House bill will preserve jobs

Last month, The Spokesman-Review ran an editorial highlighting a disturbing decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that overturns 35 years of legal precedent and federal environmental policy. The court ruled that forest stormwater runoff produced during logging must be regulated by the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) rather than by state forestry laws.

If upheld, it will severely cripple one of Eastern Washington’s most important industries and cause the needless loss of thousands of jobs in our region.

To prevent this devastating decision from going forward, I have worked with Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., to introduce the Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act. This legislation will restore the federal government’s previous policy under CWA and protect jobs.

Although The Spokesman worried aloud in its editorial that House Republicans would endanger the bill, the opposite is true: House Republicans are pushing forward to see the law enacted.

The House has already added the bill, in the form of an amendment, to the 2012 Interior appropriations bill – giving us another vehicle to get the law over to the Senate for their consideration.

As a member of the House leadership team, I am confident that we’ll see progress on this important legislation.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers

5th District representative