California AG Criticized BLM Proposal to Exempt Large-Scale Salvage Harvest Projects from NEPA Review

JULY 2, 2020

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed comments in response to a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to create a new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) categorical exclusion for salvage harvest projects of up to 5,000 acres. In the comments, AG Becerra acknowledged the need to take “an active role in managing public forest lands to address disturbances and to reduce wildfire risks,” but emphasized that BLM failed provide adequate justification for the proposal, which “unnecessarily shortchanges public participation and informed decision-making” and “has no rational relationship to protecting communities or wildlands” from wildfires.