Two members of Congress have sent a letter to US Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz calling on the agency to justify its actions following an investigation by Mother Jones that found glyphosate—the controversial key ingredient in the herbicide Roundup—was being sprayed in record amounts on public lands.

“Given the recent scientific disputes, retracted studies, and litigation surrounding glyphosate due to serious ecological and health harms, we are deeply concerned by the alleged use of the herbicide and lack of information available regarding current and planned use,” wrote Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.).

Rep. Chellie Pingree: “It’s bullshit. I’m really mad.”

While glyphosate is more well-known for its use in agriculture, its fastest-growing use in California—where our investigation analyzed more than 5 million state pesticide records—is on forestlands. Private timber companies and the Forest Service have been dousing hundreds of thousands of acres of the state’s forests in the herbicide, especially areas affected by wildfires.

Local communities have struggled to understand where the agency is spraying. In one case, the Forest Service published maps showing where it had sprayed glyphosate in the Lake Tahoe area, including at the ski resort Sierra-at-Tahoe, a full year after the work........

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