grouse in the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho are based on sound science and made with public input," said Nada Culver, Vice President for Public Lands, National Audubon Society. "But the Forest Service is letting all these fundamental concepts fly out the window in order to more hastily approve logging, energy development and road building. The Forest Service should abandon this ill-advised process."
"Public input has saved countless acres of old growth forests, rare habitats, streams, trails, and scenic vistas by persuading the Forest Service to relocate or scale back logging projects, roads, and other infrastructure," said Sam Evans, National Forests and Parks Program Leader for the Southern Environmental Law Center. "Now, under tremendous pressure to meet climbing timber quotas, the agency wants to forgo those improvements and instead hide the impacts of its projects from public view. We won't stand for it."
"The proposed rule brings no comfort to the hundreds of imperiled wildlife species that depend on America's national forests for their survival. As the world wrestles with a biodiversity crisis, it is irresponsible and reprehensible for this administration to willfully ignore the negative impacts of logging and roadbuilding on America's treasured wildlife and lands," said Peter Nelson, Director of Federal Lands, Defenders of Wildlife.
"From Grand Canyon to Shenandoah National Parks, more than a dozen of our country's most iconic parks border national forest lands. And what happens in forests adjacent to national parks can dramatically impact the environment inside the park itself. The U.S. Forest Service's proposed rule not only threatens the lands, water and wildlife found in our national forests, but will also inevitably impact the irreplaceable natural and cultural resources within park borders," said Ani Kame'enui, Deputy Vice President of Government Affairs for National Parks Conservation Association. "NPCA has long been a supporter of the National Environmental Policy Act and its facilitation of community engagement and commitment to landscape connectivity. The proposed rule cuts at the very heart of this bedrock law, undermining both national park landscapes and the millions of people who visit these treasured places each year."
A copy of the organizations' technical comments is available HERE.
In addition, the following organizations, state governments, and decision-makers also submitted comments in opposition to the Forest Service's proposed rule:
- Jim Furnish, a retired Deputy Chief of the U.S. Forest Service
- The Conservation Alliance, a group of 250 outdoor and related businesses
- 25 U.S. Senators opposing the Forest Service's draft rule
- 27 U.S. Representatives opposing the Forest Service's draft rule
- 54 law professors from across the country with thousands of years of experience in federal administrative, environmental, and natural resources law
- Horst Greczmiel, former Associate Director for NEPA Oversight at CEQ, expressing deep concern with the Forest Service's draft rule
- Local elected officials from Eagle County, CO; Pitkin County, CO; Gunnison County (CO); the City of Aspen, CO; Boulder County, CO; county officials in Pima County, AZ; San Juan County Commission (UT); Grand County Commission (UT); and, King County, WA
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Coalition of Nonprofits, Unions Launch Challenge to Trump's 'Unlawful' Attack on Government
"Americans did not vote for a power grab, nor did they vote for a federal government so hollowed out it cannot deliver the services we all rely on," said one advocate.
Apr 29, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's dismantling of federal agencies and government programs has been a centerpiece of his second-term agenda, but as labor unions and nonprofits launched a legal challenge Monday against the president's attacks, they emphasized how the lawsuit reflects widespread public disapproval of Trump's tactics.
"Enough, already—Americans did not vote for a power grab, nor did they vote for a federal government so hollowed out it cannot deliver the services we all rely on," said Michael Wall, chief litigation officer for the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of nearly two dozen organizations in a coalition that filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The groups said the suit is the "largest and most significant challenge to Trump's authority to remake the government without congressional approval."
The lawsuit was filed days after a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that only 35% of Americans approve of tech billionaire Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration, in which he has led the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and spearheaded efforts to dismantle agencies including the Department of Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), cut more than 280,000 jobs, and use government data to advance baseless claims about fraud in federal programs like Social Security—supporting Republicans' push to privatize the crucial anti-poverty program.
Fifty-seven percent said they disapprove of how DOGE has proceeded, up from 49% in February.
The long list of plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Monday reflect Trump's wide-scale attack on public services, with the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, the Western Watershed Project, and the Alliance for Retired Americans joining three of the country's largest labor unions and several local governments in arguing that Trump lacks the authority to reorganize the government without congressional approval.
The coalition, which also includes the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is calling on the court to intervene to stop the implementation of Trump's Executive Order 14210, titled "Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Workforce Optimization Initiative."
The order violates the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers principles, the coalition is arguing.
"The Trump administration's reckless attempt to dismantle our government without congressional approval threatens vital services Americans depend on every day—from caring for veterans and safeguarding public health, to protecting our environment and maintaining national security," said AFGE national president Everett Kelley. "This illegal power grab would gut federal agencies, disrupt communities nationwide, and put critical public services at risk. AFGE is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with this coalition to protect not just the patriotic public servants we represent, but the integrity of American government and the essential services that our nation deserves."
A federal judge in Maryland last month barred DOGE from taking "any actions relating" to USAID and said Musk had likely acted unconstitutionally by moving to shut down the international aid agency, and another judge temporarily blocked the advisory body from accessing sensitive data, but several federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have declined to rein in DOGE.
The coalition said the filing made clear that Congress must approve any president's efforts to remake the government.
"When the president takes for himself the legislative power of Congress to recreate federal agencies in the manner he sees fit, he violates the Constitution," reads the lawsuit, which cited Supreme Court cases including Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer and Bowsher v. Synar. "And when the president does so across every federal agency, he threatens the very constitutional foundation of this nation: 'There can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person.' ... Thus, for nearly 100 years, when presidents have wanted to restructure the government by reorganizing both between and within federal agencies, they have obtained congressional authorization to do so."
Democracy Forward, which is representing the coalition, said "the impact of the reckless decisions that have been made in an attempt to unlawfully reorganize the federal government without Congress and is being felt in communities across our nation, in red states and blue states."
Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, said the coalition was "filing this lawsuit to challenge the hostile takeover of government by billionaires and anti-union extremists."
"From the mass firings of federal employees to effectively shutting down agencies formed by Congress, this White House has repeatedly broken the law and violated the Constitution to advance their extremist Project 2025 agenda," said Saunders. "Working people deserve to know the public services they depend on will be delivered—that their food will be safe to eat and drinking water clean, that kids in school will have the resources they need to thrive, and that our communities will be able to fight public health epidemics. All these things and more are at stake if this power grab goes unchecked."
The Alliance for Retired Americans said Trump's attacks have threatened senior citizens' "right to the guaranteed benefits they have earned as well as to a fully staffed, well-functioning Social Security Administration," while Phil Francis, chair of the executive council of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, said the loss of about 1,500 National Park Service staffers is "making an already dire situation at many national parks and program offices far worse."
"The people who have been removed by this administration help to ensure our parks are safe and accessible, and our irreplaceable resources are protected for future generations," said Francis. "Additional mass firings mean safety at parks could be compromised and visitors should expect longer lines, reduced hours of operation at facilities, trails that are not maintained, limited access to some park amenities, and far fewer park rangers to help ensure they have a safe and memorable visit to their national parks."
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said "the size and breadth of the coalition behind this case demonstrates the wide-ranging implications of the president's unlawful behavior."
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National Climate Group Endorses 'Working-Class Champion' Zohran Mamdani for NYC Mayor
"Zohran embodies the kind of bold, people-powered leadership that Sunrise was built to fight for," said the head of the national Sunrise Movement.
Apr 29, 2025
In a first for the national branch of the youth climate group, the Sunrise Movement announced Tuesday that they have endorsed state Assemblymember and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, citing his "bold vision" for confronting the climate emergency and his campaign's focus on making the city more affordable for working people.
The national Sunrise Movement has not previously offered a mayoral endorsement, according to a spokesperson for the group. Their support for Mamdani follows an earlier endorsement of him by Sunrise Movement NYC in March.
"Zohran embodies the kind of bold, people-powered leadership that Sunrise was built to fight for," said Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, on Tuesday. "He's shown us what it looks like to take on the fossil fuel industry, offer a transformative vision for climate policy, and stand unapologetically with working-class communities. This is the leadership New York City—and our whole movement—needs to meet the climate crisis head-on."
Michael Magazine, elected partnerships lead of Sunrise NYC added that "Zohran is a true climate, youth, and working-class champion."
While affordability, not climate, has been the central focus of Mamdani's campaign, the candidate recently toldThe Nation that "climate and quality of life are not two separate concerns. They are, in fact, one and the same."
His campaign proposes a plan called Green Schools for a Healthier New York City, which pledges to rehab hundreds of public school buildings with renewable energy infrastructure and HVAC upgrades, remake hundreds of asphalt schoolyards into green spaces, and create at least 15,000 union jobs for people who build, maintain, and run New York City schools. It also proposes using 50 schools to serve as resilience hubs, a year-round resource for community members who can use the space during extreme weather events for shelter and to receive aid.
Mamdani has also made free, fast city buses a core plank of his campaign.
Mamdani, who began the race with relatively little name recognition, has risen in polls to the number two spot. He has garnered endorsements from New York City's largest public employee union AFSCME District Council 37, the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, and the Muslim Democratic Club of New York City, to name a few.
Many organizations backing Mamdani have endorsed a slate of candidates because of New York City's rank choice voting system, which allows voters to select multiple candidates on their ballot as opposed to one.
In their release on Tuesday, the national Sunrise Movement did not opt to endorse a slate, but noted that Sunrise Movement NYC is "urging voters to rank a full progressive slate—and to reject Andrew Cuomo—in the upcoming election."
The recommendation not to rank mayoral candidate and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has consistently polled at number one, aligns with the aims of the "DREAM" campaign (which stands for Don't Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor). The DREAM campaign, which is also targeting candidate and current Mayor Eric Adams, is backed by United Auto Workers Region 9A, another Mamdani endorser, and the political action committee New Yorkers for A Better New York Today.
The group is urging voter unity around keeping Cuomo and Adams off ballots, and hoping that their campaign will cut into Cuomo's formidable lead, and further destabilize Adams' position in the race.
Mamdani has become a viable contender in the race in part because of an impressive ground game. Last week, the campaign announced that volunteers have so far knocked on over 220,000 doors across the city.
According to the Sunrise Movement, Sunrise Movement NYC is mobilizing "neighborhood teams" to canvass and turn out voters for Mamdani.
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Trump DOJ Attacks 'Fundamental Fabric' of Democracy by Gutting Voting Rights Unit
"The upheaval and loss of experience will leave the division unable to enforce the nation's civil rights laws," said one voting rights advocate.
Apr 29, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's Justice Department has reportedly gutted the leadership of the agency's voting rights unit and ordered attorneys to drop all active cases, the latest signal that the administration is hellbent on undercutting civil rights protections and abandoning federal enforcement of key election laws.
The Guardianreported Monday that Trump appointees at the Department of Justice "have removed all of the senior civil servants working as managers in the department's Voting Section," reassigning most of them to a DOJ office that handles employee complaints.
"Political appointees have also instructed career employees to dismiss all of their active cases without meeting with them and offering a rationale—a significant break with the department's practices and norms," The Guardian added.
Angelina Clapp, advocacy manager for election protection at Issue One, said in a statement Monday that "our democracy must be accessible for all eligible voters to participate in and make their voices heard, but these recent moves by President Trump's appointees at the Justice Department take us further away from those goals."
"This decision to dismiss all active cases threatens to erode public trust in the very department tasked with protecting Americans' freedom to vote and sends the message that the rule of law is not being upheld," said Clapp. "These actions are part of a broader trend of the second Trump administration dismantling and interfering with federal agencies dedicated to protecting our elections and democracy."
"In the end," Clapp added, "all Americans will suffer as a result of decisions like these because taken together, they undermine the fundamental fabric of our democracy—the idea that the government should be by, of, and for the people."
"If regular Americans think that this administration is going to protect their rights, they're just wrong."
The DOJ's Voting Section is housed within the department's Civil Rights Division, which is now led by Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer who aided Trump's unsuccessful bid to overturn his 2020 election loss. Dhillon, who is not a civil rights attorney, was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in a largely party-line vote earlier this month.
Since her confirmation, she has moved quickly to do Trump's bidding at the department, prompting a mass exodus of lawyers from the Civil Rights Division. CNNreported Monday that roughly 70% of division staffers are "expected to accept a second offer to federal workers that allows them to resign from their positions and be paid through September."
Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, wrote Monday that "when the career people, the experts at civil and criminal enforcement in this area, are removed from their positions, there is no one there to protect us."
"And as we've learned from Trump's deportations to El Salvador, when due process is denied to one person, we are all at risk," Vance added. "The news from the Justice Department tonight, on the eve of Trump's 100th day in office, is deeply disturbing."
The departures come after Dhillon issued a series of internal memos indicating, as NBC News put it, "a 180-degree shift in the direction of the department from its original mission: enforcing laws that prohibit discrimination in hiring, housing, and voting rights."
One unnamed Civil Rights Division lawyer who recently left their DOJ toldNBC News that "if regular Americans think that this administration is going to protect their rights, they're just wrong."
The progressive advocacy group Common Cause noted Tuesday that the DOJ's Voting Section "enforces the federal laws protecting the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act."
Omar Noureldin, Common Cause's senior vice president for policy and litigation, said Monday that "the Trump administration’s gutting of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division is doing profound and lasting damage to the protection of voting rights in the United States."
"The removal and reassignment of the section's leadership and the dismissal of cases are themselves attacks on the voting rights of every American," said Noureldin. "Attorney General Pam Bondi's systematic removal of career attorneys and staff is not confined to the voting section—it extends to the entire Civil Rights Division. The upheaval and loss of experience will leave the division unable to enforce the nation's civil rights laws."
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