[We will be updating this post regularly to reflect the current legislation status and how you can best stand for clean water.]
UPDATE 5/27/26: The Senate (and House) have adjourned for a Memorial Day week off. Congress will return to session Monday, June 1, 2027 and resume work on the bills detailed below. We still ask for your support contacting your Senators and having them strike language that exempts fire retardant from the Clean Water Act and curtails judicial options related to retardant.
It is no longer a threat—lobbyists have successfully inserted text into the Farm Bill framework that explicitly codifies that ‘no federal court may enjoin, halt, or restrict the aerial application of wildland fire retardant under the Clean Water Act.’ This bypasses the courts, strips accountability, and creates a permanent legal loophole for toxic pollution. We have less than a week until the Forest Service’s court deadline. Call your Senators immediately and demand they strike this provision from the Farm Bill and the Energy Permitting Reform draft!
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.
May 26th is just one week away — and industry is desperate. Lobbyists and proponents have been pushing for legislative language overriding the court and exempting aerial fire retardant from the Clean Water Act.
Language has been added to the 2026 Farm Bill that codifies that no court may enjoin, halt or restrict the use of aerial fire retardant under the Clean Water Act. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry is still negotiating the legislative text. We need you to contact your Senators and demand that this provision – and any other provision exempting fire retardant from the Clean Water Act – be stricken from the legislation. It is a strategic lie that the Forest Service cannot use fire retardant and abide by the Clean Water Act – they do not want to disclose what they are dumping on our public lands and waters.
Aerial fire retardant is also exempted from the Clean Water Act in the Energy Permitting Reform Act (originally of 2024, now of 2025/2026). Exempting toxic retardant from Clean Water Act standards isn’t reform; it’s a total gutting of water quality protections. Section 408 needs to be removed, and the Energy Permitting Reform Act – with its provisions mandating industrial resource extraction and truncating environmental review – needs to be defeated.
Please call your Senators today!
Tell those on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry to make sure no provisions exempting aerial fire retardant from the Clean Water Act are slipped into the Title VIII Forestry section or anywhere else in the bill! Ask your Senator to demand that any fire retardant exemption in the Farm Bill be referred to the Environment & Public Works Committee for a full review of its impact on our drinking water and the Clean Water Act.
Tell those on the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee to reject the inclusion of Section 408—the fire retardant exemption—in the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2025/2026 and to oppose the environmentally degrading law. The legislation guts environmental law, forsakes public health and prioritizes corporate profit and unfettered resource extraction.
Tell Senators that any provision exempting fire retardant from the Clean Water Act 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 less than a week 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.
Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected directly to your senators’ offices.
A sample message could be:
“I am calling to ask Senator [Name] to protect our drinking water. Please strike the provision codifying that no court may enjoin, halt or restrict the use of aerial fire retardant under the Clean Water Act from the Farm Bill. Please make sure that no other provision exempting fire retardant from the Clean Water Act is added to the Farm Bill or the Energy Permitting Reform Act – especially as a last-minute Manager’s Amendment. We know these slurries contain toxic heavy metals like Chromium and Cadmium. The Forest Service should not be allowed to dump industrial waste into our rivers without the same permits required of every other industry in the United States. A Clean Water Act permit does not stop firefighting. It simply requires the agency to monitor where it dumps toxins and report the environmental load. The Forest Service can fight fires, follow the law and be accountable. Americans deserve clean water, responsible public lands management and a healthy environment!”
Thank you for standing for your public lands!
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).
