774 
case’’ analysis to determine jurisdiction for 
waterways that do not flow all year. Such 
actions endanger small streams and wet-
lands that serve as important habitats for 
aquatic life, which play a fundamental role 
in safeguarding sources of clean drinking 
water and mitigate the risks and effects of 
floods and droughts. Further, the defini-
tion provided therein for ‘‘waters of the 
United States’’ is applicable to the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act as a whole, 
potentially affecting programs that control 
industrial pollution and sewage levels, pre-
vent oil spills, and set water quality stand-
ards for all waters in the United States 
protected under the Federal Water Pollu-
tion Control Act. 
(B) FORESTS AND LAND MANAGEMENT.— 
(i) On December 3, 2003, the Presi-
dent signed into law the Healthy Forests 
Restoration Act of 2003 (Public Law 108– 
148; 16 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.). Although the 
law attempts to reduce the risk of cata-
strophic forest fires, it provides a boon to 
timber companies by accelerating the ag-
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gressive thinning of backcountry forests 
that are far from at-risk communities. The 
law allows for increased logging of large, 
fire-resistant trees that are not in close 
proximity of homes and communities; it 
undermines critical protections for endan-
gered species by exempting Federal land 
management agencies from consulting with 
the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-
ice before approving any action that could 
harm endangered plants or wildlife; and it 
limits public participation by reducing the 
number of environmental project reviews. 
(ii) On April 21, 2008, the Depart-
ment of Agriculture issued a Final Plan-
ning Rule and Record of Decision for Na-
tional Forest System Land Management 
Planning. Similar to rules enacted by the 
Administration on January 5, 2005, later 
remanded back to the agency in Federal 
district court for violating the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the En-
dangered Species Act of 1973, and the Ad-
ministrative Procedure Act (‘‘Citizens for 
Better Forestry v. United States Depart-
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ment of Agriculture’’, 481 F. Supp. 2d 
1059 (N.D. Cal. 2007)), this revised rule 
eliminates strict forest planning standards 
established in 1982, and opens millions of 
acres of public lands to damaging and 
invasive logging, mining, and drilling oper-
ations. These regulations would reverse 
more than 20 years of protection for wild-
life and national forests by removing the 
overall goal of ensuring ecological sustain-
ability in managing the national forest sys-
tem, weakening the National Forest Man-
agement Act of 1976, and effectively end-
ing the review of forest management plans 
under the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969. 
(iii) On September 20, 2006, the Dis-
trict Court for the Northern District of 
California vacated the Protection of Inven-
toried Roadless Areas rule, enacted on May 
13, 2005, which gave State Governors 18 
months to petition the Federal Government 
to either restore the previous rule for their 
States, or submit a new management and 
development plan for national forest areas 
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inventoried under the rule. Despite the 
enjoinment of the Administration’s 2005 
rule, and the subsequent restoration of the 
original Roadless Area Conservation Rule, 
the United States Forest Service has con-
tinued to allow States to petition for a spe-
cial rule under the authority of the Admin-
istrative Procedure Act, publishing a final 
special rule for Idaho on October 16, 2008. 
As a result, 58.5 million acres of wild na-
tional forests are still vulnerable to log-
ging, road building, and other develop-
ments that may fragment natural habitats 
and negatively impact fish and wildlife. 
(iv) On November 17, 2008, the De-
partment of the Interior’s Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) signed the Record of 
Decision (ROD) amending 12 resource 
management plans in Colorado, Utah, and 
Wyoming, opening 2,000,000 acres of pub-
lic lands to commercial tar sands and oil 
shale exploration and development. On No-
vember 18, 2008, the BLM published a 
final rule for Oil Shale Management set-
ting the policies and procedures for a com-
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mercial leasing program for the manage-
ment of federally owned oil shale in those 
three States. Previously barred by a con-
gressional moratorium on the commercial 
leasing regulations for oil shale until Sep-
tember 30, 2008, the development of oil 
shale on public lands poses a serious threat 
to land conservation, endangered and 
threatened species, and critical habitat. 
Domestic shale oil production allowed by 
these regulations is highly water and en-
ergy intensive, the impacts of which will in-
tensify existing water scarcity in the arid 
Western Region and potentially degrade 
air and water quality for surrounding pop-
ulations. 
(C) SCIENTIFIC
REVIEW.—On December 
16, 2008, the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service of the Department of the Interior and 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration of the Department of Commerce joint-
ly issued a new rule amending regulations gov-
erning interagency cooperation under section 7 
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). 
This rule undermines the intention of the ESA 
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