[We will be updating this post regularly to reflect the current legislation status and how you can best stand for clean water. As of 5/8/26 this post remains current – the Senate EPW Committee still has the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (S.4753). However we are also watching the evolving Farm Bill of 2026 to make sure the fire retardant exemption from the Clean Water Act is not snuck in at the last minute.]
For over 20 years, FSEEE has been pressing the Forest Service to conduct environmental reviews and obtain the proper permits to disperse aerial fire retardant. We have won at every stage in federal court, culminating in a 2023 ruling that the Forest Service must work with the EPA to obtain a Clean Water Act permit by May 26, 2026.
That date is just weeks away — and the industry is desperate. Section 408 of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (S.4753) is a direct attempt to override the court and exempt fire retardant from the Clean Water Act forever. This isn’t reform; it’s a total gutting of water quality protections.
Lobbyists and proponents have been pushing for a markup in the first or second week of May. Unfortunately, Section 408 typifies all sorts of bad legislation rife throughout the proposed law, provisions that mandate industrial resource extraction, truncate judicial and environmental review and forsake public health and ecological integrity.
Please call your Senators today — especially those on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Demand that they strip Section 408 from the bill. Tell them it is a “poison pill” that gives the agency a free pass to dump Superfund-level heavy metals into our pristine watersheds. The Forest Service is only weeks away from a permit that ensures accountability. Tell Congress to hold the agency to the same legal and scientific standard as any other U.S. industry.
And demand that your Senators oppose the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (S.4753). The legislation guts environmental law, forsakes public health and prioritizes corporate profit and unfettered resource extraction. Americans deserve clean water, responsible public lands management and a healthy environment!
Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected directly to your senators’ offices.
Photo: A Rocky Mountain creek runs red with toxic fire retardant, which contains high levels of cadmium, vanadium, chromium, and other toxic metals (Government of Alberta photo).
