Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee is resurrecting an old idea to shake up the Forest Service: Get the agency out of the Department of Agriculture.
The Utah Republican is working on legislation to move the Forest Service to the Interior Department, where its mission historically sat until President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw a switch to the USDA in 1905.
Lee’s office didn’t return messages seeking comment on the draft, which POLITICO’s E&E News obtained from an outside organization.
The draft includes other Lee priorities, such as making the forest chief’s position a political appointment subject to Senate confirmation for the first time.
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