A key House committee is calling on federal officials to take steps to develop hemp-based plastic alternatives, create a device to detect marijuana-impaired driving and combat illegal cannabis grows on public lands.
The provisions are contained in reports attached to annual spending legislation that advanced through the House Appropriations Committee this week.
The report for the Fiscal Year 2024 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill discusses the “potential need for dependable bio-based and U.S.-grown plastic alternatives.”
It directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “provide a briefing on efforts to explore alternatives, such as United States-based hemp, and how such alternatives may be used as a cost-efficient alternative in government-produced or funded materials” within 180 days of the bill’s enactment.
Another section of the report says that the committee is “aware that trespassers illegally grow marijuana on public lands in California.”
“These unlawful activities harmfully impact the public, water, soil, and wildlife,” it says. “The Committee supports Forest Service efforts to develop tools to detect and eradicate grow sites. The Committee directs the Forest Service and the [Bureau of Land Management] to continue to cooperate with State, local, and Tribal governments on survey, reclamation, and prevention efforts to the
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