HR 168 · 119th CongressIn Committee

TORCH Act

Latest updateApr 4, 2025

Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture.

Public Lands and Natural Resources

Sponsor

Doug LaMalfa

Introduced

January 3, 2025

Latest action

April 4, 2025

Legislative Progress

How far this bill has traveled through Congress

Introduced

Bill filed in chamber

Committee

Reviewed & reported

Passed Chamber

House or Senate vote

Passed Both

House & Senate agree

President

Sent to White House

Enacted

Signed into law

Introduced

Bill filed in chamber

Committee

Reviewed & reported

Passed Chamber

House or Senate vote

Passed Both

House & Senate agree

President

Sent to White House

Enacted

Signed into law

Latest Action

Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture.

Plain-Language Summary

AI Generated

Current federal law requires extensive environmental review and consultation before the Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior can remove trees or manage vegetation on public lands, even when those actions aim to reduce wildfire risk. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 mandates detailed environmental assessments for most forest management projects, and the Endangered Species Act requires consultation with wildlife agencies. These requirements, while designed to protect environmental values, can delay hazard reduction work by months or years. Additionally, timber sales on national forests face appraisal requirements and acreage caps that limit their use as a tool for removing dangerous trees and excess fuel.

The TORCH Act streamlines federal forest management by authorizing the Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior to bypass certain environmental reviews for specific wildfire-reduction activities. The bill establishes categorical exclusions—a regulatory mechanism that exempts projects from full environmental assessment—for high-priority hazard tree removal within 300 feet of roads or recreation sites (up to 3,000 acres per project), and for vegetation management along electrical utility rights-of-way. It raises the acreage limit for wildfire resilience projects from 3,000 to 10,000 acres under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. The bill also increases the timber sale threshold from $10,000 to $50,000, allowing the Secretary to sell forest products without appraisal during extreme risk events like catastrophic wildfires or disease outbreaks.

Implementation begins immediately upon enactment, with the Department of Agriculture required to develop the hazard tree categorical exclusion within one year. The bill funds these activities through timber sale revenues and utility company proceeds from vegetation removal, rather than appropriating new federal dollars. Utility companies can now remove hazardous trees near power lines under special use permits without separate timber sales. The changes apply retroactively to good neighbor agreements initiated after 2018, allowing states, tribes, and counties to retain timber sale revenues for restoration work. These streamlined processes are expected to accelerate fuel reduction projects, though they reduce opportunities for public comment and environmental review on affected lands.

Key Provisions

1Establish a categorical exclusion allowing the Department of Agriculture to remove high-priority hazard trees within 300 feet of roads or recreation sites on national forests without full environmental review, limited to 3,000 acres per project.
2Authorize the Department of Agriculture to sell forest products without appraisal during extreme risk events including catastrophic wildfires, insect outbreaks, wind, hurricane, flood, or drought on National Forest System lands.
3Create a categorical exclusion for vegetation management along electrical utility rights-of-way on federal lands, exempting such activities from environmental assessment and Endangered Species Act consultation, with automatic approval of utility plans within 60-67 days.
4Increase the acreage limit for wildfire resilience projects from 3,000 to 10,000 acres under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act and raise the timber sale threshold from $10,000 to $50,000.
5Modify good neighbor agreements to allow states, Indian tribes, and counties to retain timber sale revenues for restoration work and expand grazing as a wildfire risk reduction tool through temporary permits and reviews on vacant allotments.

★ Why this matters

Federal forest management projects currently face months or years of environmental review before hazard tree removal or fuel reduction can begin, potentially delaying work that could reduce catastrophic wildfire risk. This bill accelerates those timelines by exempting certain activities from full environmental assessment and Endangered Species Act consultation, allowing faster implementation of fuel reduction work. However, it reduces opportunities for public input and environmental review on affected federal lands, and utility companies gain expanded authority to remove vegetation near power lines with minimal oversight.

● Who this affects

Electrical utility companies operating on federal lands will gain streamlined authority to remove hazardous vegetation near transmission and distribution lines. The Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior will have expanded discretion to conduct forest management without standard environmental review. States, Indian tribes, and counties with good neighbor agreements will retain more timber sale revenue for restoration projects. Environmental advocacy groups and communities near federal forests may have fewer opportunities to comment on or challenge vegetation removal projects. Livestock permit holders can access more grazing opportunities on federal land as a fuel reduction strategy.

Bill Text

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<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 168

    To improve the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
  Secretary of the Interior to carry out forest management activities 
that reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and for other purposes.

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2025

 Mr. LaMalfa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural 
 Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

                                 A BILL

 
    To improve the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
  Secretary of the Interior to carry out forest management activities 
that reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Targeted 
Operations to Remove Catastrophic Hazards Act'' or the ``TORCH Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title.
              TITLE I--HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION ACTIVITIES

Sec. 101. Categorical exclusion for high priority hazard tree 
                            activities.
Sec. 102. Utilizing timber sales on National Forest System land for 
                            extreme risk reduction.
Sec. 103. Utilizing grazing for wildfire risk reduction.
Sec. 104. Amendments to the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 to 
                            improve wildfire mitigation.
Sec. 105. Amendment to fuel breaks in forests and other wildland 
                            vegetation.
                   TITLE II--GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY

Sec. 201. Modification of the treatment of certain revenue and payments 
                            under good neighbor agreements.
    TITLE III--ELECTRICAL UTILITY LINES RIGHTS-OF-WAYS AND RELATED 
                         VEGETATION MANAGEMENT

Sec. 301. Vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and 
                            maintenance relating to electric 
                            transmission and distribution facility 
                            rights-of-way.
Sec. 302. Categorical exclusion for electric utility lines rights-of-
                            way.
Sec. 303. Permits and agreements with electrical utilities.
        TITLE IV--REFORM OF CERTAIN ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS

Sec. 401. Nonapplicability of certain additional consultation 
                            requirements of the Endangered Species Act 
                            of 1973.
Sec. 402. Amendment to categorical exclusion for collaborative 
                            restoration projects…

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