Clearing The Roadless Rule: What Comes Next For America’s Burning Forests?
Republican Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz wants to turn wildfire fuel from federal forests into an energy market as the Trump administration moves to rescind a Clinton-era "roadless rule."
Paris Apodaca · Sep 8, 2026 · 5 min read
Republican Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz wants to turn wildfire fuel from federal forests into an energy market as the Trump administration moves to rescind a Clinton-era “roadless rule.”
The lawmaker’s Wildfire Reduction Market Expansion Act would expand what forest material qualifies as renewable biomass, potentially creating buyers for low-value vegetation removed during wildfire prevention and forest restoration. The bipartisan bill has 25 cosponsors including both Republicans and Democrats.
“Does the government have to support this effort? And the answer is yes,” Bentz told the Daily Caller News Foundation, arguing that the cost should be weighed against the billions spent fighting wildfires.
Whether a large enough market exists to make that tradeoff economical, however, remains a central question.
“Absolutely. I don’t have a study yet that shows exactly how great that demand is,” Bentz said when asked whether enough demand currently exists to make the model viable.
Bentz pointed to aviation fuel as one potential market, arguing that demand for “green kerosene for jet fuel is through the roof.”
The Australian government committed A$1.1 billion to its Cleaner Fuels Program to encourage domestic production of low-carbon liquid fuels. The program was part of a broader push to build an Australian biofuels industry, alongside the Green Fuels Accelerator backed by Qantas and Boeing, S&P Global reported.
The federal fuel standard could help support costs, estimating the cellulosic component could ultimately add between half a cent and one cent per gallon at the pump if production reaches millions of gallons, Bentz told the DCNF.
“And then you stack the California subsidy on top of that and perhaps the Oregon subsidy on top of that,” Bentz said. “The true delay is going to be in how in the world we put together a contract, a 30-year, a 40-year contract, guaranteeing the supply of wood to this $300 million investment. Because if you don’t have it, they won’t get built.”