{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcclellan.house.gov/2026/09/24/mcclellan-leads-virginia-democratic-delegation-to-oppose-trumps-efforts-to-rescind-the-roadless-rule/", "McClellan Leads Virginia Democratic Delegation to Oppose Trump\u2019s Efforts to Rescind the Roadless Rule", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Jennifer L. McClellan", "M001227", "mcclellan.house.gov", "mcclellan", "https://mcclellan.house.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04) led 7 Members of the Virginia delegation \u2014 including U.S. Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03), Don Beyer (VA-08), Eugene Vindman (VA-07), Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10) and James Walkinshaw (VA-11) \u2014 in sending a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in strong opposition to the Trump Administration\u2019s proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (the \u201cRoadless Rule\u201d).\n\nSince its implementation in 2001, the Roadless Rule has protected 45 million acres of forest lands across the country, including nearly 394,000 acres in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Under the Trump Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Forest Service filed a proposal in August of this year to repeal the Roadless Rule, which could have devastating impacts on water quality, biodiversity, economic development and more for these regions.\n\n\u201cThis proposal would strip protections from approximately 84% of Virginia\u2019s roadless areas, opening these lands to road construction, logging, and other industrial activities. The consequences for Virginia\u2019s environment, economy, and public health would be severe, falling squarely on the families and communities we represent,\u201d wrote the lawmakers. \u201cWith more roadless acres than any other state east of the Mississippi River, Virginia has an outsized stake in decisions regarding the Roadless Rule. Once lost, these ecosystems and the countless benefits they provide to clean air, clean water, and climate resilience cannot be easily restored, if at all.\u201d\n\nThe letter outlines the risks this rescission would pose to Virginia by jeopardizing Virginia\u2019s drinking water and ecosystems, threatening economic activity driven by recreation and tourism activities, increasing wildfire risk and straining public resources.\n\n\u201cFor 25 years, the Roadless Rule has demonstrated that protecting America\u2019s national forest lands is both effective and widely supported. Rescinding the Roadless Rule would ignore this overwhelming public consensus while undermining Virginia\u2019s drinking water, biodiversity, local economies, and public safety,\u201d the lawmakers concluded. \u201cWe urge the Department to withdraw this dangerous proposal and maintain the Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001 in its entirety.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcclellan.house.gov/2026/09/24/mcclellan-leads-virginia-democratic-delegation-to-oppose-trumps-efforts-to-rescind-the-roadless-rule/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7342858482152224, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}