BILLINGS, Montana — The Biden administration is advancing its plan to restrict logging within old-growth forests that are increasingly threatened by climate change, with exceptions that include cutting trees to make forests less susceptible to wildfires, according to a U.S. government analysis. The analysis, which is expected to be published Friday, shows that officials intend to reject a blanket prohibition on old-growth logging that’s long been sought by some environmentalists. Officials concluded that such a sweeping ban would make it harder to thin forests to better protect communities against wildfires that have grown more severe as the planet has warmed. The exceptions under which logging would be allowed are unlikely to placate the timber industry and Republicans in Congress. …“There’s so little timber sales that occur right now in old-growth … that the overall effects are very small,” Forest Service Deputy Chief Chris French said.
Data released on Friday shows that 
Housing prices in America today are near an all-time high, and home ownership has yet to recover from the 2008 and 2020 recessions. …With construction materials making up roughly 60% of a home’s cost, we need to address the problem from another angle. The U.S. currently has tariffs on important construction materials such as Canadian lumber and Chinese nails and pipes. Eliminating such building material tariffs could deliver a powerful blow to the other side of this housing problem. Unfortunately, President Biden has other plans. This May, the president announced a new 25% duty rate on Chinese steel, up from 0-7.5%. For comparison, the 5-20% duty rates on Canadian softwood lumber added an extra $24,000 to construction costs in 2021. Construction costs have skyrocketed since 2020, increasing by an average of 20% and outpacing even the highest inflation rate of 8%. Imposing still more tariffs on important construction materials will only further inflate those costs.
A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday unexpectedly showed a steep drop in new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of May. The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 5.5% to an annual rate of 1.277 million in May after surging by 4.1% to a revised rate of 1.352 million in April. Economists had expected housing starts to climb by 0.7%. With the unexpected decrease, housing starts fell to their lowest level since hitting an annual rate of 1.254 million in June 2020. Single-family housing starts dove by 5.2% to an annual rate of 982,000, while multi-family housing starts plummeted by 6.7% to an annual rate of 295,000. …The report also said building permits slumped by 3.8% to an annual rate of 1.386 million in May after tumbling by 3.0% to a rate of 1.440 million in April.
Amazon is shifting from the plastic air pillows used for packaging in North America to recycled paper because it’s more environmentally sound, and it says paper just works better. The company said Thursday that it’s already replaced 95% of the plastic air pillows with paper filler in North America and is working toward complete removal by year’s end. …It is the company’s largest plastic packaging reduction effort in North America to date and will remove almost 15 billion plastic air pillows from use annually. …The e-commerce giant has faced years of criticism about its use of plastic from environmental groups. …Amazon discovered through testing that the paper filler, which is made from 100% recyclable content and is curbside recyclable, offers the same, if not better protection during shipping compared with plastic air pillows, the company said.vChristian Garcia said that the paper filler is easier to work with and gives staff more space.
A federal judge in Montana is holding a hearing next Tuesday on a motion for an injunction against the Pintler Face logging and burning project on Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. A coalition of conservationists and activists has sued to stop work altogether. The Pintler project, northwest of Wise River, Montana, calls for 11 miles of new logging roads to access to 3,400 acres of clear-cuts, prescribed burns and logging of more than 560 acres of aspen. It would also log another 5,800 acres in a commercial segment of the project. Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the project will disrupt a continuous ecosystem that lynx and grizzly bears need to thrive. Critics of the lawsuit and supporters of the Pintler project said it would make strides to preventing wildfires and also backtrack on years of economic development the state has made in the region.
SANTA FE, N.M. — Thousands of southern New Mexico residents fled a mountainous village as a wind-whipped wildfire tore through homes and other buildings, and killed at least one person. Officials warned the danger isn’t over. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency that covers Ruidoso and neighboring tribal lands and deployed National Guard troops to the area. A top-level fire management team is expected to take over Wednesday, and winds will continue to challenge crews, officials said. The governor’s office confirmed the fatality but said it had no other details. Christy Hood, said the evacuation order came so quickly that she and her husband, only had time to grab their two children and two dogs. “As we were leaving, there were flames in front of me and to the side of me,” she said. …a 15-minute drive to leave town into a harrowing two-hour ordeal.