Emergency Fuel Reduction Act of 2017

Emergency Fuel Reduction Act of 2017

This bill amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to categorically exclude an authorized hazardous fuel reduction project from the environmental review requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 if the project:

• involves the removal of insect-infested trees, dead or dying trees, trees presenting a threat to public safety or electrical reliability, or the removal of other hazardous fuels threatening certain infrastructure;
• is conducted on federal land that is not located in the wildland-urban interface, is located within at least 1.5 miles of nonfederal land, and on which conditions are determined to pose a risk to adjacent nonfederal land; or
• treats 10,000 acres or less of federal land that is at particular risk for wildfire, contains threatened and endangered species habitat, or provides conservation benefits to a species that is not listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, but is under consideration to be listed, or a state-listed or special concern species.

The bill does not apply to federal land that is wilderness, on which the removal of vegetation is specifically prohibited, or that is within a national monument.