Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Forest Management And Timber Manufacturing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senator Justice urges immediate forest management, proposes funding to revive timber manufacturing
Summary
Senator Justice said unmanaged forests and wildfires are releasing carbon and harming natural resources, and proposed state-rated management funding to both reduce emissions and help bring cabinetry and furniture manufacturing back to the U.S.
Senator Justice urged immediate action to manage forests and reduce wildfire-driven carbon emissions, and proposed a funding and state-rating approach aimed at both protecting natural resources and reviving domestic timber manufacturing.
"We've got to react and not only do we have to react but we gotta react within days almost," Senator Justice said during the meeting, saying wildfires are harming "our air, our waters, our soul, our nutrients, absolutely our wildlife." He connected forest management to economic policy, saying the United States has lost domestic cabinetry and furniture manufacturing to overseas producers and proposing incentives to bring those industries back.
Justice said that better forest management could preserve carbon stored in timber. "Do you know that when we take, when we take, and cut a tree and it turns into this right here, the carbon is frozen in this forever," he said. He warned that unmanaged forests are vulnerable to fire, which can return stored carbon to the atmosphere: "What happens to this carbon when the fire goes to **** right back into the atmosphere?" He said West Virginia experiences roughly 800 fires a year.
Justice described a policy concept in which states would be "rated" on their contribution and management, and a funding mechanism would support labor for forest management and scale domestic manufacturing: "What if we created some form of funding ... and said, I'll tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna rate our states ... and then bring our absolute furniture and cabinetry ... back to us instead of it being in another country." He named Vietnam, China and Mexico as destinations he said had displaced U.S. production.
Justice framed the proposal as bipartisan and urged colleagues to act quickly: "We need to do it on a bipartisan, you know, manner. Absolutely. Without any question, we can do it and we can do it right now." He identified personally as a hunter and fisherman and said conservation is tied to community well-being.
The remarks were discussion; no motion or formal action was recorded in the transcript. Senator Schiff was recognized to speak next.
