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Hello Friends!
Our Annual Fallfest is only a few weeks away! Look for details in this newsletter.
Federal:
CRITICAL MINERALS DOMINANCE ACT HEARD IN SENATE COMMITTEE — American Exploration & Mining Association.
On July 15, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources'(ENR) Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining held a hearing to receive testimony on a long list of bills. H.R. 4090, Rep. Pete Stauber’s Critical Mineral Dominance Act, was one piece of legislation included on the agenda.
H.R. 4090 would codify certain provisions of President Trump’s Executive Orders relating to domestic hardrock mining. AEMA was privileged to work with Chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Pete Stauber’s staff to develop and refine H.R. 4090, and we are encouraged to see it continue through the legislative process in the Senate. AEMA Executive Director Mark Compton provided ENR committee staff with a statement for the record in support of the bill.
TRUMP ORDER PRIORITIZES DOMESTIC MINERAL SOURCING — American Exploration & Mining Association.
July 20, President Trump signed an executive order – Securing America’s Defense Supply Chains and Ensuring Domestic Acquisition of Critical Materials – to ensure a reliable, independent critical mineral supply chain for military equipment. The order requires the U.S. to source critical minerals used in key defense systems from domestic or allied nation suppliers to avoid potential economic subversion by China.
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDERS — American Exploration & Mining Association.
Executive Order 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation, to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens,
Executive Order 14225, Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production,
Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy,
Executive Order 14153, Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.
USDA ACTS TO REMOVE ROADLESS RULE RESTRICTIONS ON ALL NATIONAL FORESTS (Washington, D.C., Aug. 18, 2026) – Today, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the U.S. Forest Service has filed a proposed rule to rescind in its entirety the national 2001 Roadless Area Conversation Rule, a one-size-fits-all restriction that has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to wildfire risk reduction work across large swaths of America’s national forest. “Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction. Across the country, we’ve watched preventable conditions – overgrown stands, insect outbreaks and disease – turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. “For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities. Today, we filed a proposal to restore authority to local forest managers who know the land best, removing the barriers that have kept them from doing the work the land demands. It’s time to turn the page on the failed roadless rule and return our forests to health and productivity.”
For 25 years, the 2001 Roadless Rule restricted road construction and limited the Forest Service’s ability to carry out critical active management work within inventoried roadless areas. Today, that includes more than 44 million acres of the 193-million-acre National Forest System. The rescission is intended to prioritize local agency decision-making over regulatory rules that are the same across the country, regardless of specific land management issues and needs. “This proposed rule is commonsense policy sought since the first Trump administration. In the years since, the need for it has only become more apparent,” said Deputy Secretary Stephen A. Vaden. “It is a credit to President Trump that we can begin to put into place a rule that will allow us to properly manage our national forests, because the first step to managing forests is to have access to them.”
The agency will seek public comment on the proposal and on a draft of the environmental impact statement filed today in the Federal Register. The rescission removes national designation of roadless areas but does not mandate timber cutting or road construction. The action removes regulatory burden and sends decisions about roadless areas to the local national forest managers. “Active forest management is not an option. It’s essential,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “More than 40% of inventoried roadless areas, primarily in the West, have high or very high wildfire hazard potential. And only 5% of those areas have received hazardous fuels reduction treatments since 2014. At the same time, more than a quarter of these lands — 11.3 million acres— are already near existing roads. Acting now, thoughtfully and decisively, is the best way to restore the balance, reduce wildfire risk, and secure the long-term health of our forests and neighboring communities.”
Send your comments in favor of rescinding the Roadless Rule to:
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FS-2025-0001 |
