Senate Panel to Vote Tomorrow on Hickenlooper Bill that Weakens Environmental Protections on Public Land

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                      

October 20, 2025 

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Senate Panel to Vote Tomorrow on  Hickenlooper Bill that 

Weakens Environmental Protections on Public Land

You probably wouldn’t expect a Democratic senator to co-sponsor a bill that the Sierra Club, Environment America, the Wilderness Society, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and the Center for Biological Diversity condemn as an attack on public lands, but John Hickenlooper had done exactly that and that bill is up before a Senate committee tomorrow. 

The bill, S. 1462 Fix Our Forests Act, if passed,  will allow the U.S Forest Service to approve logging projects as large as 10,000 acres or  15 square miles without the usual legal oversight, review under environmental laws,  public input or scientific review. The effect is to reduce protections for public lands and endangered species and to weaken and limit court  review of logging projects. 

As the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks stated Oct. 20: This bill is premised on the flawed assumption that indiscriminate logging across millions of acres of forests would serve to reduce or eliminate wildfire risk and protect communities. Like President Trump’s recent Executive Order (EO) 14225, “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production,” the bill would promote widespread resource extraction by eliminating or limiting public engagement and public disclosure of environmental effects that ensure accountability. The legislation would also do nothing to blunt the harmful impacts of the EO.

“It’s no surprise to me that Hickenlooper sponsored this bill,” said professor and attorney Karen Breslin, the only Democrat running an active campaign against Hickenlooper for the party’s nomination. “Throughout his career he has often favored corporate interests over environmental protection,” she said. “Colorado and our country needs an environmental champion in the US Senate, not a greenwashed Democrat.”  Breslin noted that Hickenlooper voted for more of Trump’s nominees than any Democrat besides John Fetterman, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who is busy dismantling protections on BLM lands, and Energy Secretary  Chris Wright, who just presided over $550 million in cuts to renewable and energy efficiency projects in Colorado.