Mike Lee ignites controversy after adding roadless rule repeal to a wildfire bill

By Brooke Larsen
The Salt Lake Tribune
June 10, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Utah Sen. Mike Lee and fellow Republicans added a repeal of the controversial roadless rule to a previously bipartisan wildfire bill on Wednesday. The amended Wildfire Prevention Act passed out of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on an 11-9 vote split along party lines and now heads to the full Senate. The act would nullify the 2001 roadless rule. …This move comes nearly a year after the USDA began an effort to rescind the roadless rule through an administrative process. The environmental review is currently underway and a decision is expected later this year. …Democratic senators introduced a second amendment early in the meeting on Wednesday in an attempt to strike the repeal of the roadless rule from the bill. …Senators in both parties initially supported the Wildfire Prevention Act, which instructs federal land agencies to set targets and report on prescribed fire and forest thinning to reduce wildfire risk.

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