Grazing Improvement Act Passes House Natural Resources Committee

With the defeat of last week’s House version of the Farm Bill while at the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association Centennial Celebration I was looking for some examples of House bipartisanship in moving ag producers interest forward to counterbalance the fail of the Farm Bill.
Thankfully, I visited with Public Lands Council Executive Director Dustin Van Liew and he shared a positive story.
Liew: “Yea, we were happy to see the House of Representatives’ Natural Resource Committee on June 12th mark up and move the Grazing Improvement Act, introduced by Representative Labrador of Idaho -- HR 657 which moved through that full committee which would provide huge benefits to the livestock grazing industry in the West. It would bring solutions forward to the backlog of grazing permittees and the regulatory red tape that our members currently face under the BLM and the Forestry Service and the management of those grazing lands.”
Van Liew explains the legislation proposes to increase the term of grazing permits from 10 to 20 years, so that the burdens of National Environmental Policy Act (or NEPA) review of expired permits would be reduced, thereby giving ranchers increased certainty that they may continue to grazings and their operations will remain viable.
Van Liew shares
Van Liew: “Next step is they will take it up on the floor. We are hoping to see that before the August recess when they all go home for a month in the summer. We’re encouraged that should happen and we’re working with Mr. Labrador and Mr. Hastings, the Chairman of the Resources Committee to make sure that happens.”