Congress mandates emergency road through protected parkland for one Virginia community
H.R. 6365 — Wintergreen Emergency Egress Act · Filed by John McGuire (R-VA) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 2, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to issue a right-of-way (a legal permit to use land) for an emergency exit road on Blue Ridge Parkway land in Virginia near Wintergreen, provided the Secretary first completes an evaluation of alternatives, analyzes fire behavior, and completes required environmental reviews under federal law.
Why we flagged it
The bill targets a specific location (Blue Ridge Parkway near Wintergreen, Virginia, milepost 9.6) identified by map number and date, converting a discretionary permit into a mandatory one for a single private or local beneficiary. This is a classic district-specific infrastructure rider dressed in emergency-access language.
- Mandatory right-of-way for emergency egress at a specific Blue Ridge Parkway location (milepost 9.6, Wintergreen, VA) identified by map number, benefiting one locality or development.
What the text implies
- The bill converts a discretionary permit ('may issue') into a mandatory one ('shall issue'), removing the Secretary's ability to deny the permit even if alternatives analysis or fire analysis reveals unacceptable risk to the park.
- The preconditions (alternatives analysis, fire analysis, NEPA review) are procedural gates, not substantive vetoes — the Secretary must issue the permit if those reviews are 'completed,' regardless of their findings.
- Once issued, the right-of-way becomes a permanent easement across federal parkland, potentially opening precedent for similar single-district carve-outs in other protected areas.
- The bill does not specify who bears the cost of construction, maintenance, or liability for the emergency road, or whether it will be open to general public use or restricted to emergency/resident access.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill may improve emergency egress for residents in a specific area (net benefit to those residents), but it mandates a right-of-way across protected federal parkland without clear evidence that the preconditions (alternatives analysis, fire analysis) will actually prevent harm to the park or that the public interest in parkland preservation has been weighed against private emergency access.
Who stands to gain
- Wintergreen Resort or local property owners/developers in the Wintergreen area
- Construction contractors hired to build the emergency egress road
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Interior, Blue Ridge Parkway, National Park Service, House Committee on Natural Resources, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Wintergreen (Virginia locality/resort), 16 U.S.C. 460a–3, National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 54 U.S.C. subtitle III, division A
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 3 Democrats.
- Dec 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
- Jan 22, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jan 22, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Unanimous Consent”
- Mar 3, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2347)”
- Mar 3, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $139,430 in lobbying spend. A filing names 46 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
John McGuire, the sponsor, reported $421,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Parks Conservation Association — $139,430 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,464 characters) on Jul 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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